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September 4, 2026

The Girls Trip Guide to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park

Girls trip to Acadia National Park: four friends posing on Ocean Path near Otter Cliff with pink granite rocks, Frenchman Bay, and fall foliage on the Bar Harbor, Maine coastline, cover photo for The Well Worn Shoes girls trip guide to Acadia and Bar Harbor.

Bar Harbor is the rare girls trip destination where everyone gets what they came for: the friend who wants to hike the Beehive, the friend who wants a lobster roll and a nap, and the friend who booked the whale watch before anyone agreed to it. This guide covers where to stay, which hikes are worth the early alarm, the best sunset spots on the quiet side, where to drink after dinner, and a day-by-day itinerary so nobody has to be the planner. Cadillac sunrise included. You’ll cry. That’s normal.

August 18, 2026

Acadia National Park October Guide: Fall Colors, Weather & What to Pack

Bright red maple leaf featured over autumn Maine waterway

October in Acadia is Disney World busy, and worth it anyway. Here’s what actually matters: when peak foliage really hits (later than you think), how to get a Cadillac Mountain reservation, why most people miss the Island Explorer cutoff, and the late-October cheat code nobody talks about.

July 22, 2026

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

Downtown Bar Harbor's walkable shopping streets in Maine — featured image for a complete Bar Harbor and Acadia travel guide, capturing the village's shops, benches, and small-town charm.

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 Park for years, but in the summer of 2025, I moved there for 6 months and have all the insider details…

June 18, 2026

The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine

A craft cocktail at a Bar Harbor brewery bar in Maine — featured image for a guide to the best bars in Bar Harbor, designed to work as a Pinterest preview.

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 matter how many cruise ships are anchored in the harbor. But one thing people don’t talk about enough is the drinking scene, and after spending six months living here last summer, I can tell you it’s genuinely impressive for a town this size.

June 9, 2026

The Complete Guide To Getting Out On Frenchmans Bay

Complete guide to Frenchman Bay near Bar Harbor, Maine - featured image of the working harbor with moored sailboats, a classic Maine tugboat, and pine-covered Bar Island under dramatic clouds, the iconic view anchoring a complete guide to boat tours, whale watching, kayaking, sailing, and fishing charters near Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island

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…

April 1, 2026

The Foodie’s Guide to Bar Harbor, Maine

Iced coffee from Coffee Hound at The Stadium enjoyed at Agamont Park in Bar Harbor, Maine — a Stadium Bar Harbor branded iced coffee cup held up with Frenchman Bay, the Porcupine Islands, and anchored boats on a clear sunny day, highlighting Coffee Hound as one of the best coffee shops in Bar Harbor and Agamont Park as a scenic waterfront spot for eating and relaxing near Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine

6 months of eating my way through this town I’ve done the research, the delicious, delicious research, so you don’t have to. This is your complete foodie’s guide to Bar Harbor, covering everything from 5 AM blueberry pancakes to hidden speakeasies, the best lobster roll actually in downtown Bar Harbor, and every must-eat spot in between.

February 24, 2026

The 18 Best Things to Do in Bar Harbor, Maine

18 Best Things to Do in Bar Harbor, Maine - sunset over a tranquil harbor near Acadia National Park captures the magic of Maine's coast, from lobster boats at anchor to pink granite shores and golden skies

Bar Harbor, Maine, is one of those places that grabs you and doesn’t let go…

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…

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

  • A Girls’ Trip Guide to Salem, Massachusetts
  • Where to Eat in Salem, MA: A Foodie Guide to the Witch City (Plus October Treats)
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Going to Salem on Halloween and starting to freak Going to Salem on Halloween and starting to freak out about the crowds? It’s the 400th and I get it, but trust me, Halloween in Salem can be epic if you know the clock, and plan ahead. 

Every year I watch people roll in at 11 am looking for parking downtown (it’s not going to happen), or standing on Essex Street at 10:45 pm looking for a cab. The town is not set up for either. 

I lived in Massachusetts for 7 years and visited Salem often (at every time of year). This is the schedule I’d text a friend.

The rest of it, the week-by-week crowd calendar, the lots by address, the kids version, and what’s different this year, is in the Ultimate Salem Guide ($) and the Salem Cheat Sheet ($). Comment WITCH and I’ll send you both links., plus all of my Salem blog posts! 

And be good to the people who live there. Remember it’s their street before it’s your Halloween. 🎃
A canyon, a federal manhunt, and some very complic A canyon, a federal manhunt, and some very complicated family trees. Welcome to Capitol Reef.

Cohab Canyon, Capitol Reef. In the 1880s, the story goes, Mormon men with multiple wives ducked into this canyon when U.S. marshals came looking. Whether every detail checks out, the name stuck.

It’s a short hike from Fruita Campground, with a steep first quarter-mile before the red walls, honeycombed rock, and little side slots take over. About 1.5 miles to the overlooks, where the valley and orchards spread out below.

Finish at Sunset Point, a quick walk from the car, where the cliffs do their thing.

Captiol Reef was one of my favorites in Utah! How about you?
Everyone thinks Acadia shuts down after Columbus D Everyone thinks Acadia shuts down after Columbus Day. Most of it doesn’t.

Park Loop Road is open until December (weather permitting). Cadillac stops needing a reservation on the 26th. All 45 miles of carriage road are open and yellow. 

What you give up is the Island Explorer, the park campgrounds, peak color on the mountains, and the crowds. I’ll take that trade every year.

Everything above, plus the hour-by-hour late-October day, where to stay when the campgrounds close, and the dog version are in the Acadia & Bar Harbor In Fall guide ($). 

Comment FALL and I’ll send the link.

Pack for chilly and wet weather! The moody-ness of Maine at the end of October is unmatched!
I waited 34 years to see a wild wolf. It took 11 s I waited 34 years to see a wild wolf. It took 11 seconds for me to cry watching them 😍🥹

Lamar Valley, sunrise, a whole pack moving across the flats with the bison watching from the treeline. They were playing: running at each other, rolling, splitting up and circling back. I stood at the 400-600 rental lens with my hands shaking and cried.

It’s Wolf Awareness Week, so here’s the part that matters: there were no wolves in Yellowstone for almost 70 years. They were killed off by the 1920s, and 41 were brought back from Canada in 1995 and 1996. Every wolf in the park today comes from that.

These are the only photos I took. They’re not great, but I really don’t care (that’s not the point 😉). I got watch wolves play in the wild. 

Canine distemper went through the packs in 2025. The count at the end of the year was 84 wolves, down from 108, and only 17 pups survived. That’s the lowest the park has seen since the reintroduction years. With the added threat of being hunted when they leave the park, it’s not great for wolves. 

They’ve come back from less, but it’s worth knowing when you’re watching them. Please make sure to remain 100 yards from wolves in the park. Their life could depend on it. 

If you go: Lamar Valley at dawn, a spotting scope, and good binos. These were taken with a 400-600-zoom lens that I rented for the trip, but you could watch them with binos easily! 

I’ll always go to bat for wolves, I’ve been obsessed with them since I was kid!
Did you know New Mexico had its name 200 years bef Did you know New Mexico had its name 200 years before Mexico did…

Spanish explorers were calling this country Nuevo México in the 1500s. Santa Fe was founded in 1610, which makes it the oldest capital city in the United States. The Palace of the Governors on the plaza has been in continuous use since that year. 

Mexico, the nation, didn’t exist until 1821. New Mexico became a state in 1912. And all of that is recent. Acoma Pueblo has been lived in since around 1150. Taos Pueblo, about a thousand years. 

Twenty-three tribal nations call the state home today, and the Spanish, the Mexican, and the American chapters all came after.

I fell in love with New Mexico while we were living in El Paso for a year Some of my favorites: White Sands, Ruidoso, Cloudcroft, Lincoln National Forest, 8,600 feet up in the south of the state, where the aspens go gold in October and nobody east of the Mississippi knows it happens. 

Think elk in the meadows, cool nights, a mountain town with a wooden trestle and one main street.

A place can hold four centuries of names and still be exactly itself. That’s the thing about New Mexico, it truly is enchanting! (Cheesy, but true!)

Photos from 📍 Ruidoso, New Mexico
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