This past week my family packed up our car and headed north from Philadelphia to Winter Harbor, Maine. Since I was a toddler, my summers have always been marked with a trip Downeast. It is a place of wonder where my little sister and I had the privilege of growing up in every summer.
After a 12-hour drive, we arrived at the property and unpacked our goods into the cozy cabin that would be our home for the next week. With nearly 2.5 million visitors each year, Acadia National Park is only 35 minutes from the house we stay in, but we tend to avoid the mass of tourists. Our escape is Schoodic Point, which is a part of Acadia National Park that sits off the well-worn path. It is located on the mainland and hooks around Mount Desert Island, so views of Cadillac Mountain and MDI are at every turn. Schoodic is the quintessential representation of the Maine coast, the Atlantic Ocean crashes into the massive slabs of granite that jut out into the 50-degree water. Lobster boats rumble by off the shore with seagulls in tow hoping for giveaways. On sunny days you can see pods of porpoises passing by and the occasion seal head breaking the surface. Eider ducks ride the 'Coke bottle green' waves and Cormorants dive for seafood.
These photographs show the landscape that I dream of when I'm holed up in the library during finals week in December, the land where I spent every summer growing up and one of America's hidden gems.
