Acadia days

For the last three summers, I’ve been lucky enough to stay with friends and family in New York and New England for a few days in July. It’s my annual odyssey north. I drive alone, stopping in New York, Connecticut, and southern Maine along the way. and ending up in Acadia. I take my time and stop to explore, take pictures, and generally indulge my inclination to wander. Although I grew up in West Virginia, my mom’s family lived in northwestern Connecticut and we would visit them in the summer, sometimes staying for a month or more. And after spending my college years in Vermont, it was natural to want to return to those New England roots for vacations. For many years, my family and I camped in Vermont, stayed in tents and cabins in Bar Harbor, Rangeley and Great East Lake in Maine, and drove through the lakes and mountains of New England just to see what we could see. Our vacations were always in the middle of August when the lake water was warm and the traffic was a bit lighter than July, and to me those road trips will always symbolize summer.

Among the highlights of my trip these days is spending a little time with a friend whose family owns an old house in Maine–on Mt. Desert Island, in Northeast Harbor. Light pours into the house, reflected from the nearby water, and the rooms are filled with a sense of family history. It’s like walking into a complicated historical novel or onto the set of a film. Here are a few images from my visit this past July. It’s a privilege to spend time in this well-loved and beautiful space.