birthday weekend:
-gorgeous new-to-us drive through maine
-a(nother) stop at ll bean to pick up our new hiking boots
-a hot stone massage
-exploring bar harbor on foot, with our little inn as home base
-a delicious birthday dinner
-night sky festival! simply amazing. first, hundreds of people collected on top of dark, windy (and coldtome!) cadillac mountain in complete and total darkness. to preserve the view of the sky, there was no light. this experience was new and interesting. have you ever been somewhere joined by hundreds of other people in utter darkness? ok, me either. eric and i held hands the entire time so we wouldn't lose each other. once i let go of him and he turned in circles loudly calling my name, though i was just a few feet away and i had to giggle. the stars were so visible and so MANY. the milky way was obvious and clear. through telescopes we got close up views of nebulas, binary stars and (coolest of all!) four of jupiter's moons and one of it's rings. amazing.
-a sweet little local cafe breakfast.
-a short hike, a big round boulder, amazing views.
-getting our bearings in acadia, now we're ready for our next trip up.
-a delicious dinner on the way home at primo. eric and i have read about primo, watched programs about it on tv and couldn't miss this chance to make a stop there about two hours north of portland, especially since the place will be closing soon for the winter season . primo has acres of gardens where they grow their own food to serve in the restaurant, literally right in their back yard, from the veggies and herbs in all the dishes to maybe even the flowers on the tables. they raise their own piggies for pork dishes. and, when they don't make or grow or raise it themselves, they buy local local local. friends, this was a fantastic meal/experience. eric- my favorite food snob- told me it ranks in his top 5 meals, ever. whoa. i had basil crusted cod with artichoke, roasted figs with blue cheese and prociutto, and todiefor home made donuts for dessert.

heaven.