Summertime in DC, a time I always wish I was somewhere else!  Since I just started a new job I couldn't go back home to the Netherlands for a visit this summer.  I'm therefore very much looking forward to a short trip coming up soon to one of my favorite places:  Maine!  We've been making this trip the past three years to drop off our youngest at college near Portland and this will be her last year!  My husband is the planner and he is very good at that.  Ever since our honeymoon he keeps most of it a surprise and I have never been disappointed!  

Last year we went to Bar Harbor, a town surrounded by Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island.  Everything about this trip was magical. We were staying in a place overlooking the Gulf of Maine and woke up to the most spectacular sunrises. Within a few minute timespan the view on the left, then on the right and then back to the left would be like this:

Usually, when we travel, we have a simple breakfast, some fruit for lunch and then feast in the evening.  My husband is the mastermind behind our dinner plans and finds us the most perfect little restaurants, shacks, diners and dives although I certainly have a say in that too (last photo in this series).

The ambiance at one restaurant in particular was spectacular.  Seafood being cooked in this shack, was brought up by runners (literally ) to the restaurant uphill or to the brave souls at the tables on the water's edge (it was somewhat cold!).  The food was mouthwatering good.  I had lobster of course!

It's all about seafood in Maine.  And  fishers start at a very young age!

I need peace and quiet at times.  Always have!  Growing up in the Netherlands I spent a lot of time on and by the water and so naturally I'm drawn to the serenity in Maine.  

I'll finish here with this final image that was actually not taken in Mount Desert Island but rather in Boothbay Harbor and is part of a series  "Fog in Boothbay Harbor".