Matt and I had a much needed vacation this past long weekend wayyyy up in Bar Harbor, Maine.  Well, I had a vacation.  Matt had half of a vacation as he was actually attending the district conference for the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for the first half of every day.  NO matter, we both had a vacation.  No kids, no diapers, no real schedules and no children’s tv.  In fact, not even tv at all really because we stayed in a very quaint little rooming house that had only a small fuzzy tv in the room.  (The website is HERE for The Central House where we stayed.  As long as you don’t mind finding your own breakfast and meals or staying in an old-fashioned house, it is a great inexpensive stay and perfectly located!)

We had never really been to Maine.  I had visited Colby and Bowdoin colleges in school but that was pretty much the extent of my visiting.  Matt had done a few trips but nothing really big or that he remembered well.  When we told people we were going to Bar Harbor we heard so so many great things about it so we were pretty excited.  Every once in a while we really like nature.  We like to be calm.  We like to be away from things.  One of our favorite places in the world is Blowing Rock, NC in this little tiny b&b right near the mountains.  Let me tell you – Bar Harbor blew that out of the water.  We first saw the town at night because we got in late Thursday.  But the next day, wow.  And then the day after when we went to Acadia National Park – WOW WOW.  There were views in the park that literally made me gasp and actually say “WOW” out loud.  I have never in my life seen water so blue, skies so blue, air so clear and mountains so green and lush with trees starting to peak with fall color.  Stunning is really an understatement.  And the skies.  The skies in Maine are like nothing I have ever seen.  It is so wide open, so unpolluted with skyline or anything less than crystal clear air, it is like nothing you have seen before.  I have SO so many photos (as you can imagine) and I really tried hard to photograph how wide open and gorgeous it truly was.  I kicked myself many a time for not renting a super wide angle as my 24mm lens was not cutting it, but I think I still managed to convey how it looked and felt.  There will be a few different shares here on the blog.  Today, though, some of my most favorites.  The ones I could not WAIT to get home and edit.  These (along with others) will be going on my wall…possibly a calendar and definitely a coffee table album…

And just to put it in writing – there has been NO special editing to the colors in these photos outside of my normal workflow.  The colors are what they are – I didn’t touch the skies or the leaves, etc.  Between the vibrancy of the scenery, the Nikon’s ability to capture color and shooting for landscapes (ie stopping way down in aperture) this IS Maine.  🙂  And the light, when it was good, was just beautiful and rich.

**The ones taken from very high overlooking land and ocean were on top of Cadillac Mountain which is the highest peak on the East Coast.  It affords 360 degree views and on a sunny day, it is like nothing else.  There were also winds of about 30-40 mph up there as well which made it challenging!  🙂