Farewell trip in Maine
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After the rainy graduation, the weather had not been recovered, but our plan still went on. We were headed to John’s and Margaret’s to have the packed lunch that we got from Bowdoin. John then took us to the airport where we rented a car for our trip. We planned to go to Acadia, the most-visited national park in Maine, and then go to Bar Harbor. It was a little weird that Emma and I had never been to Acadia even though we had lived in Maine for four years. (Well, it makes sense if we deduct a year and a half that I was not in Maine.
May 29
We got the car in the late afternoon, so we decided to have dinner in Portland first. We went to a Korean restaurant named N-to-Tail. We ordered Korean fried chickens and bibimbap, and they were very flavourful! After that, we went to Bangor, which was not an exciting spot. However, since it was close to Portland, we decided to stay there for a night at Super 8.
May 30
We drove up to Acadia in the morning using about 2 hours since we booked a time slot to enter mount Cadillac at 9 AM. We didn’t hike up mount Cadillac because of the weather, but it was a nice view up there. After taking many pictures, we then went around the Park Loop Road, which stops at beautiful sight-seeing spots, namely, the sand beach, the thunder hole, and Jordan Pond. The thunder hole was named after the sound of the wave hitting the shore very loudly. We finished around drive around the park around 1 in the afternoon. We weren’t hungry that much, so we decided to stop at more spots– the Bass Harbor head lighthouse. It was a lovely old lighthouse, but it was not as gorgeous as the one in Portland.
After visiting the lighthouse, we finally got a bit hungry and went to have lunch in the downtown Bar Harbor at a restaurant named A Pony and a Dog (pretty weird name, huh?). We had (16) buffalo wings, fish and chips, and clam chowders! Well, chowders are served at pretty much every restaurant in Bar Harbor. The weather in the late afternoon did not quite cooperate, so we were headed to the Anchorage hotel right after that. We spent 2 hours watching the hunger games two until we got hungry again. (What a life :P) For the dinner, we ordered takeouts from Chinese Joy, a Chinese restaurant downtown. We also had a cup of ice cream while waiting for the takeouts. (Not the one in the picture. That one we had on the day after!)
May 31
On the last morning of our stay in Bar Harbor, we started our day at Cafe This Way. The line was surprisingly long, especially on a rainy day. The restaurant served coffee for those who are lining up, which is pretty nice of them! When we got out table, we ordered two benedict eggs and a blueberry pancake. The food was delicious and fully energized us.
We then took a walk downtown and headed to the bar island. One special thing about the bar island is that when the tide is low, people can walk to the island and enjoy the animals on the island. We also walked to the island, but by the time we went back, the tide was getting higher, and we had to take off our shoes to walk. After we enjoyed a little walk to the bar island, we went back downtown to have some ice cream and buy some souvenirs. We got Maine blueberry tea for John and Margaret, and I got one for myself as well.
On the way back to Brunswick, where we stored our luggage, we made another stop at the Giant’s stairs in the Bailey island. I thought I had been there twice already while that was the first time for Emma and Poy! The stairs were amazing and terrifying as always. The big waves that kept hitting the shores made us feel so fragile, but they were also satisfying to watch. And that was the end of our trip to Maine. Although it was raining every day, the sceneries was still incredible. I’m surely going back to Maine again!!
In this family trip, we visited several famous places in northern Vietnam, namely, Sapa, Hanoi, and Ninh Binh. For some people, the more they see the world, the less impressive some places appear to them. We also did not find this part of Vietnam outstanding from all the places we have been together, yet it was still charming and gave us vacation vibes. I’d recommend those who like natures to visit Ninh Binh; Sapa is also beautiful, but it seems have some construction going on at the top of Fansipan mountain.
After having to postpone the Visa appointment for a year due to the pandemic situation, my parents have now got their first ever US Visa! A month right after they received their passports, now with the US Visa attached to, they flew from Thailand to the US to visit me in Illinois. To be more accurate, WE flew together from Thailand to Chicago, though on different flights. Our itinerary was to visit Chicago, Washington DC, NYC, and, of course, my beloved corn field city, Champaign.
The spring semester ended on May 12, marking the end of my first year as a Ph.D. student at UIUC. To celebrate the hard work, I invited my boyfriend to come visit me in Champaign. But since Champaign has nothing much to do, we also planned a short trip to Chicago and also Florida! Poy had never been to Disney World before, so we tried so hard to make it happen despite the price of Disney world’s tickets. Poy flew from England to Chicago, so our first short trip happened in Chicago! It was my second time in Chicago, so I tried to visit different places than the last time I went to in January.
I usually don’t travel over spring breaks as they are quite short and most schools in the US have spring breaks around the same time, so everywhere is just crowded. However, this break was special because I went to visit my boyfriend in England! We hadn’t seen each other for a while (aka 8 months at least), so I didn’t hesitate to go there when I had a chance. Though I had been to many countries in Europe, I had never visited England. I went there for 5 days not including the flight time, but I felt like I got a very rich British experience thanks to Poy.