Day 32: Bar Harbor, ME to Los Angeles, CA

We woke up around 7am, packed up, and ate our last buffet breakfast at the Acadia Inn, a hotel we’d return to and recommend for future Bar Harbor visitors. We got on the road to drive the several hours needed to get down through Maine. We made a quick stop for gas along the way and then stopped for lunch in Westbrook, ME, where we met our good friend Jacob, who works them on a contract assignment.

We went to Legends Rest Taproom, a small restaurant and bar, which had great food at an unbelievable price. Abe got the smashed burger (ground brisket, chuck, and short rib blend) for a mere $5, Arielle enjoyed the plain tots, which were delicious and also $5, and Jacob got a tofu and black bleak burger, also $5. We ended our efficient and enjoyable lunch to make sure that we would have enough time to drive back to Boston before our flight. Arielle drank her blueberry soda on the way.

Sure enough, as soon as we approached the city we started hitting a lot of traffic. Luckily, we had built in plenty of time and made it to Ezra’s apartment to drop off the car and hop in a Lyft with a lot of time to spare. Despite starting out with a twenty-minute ETA, the Lyft driver impressively navigated himself, jumped in the carpool lane, and trimmed down our travel time to a mere ten minutes. Arielle headed as usual to the Delta SkyClub to peruse the food options while Abe, having been upgraded once again to Delta Comfort +, asked the gate agent about Arielle’s chances. Despite politely replying that they would kill him if he bumped up a basic economy ticket, he showed the exit row upgrade he had already given her and said he would keep her in mind if the seat was still open. When Abe went back to ask if it was possible right before to boarding, we saw that he had in fact made the switch, which was very nice. Much to Abe’s chagrin, Arielle once again got upgraded despite booking a basic economy ticket. We settled in to our comfortable aisle and middle seats for the flight. Arielle had brought Abe some meatballs, which were good, and some rice, which was not because of the artichoke hearts puzzlingly mixed in. Arielle enjoyed a delightful broccoli cheddar soup. We got some work done on the flight and landed early before 9pm pacific time. Arielle’s parents were kind enough to pick us up and we relaxed and chatted at home before getting to sleep.

Approximate number of miles covered: 3287

Day 29: Nashua, NH to Bar Harbor, ME

We got up around 9:30am and packed everything up. We socialized for a bit with Nancy and Kallie after they returned from the brunch at the hotel.

We thanked Ron (and Pam, who was at work) for their generous hospitality. We got gas and got on the road for our four and a half hour trip up to Bar Harbor, Maine, crossing back into Massachusetts for about half an hour so that we could reconnect with Route 495 to take us in the right direction. It didn’t take too long to make it to Maine, and we stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts so that Arielle could finally get the vanilla chai she had been craving.

Nancy’s parents had described the drive to Bar Harbor as seemingly endless, particularly in its final hour or so, and we definitely felt that, though we were glad to make good timing and pull into our hotel, the Acadia Inn, at around 6:30pm. Seeing the motels right around it, we were happy to have selected the hotel we did, and quickly dropped our bags in the sizable room so that we could hop aboard the free shuttle into town. We learned that there was road work happening on Route 3, which meant traffic only went in one direction and that we would need to take a loop through part of Acadia National Park anytime we wanted to return from town to the hotel.

It only took about fifteen minutes on the shuttle to get into town, and we walked around briefly before getting to our selected restaurant, Side Street Cafe. Abe ordered the steak burrito and Arielle got a tuna avocado melt with a Caesar salad on the side, both of which were delectable.

We went right over to the legendary ice cream shop we remembered from the last time we were in Maine, Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream. The line was out the door, but it was worth it. We sampled a few flavors and Abe got a scoop of the Reverse Root Beer Float, while Arielle split her scoop between the classic Cereal Milk and London Fog. More than full, we returned to the hotel via a very crowded shuttle, sadly missing the opportunity to roast s’mores that had finished at 9pm. We watched some TV and made some phone calls and got to sleep a little after midnight.

Approximate number of miles covered: 293

Day 28: Nashua, NH to Bedford, NH

Though Nancy and Kallie had to be up early for hair and makeup appointments, we did not, and thus we were to sleep late for only the second time in a month, and woke up around 11:30am. We enjoyed a breakfast of bagels and baked eggs outside with Ron, and as soon as Pam arrived home, we sat down for another game of Ticket to Ride, which we finished in time to get ready but had to save the scoring for another time. We got dressed and left for the wedding in Bedford, NH around 3:45pm. We carpooled and Abe drove. We arrived at the venue and made our way to where the ceremony was going to be happening as the bridesmaids tried to shield Elly, who Arielle described as looking like a model bride out of the roaring ‘20s, from view. The ceremony was mostly traditional and lovely, with Elly and Kevin circling each other, exchanging vows, and being blessed with some nice interpretative sheva brachot (seven blessings). Abe commented on the meaningful playing of the score from Up before and after the ceremony. The whole affair was perfectly rustic and classy, moving over to another outdoor area for a cocktail hour and then inside for the reception.

We were seated, with Nancy, Kallie, and a few friends of Kevin’s, at the Three Broomsticks table, named like the others for a fictional bar. Abe got the salmon and Arielle had the vegetarian pasta, but the real highlight of the meal was dessert. Abe loved the banana chocolate cupcake, and Arielle split the gluten-free peanut butter cupcake and strawberry shortcake cupcake with Nancy. There were two signature drinks, the Shevs and the Kevs, named after the bride and the groom, but we stuck to our go-tos, Amaretto and Bailey’s, both on the rocks, for Abe, and a Midori Sour for Arielle, which intrigued everyone with its neon green color.

The dancing was a blast, particularly a few choice Israeli dances that only a small group of people knew, including Nigun Atik, Zodiac, and Turkish Kiss. We stayed a little bit at the afterparty but realized quickly that we’re not built to stay up that late. We had a wonderful time with Elly and Kevin and look forward to seeing them again soon in Brooklyn.

We spent a few minutes back at Nancy’s house with Arielle surgically removing hair pins from Nancy and Kallie’s hair before going to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 37

Day 27: Katonah, NY to Nashua, NH

We woke up - in separate rooms - around 9:15am and joined together with the rest of the Fried-Tanzer for a luxurious breakfast buffet. As soon as we finished eating, we started preparing lunch. We retrieved a few more items from the basement and Arielle repacked into a larger suitcase to take with her. Tanzer relatives Rachel, Sharon, and Marty, better known as Pop-Pop, arrived, and it was especially sweet to see Pop-Pop, whose own beloved wife, best known as Grandma to the Fried-Tanzer children, passed away nine years ago, console Grampye on the loss of his wife and just how hard it can be to keep going after such a close relationship and so many years of marriage. We proceeded outside for lunch and enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken and leaves, a cold chicken, spinach, and berry dish named years ago by Abe, roasted chicken, various cabbage salads, roasted vegetables, sweet potato pie with marshmallows, and more! We sang a belated happy birthday to Donald over a brownie cake.

At this point, it was time for us to leave, but we were very happy to have been able to make this quick detour on our east coast trip. We started driving further east and made it to just over the border in Connecticut, at which point Arielle said she was too tired to keep driving. Abe took over and Arielle enjoyed her first nap of the trip through the entire state of Connecticut. Arielle woke up just in time to take a picture of the Massachusetts state sign. Instead of taking us all the way towards the Boston area and then north to New Hampshire, our directions sent us off the Mass Pike in Worcester and through areas like Leominster and Lancaster to slowly cross the border into New Hampshire via back roads. We arrived in Hollis, NH at the home of the bride’s family around 6:45pm. We said hello to Elly, the bride, and Kevin, the groom, met both of their mothers, and socialized with Nancy and Kallie, two NYU friends of Abe’s who were both bridesmaids in the wedding. Arielle sampled some Austrian desserts (Elly’s mom is from there and has many relatives who came in to celebrate) and we were able to have some tasty mac and cheese. We were also very intrigued by the mosquito repellent wipes we saw on the tables outside under the tent that would come in handy a few days later on our trip (keep reading to find out when!).

After watching a slideshow of old photographs of Elly and Kevin, we drove to Nancy’s parents’ home, where we would be spending the next two nights. Our night went later than expected when we were introduced to an intense expansion version of Ticket to Ride, which we played with Nancy and her parents, Pam and Ron, though not with Kallie, since she doesn’t like games. Ron trounced everyone, but we enjoyed the game. We tried to introduce Pam and Ron to One Night Ultimate Werewolf, but quickly learned that though they love games, this one was not for them. Satisfied with our earlier game, we went to sleep.

Approximate number of miles covered: 188