The Great Moon Camping Trip of 2015

So, remember that time we took a family camping trip where all six of us and our dog camped for nine straight days in the same tent.  Where we drove through ten states and travelled more than 2,500 miles together pulling a trailer...going slower than the speed limit.  Where we stopped at what seemed like every single rest stop on the highway.  (There's an awesome app for finding those by the way)!  That time when we bought the new inflatable mattress right before the trip, but it clearly had no ability to hold air throughout the night.  Where we forgot to hook up the brake lights on the trailer one day and drove through heavy city traffic and some rain without any problems.  Thank you, Jesus.  That time where we hiked, kayaked, swam in the ocean, watched sunsets and sunrises, searched for seashells, ate lobster and saw a beautiful light house.  That time where we realized you have to get up at 4:45am to (barely) catch the sunrise off the coast of Maine, because the sun rises freakin' early there!  That time where we had tons of campfires, too many s'mores, and used lots of bug spray. 

Oh, right, that was last week!  We just got back from basically my dream vacation.  I've always wanted to travel to Maine.  Always.  Chris got excited once he started looking at the map.  He found just about every state and national park or forest along the route to check out.  And we had so much fun along the way.  Seriously, we didn't even get sick of each other which I'd say is a pretty big miracle because we spent a lot of time together!  

Since I took over 600 pictures - yikes - it's really hard to shrink that experience down into one blog post, but here goes!  

Gettysburg:  We listened to a LONG cd and drove through the park.  Chris loved every second of it.  Sam thought he was going to see a battle.  He was a little disappointed, but found every cannon he could to play with.  We also got to spend some much needed time with cousins we haven't seen in way too long! 

 

Eastern Pennsylvania:  This place was not your classiest campground to stay, but look at this sunset over the pond.  Not bad, right? 

Birthday Boy:  Sam turned seven while on vacation.  It was a bit pitiful really.  It was one of our heavy driving days, we went through six states that day.  He got some toys early in the morning at the campground.  Then that night we celebrated with some grocery store cupcakes.  The poor things had gotten turned over in our cooler and were completely smashed and gross looking.  He really didn't mind too much at all! 

The Lighthouse:  This was the number one thing I wanted to see.  It was beautiful, especially at sunset.  And my crazy kids - and dog - loved climbing around all the rocks on the coastline.

 

We checked out Old Orchard Beach before leaving the Portland area.

 

 

And you have to be a little touristy and stop by LL Bean when passing through Freeport.

 

Acadia National Park:  We had a great time camping out and cooking on the grill!

 

 

 

This tent is AMAZING!  It seriously comes together in a couple of minutes.  The poles are built in.  So, so nice! 

 

The kids played in the unbelievably freezing cold ocean.  If you look closely, they're the only crazy ones actually out in the water! 

 

 

 

Can you believe this coastline was only a 5 minute walk from our campsite? 

 

 

We were silly tourists who tried lobster and blueberry ice cream in Bar Harbor!

 

 

 

We kayaked one morning in Acadia and Max tried out his new life jacket.  He was a bit nervous at first in the kayak, but he started to settle down after a while. 

 

He looks thrilled!

 

We hiked up to the top of the Bubbles and drove up Cadillac Mountain to check out the views.

 

 

 

We ended our visit to Acadia with a sunset picnic at the ocean where we a ton of beautiful seashells. 

 

 

Vermont:  Then we headed to Vermont and found a great campground that only cost $10 in the Green Mountain National Forest.  You guys, you've got to visit Vermont. Every single town we drove through was ridiculously charming.  Every. Single. One.  Like quaint little ski towns that are overflowing with flower boxes and old fashioned street lights.  I so want to go back there! 

 

 

And look at this view in the morning when we headed out! 

 

Lake Erie: Then we drove to Headlands Dunes, Lake Erie and got to see it at Sunset! 

 

 

 

The kids had a lot of fun here and the water was warmer than the ocean! 

 

And finally, we headed home the next morning.  Such a great vacation!  Chris is already trying to figure out where to go next summer!