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I write guides the way I’d give travel advice to a friend over coffee; specific, honest, and built from actually being there. Every destination in this shop is somewhere I’ve spent serious time exploring, hiking, eating, and wandering with my dogs. No fluff, no filler, no recommendations I haven’t personally tested. Just the good stuff, so you can spend less time planning and more time outside.

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  • Acadia & Bar Harbor In Fall – Foliage Timing, Closing Dates & The Cruise-Ship Cheat Sheet

    Acadia & Bar Harbor In Fall – Foliage Timing, Closing Dates & The Cruise-Ship Cheat Sheet

    $27.00
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  • Bar Harbor With Your Dog

    Bar Harbor With Your Dog

    $17.00
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  • Complete MDI Bundle

    Complete MDI Bundle

    $57.00
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  • Dog-Friendly Acadia National Park Guide - Trails, Rules & Paw Scores

    Dog-Friendly Acadia National Park Guide – Trails, Rules & Paw Scores

    $17.00
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  • The Bar Harbor Shortlist - The Essential Quick-Reference Guide to MDI

    The Bar Harbor Shortlist – The Essential Quick-Reference Guide to MDI

    $9.00
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  • The Complete Acadia National Park Guide - Itineraries, Hikes & Local Intel

    The Complete Acadia National Park Guide – Itineraries, Hikes & Local Intel

    $34.00
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  • The Complete Bar Harbor Guide - The Destination Guide for Bar Harbor, Maine

    The Complete Bar Harbor Guide – The Destination Guide for Bar Harbor, Maine

    $29.00
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  • The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip - The Six-State Foliage Loop, Road Closures & Dog-Friendly Stops

    The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip – The Six-State Foliage Loop, Road Closures & Dog-Friendly Stops

    $27.00
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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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Recent Posts

  • The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip: A Six-State Foliage Loop (2026)
  • The Girls Trip Guide to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park
  • Acadia National Park October Guide: Fall Colors, Weather & What to Pack
  • The Bar Harbor Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know Before You Visit
  • The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine

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Everyone books Cadillac for sunrise. While I under Everyone books Cadillac for sunrise. While I understand why, if you don’t get that reservation, I promise there are other amazing spots to see sunrise at Acadia! 

My personal favorite: Otter Cliffs. Park at Otter Point, walk two minutes on Ocean Path, and you’re standing on 110 feet of pink granite with the Atlantic doing the whole show below you. 

No $6 reservation, no 10 am refresh two days out, no line of headlights up the summit road at 5:30. Just you, the rocks, and whoever else figured this out, which in October is almost nobody.

The light hits the cliffs from the side instead of coming up over a parking lot. Dogs on leash are fine on Ocean Path. Bring the headlamp and a real jacket; the wind off the water in the dark is a different temperature than the forecast said.

Sunrise is around 6:30 right now and slides toward 7 by late October. Be there at least 20 minutes early, and take it from someone who is always racing the sun, 30 mins early is even better. The 10 minutes before the sun clears the horizon are the ones you’ll remember the most, I promise 🌅☀️

☀️ Save this for your Acadia trip ☀️
🌲🦉 Targhee National Forest, Idaho side. The stretc 🌲🦉 Targhee National Forest, Idaho side. The stretch between West Yellowstone and everything else, which most people do at 65 with the cruise on.

We turned onto a dirt road at sunset because that’s the whole point of living the lifestyle we do. But to be totally honest, we’ve been doing this since our 3rd date. 

Skies like this, the back side of the Tetons, and a Great Gray Owl sitting in a field watching. 

You don’t need a reservation for this. You need to slow down on the way to the famous thing.

✨Save it for your next Yellowstone drive✨
🍁🍂 Some of my favorite days are never the perfect 🍁🍂 Some of my favorite days are never the perfect ones.

This one started with the Artists Bluff hike, coffee, and a pup cup for Bama. Then we put on something moody and drove the Kancamagus straight into the fog.

You couldn’t see a thing from the overlooks. No sweeping views. No postcard-perfect October day. Just gray skies, wet roads, and Bama beside me.

And somehow, it’s still one of the best days I ever had in the White Mountains.

Bama’s been gone since 2020 🐾🪽, but I think about that drive more than almost any bluebird day since. Maybe because the day wasn’t perfect. It was just ours.

7 New England autumns taught me this: fog isn’t ruining the mountains. It IS the mountains. Embrace it. 

The postcards are the exception. In October, the Whites can be gray, moody, wet, and ridiculous in the best way. The road itself is worth the drive, 34 miles of color in layers, neon maples against the gray, and empty pullouts because everyone else is waiting for the fog to burn off.

It usually does by 10. Don’t wait for it.

Fill the tank in Lincoln. There’s nothing for 34 miles, and the fog does not care about your gas gauge.

🍁✨🍁 Save this for October. 

🍁 For the full six-state route, closure dates + Google Map Companion for when your signal drops, comment LEAVES
I lived in New England for 7 years, and every Octo I lived in New England for 7 years, and every October I watched people make the same mistakes.

Wrong direction. Too many towns. A gate closed 3 days before arrival. And that one farm photo everyone swears you can still get…except you can’t.

Every year I also had a handful of visitors who wanted to see this town or go to that festival in the fall, and I’ve explored SO many of them. Fall was my favorite in New England

So I made the version I’d actually hand a friend or tell them over coffee, because that’s why I do here 🍁🧡

🍁 A six-state clockwise route
🍁 7-day + 10–14 day itineraries
🍁 2026 closures + reservation windows in one place
🍁 Dog-friendly stops (and the four that absolutely are not)
🍁 What to do when your trip slips a week and the mountains have already moved on

🍁✨Plus a Google Map companion with every stop, because “no service” and “where the hell are we?” tend to arrive together.

The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip Guide is 19 pages of all of the best New England has to offer in the fall. 

🍁🍂 Comment LEAVES and I’ll send you the direct link.
It’s the most hauntingly beautiful thing in the Ro It’s the most hauntingly beautiful thing in the Rockies and it’s happening right now.

Everyone goes to Moraine Park for rut, and it’s great, and there are 300 cars. This was the top of Trail Ridge Road, above treeline, one bull, his harem, and us.

For about a month every fall, the bulls barely eat or sleep and lose up to a fifth of their body weight holding their cows together and warning off every other bull in earshot. The sound carries for miles.

If you go: Trail Ridge Road closes for the season in mid-to-late October, so the rut window up top is short. 

In Yellowstone, head to Mammoth Village to see the elk (I’m hoping to get back this fall) 

And in Grand Teton, just keeps your eyes open 👁️

🚫 Stay a 75 feet minimum. This is the one month they’re looking for a fight.

✨Save this for your trip to the Rockies from mid-September to early October ✨
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