Swan's Island, ME

Greetings travel lovers, friends, family, and any other interested readers!  Pardon the clouds of dust as I crack open the pages of the must old blog for the first time in months, but I feel that I requires an update.  I AM MARRIED!  What an adventure; what great travels!  Virginia, now Creasy, will be my life-long travel companion, and so I find it only fitting to write a new post telling you about where we started our trek together: Swan's Island, Maine.

Virginia had always wanted to go to Maine, and had mentioned it to me before in conversation, and so, with much help, I planned a trip up there without telling her.  That's right: our honeymoon was a total surprise to the bride, and it turned out to be one of the greatest trips I've ever taken.

The day of our wedding, right after the reception, we headed out by plane to Charllotte, NC, where my Dad had a wonderful hotel waiting for us.  We had to catch our next flight to Philly the next morning at 6am, so we used Uber for the first time - at 4am - and got through security with plenty of time to spare.  I figured we would be fine to travel standby...the tickets were cheap, and we were on a tight budget, so I just went with.  A very long story short, we arrived in Bangor, ME about 17 hours later, with at least 12 of those spent missing continuous flights out of Philly.  We now have a subtle hatred of Philly; I still call it the City of Brotherly Hate.

The final look I had of Philly before heading to Bangor.

We spent the night at the airport hotel and enjoyed a good breakfast (they were very polite to the honeymooners), and the next day, our now good friend, Jim Stone, picked us up and drove us to Bar Harbor, where we took a ferry 45 minutes off the coast to his small rental cabin.

The front of our little cabin.

My lovely bride posing at the steps of the back porch.

The weather the entire week was amazing, staying right around 65-70, with fog in the mornings, and beautiful sunshine in the afternoons, making hiking around the small island (it was no more than 8 miles across) extremely enjoyable.  Our first day out, we took a rough, hand-drawn map and made our way to Fine Sand Beach.  It ended up being a lot longer hike that we estimated, taking us most of the afternoon, but we had a great time.

*Finally* finding the correct trailhead!

Over the next several days, we hiked all over the majority of the island, except for the westernmost side which was largely uninhabited and wild.  Oddly enough, there are no snakes, no large animals, and very little wildlife at all on the island itself.  The main wildlife, according to our host, is to be found in the water and on the beaches, with whale, seal, dolphins, and other aquatic animals being the main specimen.  We got to see a group of seal on our ferry ride home.

After recovering from our day of hiking, Virginia and I decided to hike all the way across the Swan's Island to the Southeastern-most point, where an old lighthouse stood.  For many years it would guide the fishing ships around the rocky shore-line, and is said to be one of the most beautiful places on the island.  It was certainly our most favorite spot.

A sailboat off the coast.

The Carrying Place, an old portage used by native Americans.

Our first view near the lighthouse, with a schooner in the distance.

Looking over the point together.

Jim drove his old truck across the island to pick us up at the old lighthouse, to spare our poor honeymooning legs the journey back, and on our way, we decided to pick up some fresh and locally caught lobster to cook for ourselves.  It was our first time cooking lobster, but it turned out positively delicious.  Coupled with a few side items and a Jones Cream Soda, our home made meal was spectacular.

Our lobsters, Fred and George!

Gross looking, but delicious!

They say a picture is worth one thousand words, so I'm using that as an excuse to say this post is actually an impressive 10,000 words or so long.  At any rate, our trip home was much less uneventful than the trip there - we only got laid over 3-4 times - and we arrived back home in Maryville late at night, and crashed together at our new apartment.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where the true adventure begins.  The married life is treating us exceptionally well, and we plan on continuing our traveling blog soon - this time in the form of camping with our 4 nephews: all of whom are 5 years old or younger.  We couldn't be more excited.  ;)  Until then, happy travels!