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  • The Bar Harbor Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know Before You Visit

    (2026 Guide From Someone Who Lived There For 6 Months) Bar Harbor, Maine, is one of those places that grabs you by the collar and doesn't let go. I've been visiting Bar Harbor and Acadia National ...

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    The Bar Harbor Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know Before You Visit
  • The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine

    Where To Grab A Drink Around Acadia National Park Bar Harbor is a lot of things: a gateway to Acadia, a lobster roll pilgrimage destination, and a town that somehow feels like a village, no ...

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    The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine
  • The Complete Guide To Getting Out On Frenchmans Bay

    You can't come to Bar Harbor and not get out on the water. Frenchman Bay is stunning from shore, but it's absolutely breathtaking from a boat, a kayak, the deck of a four-masted schooner, and the bow ...

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    The Complete Guide To Getting Out On Frenchmans Bay
  • The Best Sunset Spots in Acadia National Park

    (And the Truth About the Ones Everyone Lists) Acadia National Park at sunset is one of the most spectacular things I've ever witnessed, and I've watched a lot of sunsets from a lot of places. The ...

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    The Best Sunset Spots in Acadia National Park

Adventure

National Parks

Digital Nomad

Digital Nomad

August 10, 2020

One Day in Cherokee, North Carolina

Don’t skip Cherokee, North Carolina on your next trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park…

August 7, 2020

11 Can’t Miss Shops in Bar Harbor, Maine

Shops and restaurants you don’t want to miss on your next trip to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine…

July 27, 2020

One Day Of History In Salem, Massachusetts

As a complete history nerd I can attest to the fact that Salem, MA is a dream destination for history nerds everywhere…

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Hi! I'm Vanessa, a 30 something, sunset chasing traveler. I'm here to inspire you to travel wherever, whenever, and with whoever you can. My Huskies, Loki and Freya are usually along for the ride. I have a soul that likes to wander, a desire to experience the unknown, and a curiousity to discover things off the beaten path. I hope you'll stick around for awhile!

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Let's be friends! I know e-mails can suck but mine won't and I promise cute pup photos too!

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Recent Posts

  • The Bar Harbor Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know Before You Visit
  • The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine
  • The Complete Guide To Getting Out On Frenchmans Bay
  • The Best Sunset Spots in Acadia National Park
  • One Day In Acadia With Dogs: A Local’s Itinerary

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Camping at Acadia National Park with dogs - complete guide featured image showing a Siberian Husky at a misty Seawall Campground campsite with picnic table and fire ring under tall pine trees, covering Blackwoods, Seawall, and Schoodic Woods NPS campgrounds plus dog-friendly RV parks on Mount Desert Island, Maine

Camping At Acadia: The Complete Guide

When Skyline Drive Is Closed At Shenandoah

Vermont Fall Bucket List

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We came around a bend and saw what looked like fog We came around a bend and saw what looked like fog settled across the prairie. So, naturally, we pulled over.

It wasn’t fog.

It was the biggest bison herd either of us has seen in @theodorerooseveltnps. Slowly materializing out of the mist while the sunset turned everything gold.

Stay a little longer and the whole prairie starts telling stories. Young bulls running and shoving each other around like brothers. Calves curled up in the grass for a nap. Massive bulls hanging back while the herd kept moving.

An entire world, unfolding right in front of us.

And there was almost nobody else there.

Named after my favorite president, Theodore Roosevelt National Park somehow still flies under the radar. Fine by me.

Some places don’t need bigger crowds. They just need people willing to pull over when something looks a little different.

What’s the most underrated national park you’ve ever been to?
6 months on Mount Desert Island changed my perspe 6 months on Mount Desert Island  changed my perspective on Bar Harbor and Acadia 🦞✨🦞

I’d already written about Acadia. Then I stayed there and found out how much of it was wrong, or right in a theoretical way that falls apart the second you try to park at Sand Beach in August.

So I rewrote everything, every post, and the guides I wish I had in 2011 on my first visit. 

The guides are live today. Day plans, real distances, dog access mapped trail by trail, 2026 dates, and the parts I’d tell you to skip.

Link in bio - Message me with any questions! 🦞✨

Where are you headed - the town of Bar Harbor, the park, or both? Hopefully both 😁
Six months on Mount Desert Island changes the way Six months on Mount Desert Island changes the way you see Acadia.

You stop chasing the busiest overlooks. You stop fighting for parking. You find the hikes you don’t have to wait in line for. You learn that the park before breakfast and the park at noon might as well be two different places.

Comment LOBSTER and I’ll message you a direct link the Bar Harbor/Acadia Cheat Sheet! 

👀 Keep your eyes peeled tomorrow for the Bar Harbor and Acadia Guides that I WISH I had for my first 10 trips into Bar Harbor and the park.

What’s one place you’d love the “here’s what I’d tell my best friend” guide for? 🧡
The free Bar Harbor/Acadia Cheat Sheet 🦞 It’s got The free Bar Harbor/Acadia Cheat Sheet 🦞

It’s got the places worth your time, the ones I’d skip, the sandbar you have to time with the tide, the trail almost nobody talks about, the bar hidden inside a gift shop, where to eat, and where your dogs are actually welcome.

Download it to your phone before you go, no cell service needed.

I didn’t just visit Bar Harbor. I lived there for six months, wandered the side streets, chased way too many sunrises, and learned the difference between the places everyone recommends and the ones you’ll still be talking about after you get home.

🦞 Grab the free cheat sheet at the link in my bio, or comment LOBSTER and I’ll send you the link.

The full Bar Harbor and Acadia guides are coming soon (next week-ish), but this is where I’d start.

Who’s got Bar Harbor on their road trip list? 👇
3 years of chasing sunsets from the road… …and the 3 years of chasing sunsets from the road…
…and they still ruin my schedule.

This Ruidoso sunset at Alto Lake did not disappoint. What made it even better? Wild horses showed up with a colt! See video in stories 😍

Every single time the sky starts showing off, I’m pulling over like it’s my first road trip. 

Some things are worth being late for.
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