Vegan Travel Guide to Acadia

A Veganventure Through Maine’s Most Majestic Park

Aug 22, 2025

by Megan McFadden

Vegan Travel Guide to Acadia National Park in Maine

A Taste of Vegan Vacationland

Once a year, my family spends a week together exploring a national park. This year, we ventured to Acadia National Park in Maine, since most of us had never been to New England. It was a pretty place, and it reminded me a lot of Minnesota.

Traveling is a little harder for me as a vegan, but I always find ways to stay strong and true to my plant-based values. Yet again, I had an easier time than my brother and sister-in-law with their toddler.

Here’s how I navigated Acadia as a vegan (and still had a blast).

The Drive to Acadia

August 1-3, 2025

I rode with my parents on the way to Acadia National Park. The direct route from Iowa to Sullivan, Maine, took 24 hours. However, since my parents wanted to cross off some US states from their travel bucket list, we zigzagged through New England to get there. This is my first time going to any state in New England, which made this trip exciting.

One of my goals on the way there was to catch up on some of my blogging, like creating this list of vegan summer desserts and finishing up my vegan Banff travel guide from last year's vacation. During our Banff trip, I had enough downtime to get it done, but with almost no internet and a weak phone signal, it took half an hour to write a single sentence, which was counterproductive.

We left a little after 3:00pm. I rode with my parents on the way there and flew home to get back to work on time.

Day 1 Supper: Your Pie (Davenport, Iowa)

We ate supper at Your Pie in Davenport, which my dad picked out in advance due to their vegan options. I was disappointed when the Your Pie in town closed earlier this year, but it was great to eat at a restaurant I hadn't visited in months. I got an individual 10" pizza with wheat crust, vegan cheese, peach slices, basil, and balsamic glaze. It was my vegan variation of their seasonal peach and prosciutto pizza. It was scrumptious.

After supper, we drove through Illinois and Indiana on Interstate 80. I finished my blog post on vegan summer desserts. We stopped at a potty stop at Travel Plaza 3 in La Porte County, Indiana.

We stayed overnight at The Clover (Wingate By Wyndham) in South Bend, Indiana, known for the University of Notre Dame. I liked how it was Irish-themed, because of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It even had a picture of their football field and stadium in the room I stayed in.

I got a good vibe from this room because Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was playing on mute in my room when I arrived, and the hotel room had cruelty-free and vegetarian bar soap from Dove, which is better than nothing. Unfortunately, we got to the hotel too late to watch the entire movie on Syfy, around 11:00pm ET (10:00pm Iowa time), but it was nice watching part of it before heading to bed.

Day 2 Breakfast: The Clover (South Bend, Indiana)

I had some time to blog a bit that morning before breakfast because it started at 7:00am, and I woke up a little after 5:00am. At the hotel, I had some potatoes and orange juice for breakfast. I would have had more, but they had no fresh fruit. That was understandable at a continental breakfast because it spoils quickly.

After we took a quick stop to attempt to take a picture of Notre Dame's dome, we headed back on the road again. I felt smart by bringing a bit of breakfast food along with me in case the hotel breakfast didn't have many vegan options. I had some Nature's Path Love Crunch Dark Chocolate and Almond Butter Granola with some mixed nuts and blueberries.

I ended up taking some leftover blueberries from my work's fridge that would have spoiled over the weekend, and the remaining kiwis from my home fridge that I would eat later.

During the morning drive, I continued to write my blog post on last year's vacation to Banff. We ended up making a potty stop at Tiffin River Service Plaza in West Unity, Ohio.

Day 2 Lunch: Brady's Leap Travel Services (Mantua, Ohio)

We went to the bathroom and bought some food at Brady's Leap Travel Services. I was disappointed because I learned Freshens has a new "meat-free protein" for their Mexican meatless rice bowls using Quorn, which is a vegetarian meat alternative company that tends to use eggs as a binding agent.

I ended up ordering The Veggie #6 without double provolone cheese and no mayo from Jimmy John's. They didn't put any lettuce on the sandwich either, so it only had avocado, cucumber, and tomato, which was a bit disappointing. I also cut up a couple of kiwis and had some leftover Tostitos Bite Size chips that my parents brought because they were partially opened before we left.

Shortly after eating lunch in the car, we crossed through Pennsylvania. Someday, I will travel to these states, instead of just driving through them. We had a long driving day ahead and no time to marvel at the beauty and sightsee.

Day 2 Snack: Dairy Queen (Brookville, Pennsylvania)

We stopped for a potty break and ice cream at Dairy Queen in Brookville, Pennsylvania. In case you are not aware, Dairy Queen does have a vegan Dilly Bar called Non-Dairy Dilly Bar. It's widely available in small towns, cities, and in between.

Note, make sure you call it a Non-Dairy Dilly Bar. In the past, I have confused DQ cashiers when I requested their vegan Dilly Bar, so it's easier for both parties if you call it their branded name.

Day 2 Supper: Ruby Tuesday (Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania)

We stopped for supper at Ruby Tuesday. My parents noticed there were a lot of restaurants at the Bloomsburg exit, so they wanted to stop there. I checked on HappyCow for some local options. Luckily, I came across Ruby Tuesday, which had an endless salad bar option called "Endless Garden Bar" for $12.99. Some add-ons were available to add to an entrée for $5.99, and the Garden Bar Combo, where you could get endless soup (broccoli and cheese or the Soup of the Day) and salad for $14.99.

I got the salad bar option. One thing I liked about this was that the salad bar items were served in individual bowls, instead of cold chafing dishes, which prevented a decent amount of cross-contamination with tongs and in the food in the salad bar line.

On my first plate, I got an actual salad with mixed greens, romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots, broccoli, grape tomatoes, sliced mushrooms and cucumber, red and green bell pepper sticks, sunflower kernels, and shelled edamame without salad dressing. The other plate has red grapes, green and red bell pepper sticks, broccoli, sliced cucumber, and grape tomatoes.

After supper, we moved onward towards Connecticut. We took a brief bathroom and gas stop at Fuel One in White Haven, Pennsylvania. It took a while to get back on I-80E because the off-ramp was closed, so we had to take a detour.

For the most part, it was a smooth ride without much traffic. I wasn't complaining, but that saved us some time. We spent the evening driving through New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. We got to the hotel around 9:30pm. We stayed the night at the Hampton Inn in Milford, Connecticut.

It was a wise choice to stop in Milford instead of going all the way to New Haven for the night. That way, we stopped our trip a little earlier, and that saved us time the next morning because there was less traffic. Also, it was a nice sign that breakfast started at 6:00am every day, unlike the hotel we stayed at last night, where breakfast began at 7:00am.

I watched the end of the movie Barbie while I was getting ready for bed. Meanwhile, I noticed that the hotel room had cruelty-free shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, and shower gel from Zero%. Then, I did a little bit of blogging before going to bed.

Day 3 Breakfast: Hampton Inn (Milford, Connecticut)

The next morning, I watched 6 minutes of news while eating breakfast at the hotel. The main highlight was that Boston, Massachusetts, wanted to buy the Connecticut Sun WBA team. I only had an apple and apple juice at the hotel because of the limited vegan options at the hotel's continental breakfast.

After going to 7:00am Mass at St. Agnes and then a quick potty stop at Pilot in Milford, I finished having breakfast. I had Nature's Path Love Crunch Dark Chocolate and Almond Butter Granola, pistachios, banana chips that my mom dried with unripe bananas, and 2 kiwis.

That morning, we took I-95N to go from Milford, Connecticut, through Rhode Island and Massachusetts. It was a nice scenic drive with all of their trees. I thought we would see more of the ocean since we were so close to the coast, but I was mistaken.

Day 3 Lunch: honeygrow (Northshore Mall, Peabody, Massachusetts)

Pro Tip

A couple of great places to stop at for vacation meals are supermarkets and food courts in regular and strip malls.

Supermarkets have a lot of hot dishes, cold dishes, and snacks, produce, and other groceries that you want. Safeway, Fred Meyer, and Hy-Vee are great examples of supermarkets with a variety of groceries and hot meal choices. Often, there are tables and a microwave available for you to sit down and eat together quickly without eating in the car, which helps keep the car messes to a minimum.
Food courts have a wider variety of restaurant options. That allows everyone to choose the cuisine or food preference, and it is a lot more allergy-conscious and diet-friendly that way.

For lunch, I suggested heading to the food court at Northshore Mall. It was a couple of miles out of the way, but it was so worth it. My parents ended up eating at Big Chicken and got some wings and milkshakes.

I bought food at honeygrow next door, which mainly had stir-fries and salads. I ended up customizing the Red Coconut Curry dish (red coconut curry sauce, rice noodles, roasted tofu, pineapples, jalapeños, carrots, scallions, and cilantro) by removing the cilantro and adding toasted sesame seeds, red pepper, and avocado. I usually get water cups at restaurants to save money, but I got their strawberry guava lemonade instead.

It was very appetizing. I underestimated the spicy kick of the red coconut curry sauce. I enjoyed the strawberry, guava, and lemonade flavor combo, and it hit the spot after having a spicier sauce than I was used to having.

Another vegan-friendly option was right next door at Sweetgreen. My brother took me to that place when I visited him in Washington, DC, and it was delicious. It's known for serving rice bowls and salads.

After eating lunch in the car, we spent 7 miles in New Hampshire on I-95N and then got into Maine. Shortly after getting into Maine, we switched to I-295N into Portland, Maine (not Oregon). After getting back on I-95N, we made a quick potty and gas stop at Irving Oil in Waterville, Maine.

Pro Tip

If you're looking to buy some vegetarian and vegan groceries, make a pit stop in Ellsworth on your way to Acadia National Park. That is the last major town before you get there. There are grocery stores closer, but the smaller the city you go to, the fewer vegan options there tend to be at grocery stores. These are some supermarket options with a decent amount of vegan options.

Hannaford is a supermarket that is popular in New England. It has a lot of vegan snacks, meals, dairy and meat alternatives, and desserts.
John Edwards Market is an excellent option if you're entire family is open to having organic, gluten-free, and/or plant-based options. It's similar to Natural Grocers and a local co-op store.
Shaw's is a New England grocery chain based in Massachusetts. It would be similar to Kroger and Hy-Vee in other parts of the United States.
Walmart is a very familiar option for many. I don't shop there often, but it's nice to shop at a store where you are already familiar with the layout and the products.

I ended up picking Shaw's for our first grocery run because:

Shaw's had more vegan options than Hannaford in the online shopping options.
Shaw's had a bigger variety of products than John Edwards Market, so my parents and other family members could enjoy the food from it as well.
Shaw's wasn't in Iowa, whereas Walmart was everywhere in Iowa.

I felt like this grocery run was a success. My parents recommended starting wtih three meals at the Vrbo, as well as sack lunch food. Note, their meat and dairy alternatives were in the produce section, rather than being mixed with the regular deli and dairy sections.

Vegan Deli Sandwiches: Panera Bread multi-grain bread, Tofurky hickory smoked and roasted turk'y deli meat, Chao cheddar cheese, and spinach
Meal 1 (Italian): Amy's vegan spinach and cheeze ravioli with Birds Eye broccoli florets
Meal 2 (Mexican): Amy's black bean vegetable enchiladas with Ben's Original whole grain medley
Meal 3 (Asian): Purple Carrot Udon noodle bowl with Signature Select edamame in pod

I felt accomplished because we were the first car to our Vrbo by 3 hours, and I actually get my own bedroom this year. Last year, we were the last car by at least 2 hours, and other people picked my grocery items.

I ate supper with my parents. I had the vegan ravioli with broccoli florets, watermelon, and Almond Breeze chocolate almond milk. I never had that product from Amy's before. I definitely need to have that again. Birds Eye is one of my go-to frozen veggie brands when I'm shopping.

Afterwards, I did some laundry and prepared my day bag for the next day. Then, most of the family came that evening. A couple more came the next day due to a school conflict. I also did some blogging and planning for our family travels for the next day, such as deciding which boat tour to take.

Some highlights from the drive to Acadia

Schoodic Peninsula

August 4, 2025

I started the day by getting ready and blogging before breakfast. One advantage of being a morning person on vacation was that you have some extra time to yourself before the start of the day. Plus, I had the bathroom to myself to get ready before anyone else got up.

I made some breakfast. I had some Nature's Path Love Crunch Dark Chocolate and Almond Butter Granola with blueberries, a sliced peach and banana, a chocolate chip Clif bar, and Almond Breeze chocolate almond milk. After that, I did some more blogging and brushed my teeth before heading to Schoodic Peninsula.

Beforehand, we saw Winter Harbor. It was a quaint little town with beautiful scenery and a farmers' market every Tuesday morning. Then, we drove around the peninsula before and after lunch. We hung out at Schoodic Point for a decent while. On the way there, we encountered our first osprey, also known as a fish hawk, which is a common bird of Maine.

Schoodic Point is gorgeous, but watch your step. Some of the rocks are slippery, especially close to the water. I got a decent bruise on my leg because of falling and sliding down the rocks. I climbed back up okay. Also, there were a lot of small creatures that were easy to step on, like mussels, barnacles, and snails.

We had a picnic in front of the Schoodic Institute. I had a vegan turkey, cheddar cheese, and spinach sandwich, Cantina Tostitos, mini sweet peppers, cucumber slices, and a Mandarin orange.

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You might also like my vegan picnic guide.

After lunch, we looked around the Schoodic Institute, which was nice. We put a pin on the visitor map to show that we came from Iowa. I even bought a couple of souvenirs: a jigsaw puzzle of Maine, plus a mini building blocks set of Bass Harbor Head Light Station.

One of my favorite souvenirs to bring home from vacation is a jigsaw puzzle, and I have been doing that for over a decade. Some of my vacation puzzles include, but are not limited to: Stonehenge (England), the Sistine Chapel (Italy), a totem pole (Alaska), the Lincoln Memorial (Washington, DC), and Mount Rushmore (South Dakota)
I recently started getting mini building blocks of the places I've been to decorate my library/puzzle room. I also decorate the room with crafts that I have made at my local public library. My favorite of these is a stamp of one of my cats named Patches.

Then, we went to the Frenchman Bay Conservatory. This place was a lot more crowded than the Schoodic Peninsula. Most of my photos had other people in them, so I cannot display them here. I ended up testing my relatively new hiking shoes for being waterproof. I walked through a bunch of mud there and was able to get it off right away in the water, but they weren't completely waterproof because my socks and feet got soaked after a while.

One thing that got me upset was the visitors' treatment of the creatures that lived there. From afar, I witnessed a couple of people kill a crab. It was too late by the time I got there because they were dead. Then, others, including my siblings and their significant others, were holding starfish and crabs. At least they were courteous enough to know that they need to be kept underwater and held gently. I just took a picture of one starfish, and that sufficed.

Day 4 Snack 1: Shanahan's Sweet Retreat (Sullivan, Maine)

On the way back to our Vrbo, we ate at a local ice cream shop on the Schoodic National Scenic Byway called Shanahan's Sweet Retreat. A local teacher and her students run it. One thing I learned there was that they tend to have one dairy-free flavor of the day that's vegan. I tried their salted caramel cashew ice cream, and it was delicious.

We had a late supper that night, so I decided to have some Tostitos Cantina chips to hold me over until then. Some of my family went to the grocery store to get some meat for grilling. My pescatarian sister-in-law picked out some vegan burgers for us to try called The Beyond Stack Burger.

I ended up making them on the gas stove to prevent cross-contamination. The problem was that it was my first time making anything on that type of stove. One of my siblings turned it on, and the burner flared up and almost burned me. I was fine though.

My first batch of burgers got pretty burnt because I did not realize how fast they heat up. At least my sister-in-law likes her burgers crispy, so she ate the burnt ones. The second batch took only a short time to cook, and I even melted some vegan cheese on them. They were delicious immediately after cooking, but they became dry very quickly in the fridge as leftovers.

For supper, I had a double cheeseburger (2 vegan burgers, 2 vegan cheddar cheese slices, a tomato slice, lettuce, and bread), a salad (mixed salad greens, blueberries, halved tomatoes, sliced sweet peppers, and almonds), and chocolate almond milk.

That night, we took turns making tie-dye shirts. I tried making an orange and yellow one with the spider technique. We didn't have black dye, so I tried blending red, green, and blue on one side to make the spider spiral. It ended up making my shirt a greenish-blue. It still looks adequate, but nothing like I expected.

I went to bed shortly after tie-dyeing because it was getting kind of late.

Schoodic Peninsula, Acadia National Park, Maine

Bar Harbor

August 5, 2025

Today was our first day of vacation with the entire family there. We ended up climbing down Cadillac Mountain near Bar Harbor and going over the land bridge to Bar Island in Bar Harbor.

Last year during our vacation in Banff, some of us did a few morning excursions before everyone else woke up, mainly my dad, me, and sometimes my sister-in-law's parents and my mom. This year, they wanted to stay back to see my niece and their granddaughter who was in the best mood right after waking up.

That meant I had to wait until 6:30am to eat breakfast. That was 5:30am Iowa time, but for someone who wanted to get up and go and got used to Eastern standard time with a snap of a finger, I usually was showered and ready to go by 5:30am. I got a decent amount of blogging done because of that. That was how I got this blog post done the same month as my actual vacation.

After I heard a little bit of commotion downstairs, that was my cue to come downstairs and eat breakfast. While I'm on vacation, I like to take my time making my breakfast pretty and eating. After all, I was still done brushing my teeth before half of the family was up, so I made great time.

I had some Almond Breeze chocolate almond milk, a mixture of my remaining Nature's Path Love Crunch Dark Chocolate and Almond Butter Granola with Nature's Path Love Crunch Dark Chocolate and Red Berries, a chocolate chip Clif bar, blueberries, banana slices, and sliced strawberries.

We left around 8:00am because our car passes were for 9:00am on Cadillac Mountain. Note, when I say mountain, they seemed like hills compared to the Canadian Rockies that we were around last year. I had such a hard time with elevation on that trip with my asthma that I wasn't able to go far without having an asthma attack, especially after going on the Lake Louise Gondola. This year, I had no problems with breathing. I had an easy time hiking without much effort.

After exploring the top and taking some family pictures, my parents and my sister-in-law's parents stayed with my niece on the top while my 6 siblings, sister-in-law, 3 partners, and I hiked down the mountain, 11 of us total. My brother and his partner tried to lead us down the mountain because they hiked this trail earlier this year.

After they got us off course and having to start over twice because we went on the wrong trails, I took the lead and led us down the mountain because I was the best navigator in the family. Correction, my dad was a way better at directions than me with being the most experienced, but I was the best out of our hiking group.

Then, we stayed on track and reached the bottom of the mountain 2 hours later. All we had to do was follow the blue dots on the path and make sure we kept moving towards a lower elevation. Also, it helped to hike past the road we drove up the mountain. That meant we were heading in the correct direction.

The main issue I had with hiking with my family was we went different speeds. Most of them wanted to enjoy the views and take a bunch of the pictures. I considered it more of a race and wanted to keep going and going. I did make sure everyone was keeping up with me and made sure we stopped for water breaks when we saw picturesque sights.

When we finally reached the bottom of the trail, I thought it was going to the visitor center. It actually was a ways away from there. We ended our hike at Cadillac North Ridge Trailhead, and it wasn't the safest to be. I had some issues with my siblings being on the side at the start of the trail because they were standing right next to the road while cars zoomed by us. No one got hurt, but I stayed on the sidewalk by the start of Kebo Brook Trail Trailhead because that was safer.

Most of my siblings ate their lunch while hiking. We were hiking at too much of an incline and on uneven ground that I waited to eat until we were done and in Bar Harbor. I had a vegan deli sandwich with cucumber slices, mini sweet peppers, a Fuji apple, a Mandarin orange, and Tostitos Cantina chips.

It took me a while to eat my entire meal. I started it while waiting for people to finish going to the bathroom. Then, we headed to Bar Island Path. I'm not much a beach person, so I headed across the land bridge, sat on a log near the path, and finished most of my lunch. I did some people watching and had a phone call with my BFF.

Then, I headed back across the land bridge, sat on a retaining wall, and ate the rest of the chips while waiting for my family to get back from the land bridge. I wasn't the biggest fan of being there because it was so crowded. If I ever go back, I would rather be there outside of tourism season because it was hard to enjoy while being surrounded by hundreds of people in a small space.

Day 5 Snack: CJ's Big Dipper (Bar Harbor, Maine)

Afterwards, we ate some ice cream and explored the shops. I ended up going to a different ice cream shop than them called CJ's Big Dipper. I got some vegan key lime blueberry ice cream, and it was tasty. Another family member who wasn't vegan tried the same thing a day later and also enjoyed it.

A couple things to note, this place was cash only. They did have an ATM in their shop though. Also, it might look like a long line going out the door, but the line was pretty fast both times I was there.

Day 5 Supper: Helen's (Ellsworth, Maine)

We headed to Helen's for supper in Ellsworth. That was the closest big town and had a variety of grocery stores there. There were more vegan options there then expected. We ate there 3 times over the course of the trip, and everyone loved the food there.

The first time I was there, I had some spaghetti with marinara sauce and requested for broccoli with vegetable oil and blueberry lemonade. I prefer to have spaghetti with vegan meatballs, but most places don't provide that plant-based option. I was happy that they had a vegan pasta option.

Most of my family would agree that their favorite pictures from this trip was when my young niece held a dead lobster that "the grandparent table" had for supper. As a vegan, seeing dead animals makes me sad, and I don't understand why some animals like cats and dogs are favored more than other creatures.

I went to bed shortly after we got to our Vrbo because it was late, and I was extra tired because of all of hiking we did that day.

Whale Watching

August 6, 2025

4 years ago (2021), some of us went whale watching on our Alaska trip. We ended up getting pretty close to them but from a safe distant.

This time around, it was a nice boat ride, but I had too much of a "been there, done that" attitude to savor the experience. At least I actually spent time looking for whales with my binoculars. 2 of my family members spent most of the time sleeping because of being seasick.

For breakfast, I had some granola, a chocolate brownie Clif bar, heirloom tomatoes, 2 kiwis, and chocolate almond milk. We ended up going on the 8:30am whale watch cruise, so I was allowed to eat breakfast at 5:30am, instead of 6:30am, which was kind of nice.

Day 6 Lunch: Whale Watching (Bar Harbor, Maine)

Most of us, including me, got a bit queasy with the high boat speeds at the start of the cruise. It bumped a lot in the water. We were lucky that we found some tables and chairs to sit at inside the cabin during the cruise because it was freezing outside. It wasn't as bad as Alaska, but it got pretty chilly.

I ended staying inside besides walking on and off the cruise boat. I'm hypersensitive to the cold, so that was the best place for me to stay. I still saw a decent amount of whales without going out in the cold.

I ate my vegan deli sandwich, cucumber slices, and mini sweet peppers on the boat. I threw away the Mandarin oranges because they were spoiled. I later noticed mold on my brother's orange, which made me more confident that they weren't good anymore.

Day 6 Snack 1: Whale Watching (Bar Harbor, Maine)

The advantage of staying inside was I got to spend extra time with my young niece. She stayed inside most of the time besides when family members took turns carrying her outside. I walked her around the cabin a bit. I also guilted my dad to buying him and me expensive popcorn that was $5 per bag. It was pretty good and somewhat salty, but it wasn't $5 popcorn.

Day 6 Snack 2: CJ's Big Dipper (Bar Harbor, Maine)

After our "long" cruise, we had to stop for ice cream. I brought everyone to CJ's Big Dipper, aka the vegan-friendly ice cream place that I ate at the day before. I ended up having vegan black raspberry fudge ice cream, and I loved it. It had dark chocolate as I expected.

Then, my mom, older brother, niece, and I headed back to the Vrbo while the rest of the group continued to hike and later went on a stargazing tour that evening. They mentioned that it was nice.

My mom wanted to catch up on laundry. My niece couldn't stay out that late, so her father (my older brother) went home as well. I have a lot of issues with mosquitos and other bugs, especially in the woods and in the evening. I am so sweet that bugs love biting me, so I went home to avoid the bugs.

They didn't run into any problems because of being by the coast, but I took advantage of being the only aunt there and had some quality time with my niece. I spent an hour entertaining my niece in the car on the way back, and she was happy the entire time reading books to herself and playing with toys. She wasn't literate yet, but she was smart enough to make out the story based on the pictures.

My brother ended up cooking spaghetti and meatballs for supper. He was nice enough to leave some spaghetti noodles separate from the meatballs to accommodate me as a vegan and his wife (my sister-in-law) as a pescatarian.

I convinced him to use up some of the extra tomatoes from the a couple of nights before to prevent food waste. A few of my siblings didn't like the tomatoes in there, so there was a little that was thrown away but a lot better than if he didn't use any of them.

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If you're looking for more ways to reduce your waste, read my guide to reducing food waste.

I ended up warming up a couple of leftover veggie burgers and put them on my spaghetti noodles. I also made a salad with mixed greens, spinach, and diced peaches and chocolate almond milk.

After supper, I spent some time with my niece and blogging when someone else was watching her. Then, I headed to bed before everyone got home from stargazing. I didn't regret going because with being an early riser, I tended to get pooped by 8:00pm.

Jordan Pond

August 7, 2025

Since I live in the country (outside of town), I take transportation for granted. I always have my car available to drive to anywhere anytime.

In Acadia National Park, car travel is limited through most of Acadia National Park, so your options through most of the park were walking, biking, or their free-fare Island Explorer bussing system. Even though many vegans are huge environmentalists, I care about the environment enough to pick up trash wherever I go, but I don't make my decisions based on if something is eco-friendly or not.

After getting ready for the day and blogging some, I had some plain toast, a chocolate chip Clif bar, 2 kiwis, heirloom tomatoes, almonds, and chocolate almond milk for breakfast. I ended up saving some of the almonds for my granola topping for the next day's breakfast because they had a bit of an after taste.

Before we left, I ended up removing a caterpillar from the outside of one of our rental cars. My niece enjoyed seeing it before I put it in the Vrbo's garden.

Day 7 Lunch: Jordan Pond (Mount Desert Island, Maine)

Our hike around Jordan Pond was relatively nice. At the beginning of it, a lot of bikers and hikers went through the same initial part. It was a bit of a hazard for my niece because she was too short for the bikers to notice her, so we had to take turns holding her, which made her upset because she loved walking and running without any restraint.

After some family pictures, we hiked around Jordan Pond. Since the beginning of the hike was relatively even ground, it was easy to eat my sack lunch during the hike. I had a vegan deli sandwich, mini sweet peppers, cucumber slices, and a sliced peach.

Note, if you have issues with balance and mobility or have small children with you, go counterclockwise around the lake and turn around a third of the way.

The first third was pretty even and had a few small steps over uneven ground. The second half was walking on either very uneven ground or on rocks in the pond. The most of the remaining third was on wooden planks. They were mostly 1-way planks, so if you didn't have the bigger crowd behind you, you had to wait for dozens of people to pass by you to go to the next part around the pond.

They suggested it would take 1.5 hours to do this hike, but we did it in about an hour, which was my guesstimate at the start of the hike. We ended up calling it quits earlier than we wanted to because we didn't have time to go on another hike when we had to take the bus back with 16 of us.

1 of our cars headed back to the Vrbo for my niece's nap. The other cars, including mine, gradually headed to rail biking around Green Lake. On the way there, we looked around a weathervane store. They were way out of my price range, but they were cool looking. We also stopped at Shaw's to get some snacks. I just got some watermelon because I was craving that at the moment.

We got to rail biking over half an hour early, so we had time to go to the bathroom and play with the neighbor's dogs. Some of my family played sand volleyball, but I didn't join because I hate getting sand on my feet.

It was kind of neat because they were remodeling the bathrooms and gift shop. I guessed that the business was new, and some of my family thought it was a joint spot for tourists. I ended up being correct because it was Day 11 of the operation of Revolution Rail Co's Green Lake Run location.

We biked faster than the other people who went with our 4:00pm group on the way there. We waited a few minutes for the rest of the rail bikes to catch up. My parents called dibs on biking with my single siblings because they were in the best shape.

I learned that weight made a big difference in making you faster, especially on the way back. I ended up rail biking with three guys. My older brother biked next to me because his wife stayed back with their napping toddler. The other 2 bikers on our rail bike were my brother and his boyfriend. In front of us were my sister, her girlfriend, my brother, and his fiancée (3 girls and 1 guy). Half of the time, we didn't pedal at all, and they were pedaling as hard as possible. We kept having to break or else we would have run into them. That was a fun time.

After finishing up there, we headed over to our Vrbo and had supper. I had vegan enchiladas and 90-second rice with diced tomatoes and mini sweet peppers on top.

I wasn't in the best mood that evening for a variety of reasons, so I spent the evening in my room before heading to bed. I felt bad that I spent the last night when most of my family was there away from them, but I needed some time alone to feel better.

Bass Harbor

August 8, 2025

One thing I struggle with is comparing myself to others, especially my siblings. I always feel like the black sheep in the family because my younger siblings with engineering degrees made way more with their college internships than me with my current job after an undergraduate degree, let alone their actual jobs afterwards.

Granted, I do work at a church, which has the expectation and reality of a low income. The reality is my work’s salary and hours aren’t much different than the for-profit businesses in the area, which stinks for long-term job growth and upward mobility.

In this case, I was comparing my life successes. As a woman, many people look at me and think I am a failure because I’m not married and don’t have any kids. In reality, that is the stereotypical vision of success. A lot of people don’t get married, and many don’t have kids. In this case, I was reflecting on this because my youngest brother is getting married next summer, and we spent some time that day taking some engagement photos for their Save the Date postcards.

I’m not going to pretend that I wasn’t jealous of them that day because I briefly was. I haven’t found a guy worth my time dating yet, while my brother, who’s still in college, is getting married soon. Love is tough, and I’m not rushing it because of a biological clock. I would rather find a guy who is worth my time than settle for someone who’s less than I deserve. After all, I would rather adopt than be pregnant anyway.

Because my brother and his fiancée got to Acadia a day late and wanted to take some engagement photos, we repeated some of the things we did on Monday, August 4. That was okay because they were places I enjoyed seeing again.

For breakfast, I ate some granola topped with almonds, a chocolate chip Clif bar, banana slices, and watermelon.

We didn’t leave the Vrbo until after an early lunch because some of my family was leaving early from vacation. 5 went back early for a wedding, 2 left because of a high school reunion, and 2 more flew out of state for an ultimate frisbee tournament. 6 remained, including myself.

I ate my last frozen meal that I got from the store: Purple Carrot Udon noodle bowl, edamame, sliced cherry tomatoes, and a couple of Mandarin oranges. That was tasty, but it took a while to eat.

After lunch, we headed back to the Schoodic Peninsula to get some engagement photos for my brother and his fiancée. I had a lot of fun seeing the Schoodic Institute and Schoodic Point again. There is so much to learn and explore in there that it was worth seeing again. We saw some seagulls and loons, both types of birds native to the area.

Day 8 Supper: Helen's (Ellsworth, Maine)

In between going to the Schoodic Peninsula and the Bass Harbor Light Station, we made a couple of stops in Ellsworth. The first one was an early supper at Helen’s. I just got some sweet potato fries and blueberry lemonade because I wasn’t that hungry. The rest of my family ordered regular supper-sized meals with pie. Then, we got a few groceries from Walmart.

On the way to the Bass Harbor Head Light Station, we saw a white-tailed deer. We have a decent amount of them in Iowa, but I was surprised that the same type of deer lived 24 hours away from me.

When we got there, we were surprised how small that it was. Even though it became a part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1858, it was still someone's house in 2025.

We also walked down Cliff View Trail to get better photos by the light station. It was kind of a steep, but I almost climbed to the top of the cliff before my parents insisted they wanted me to get down.

After my mom got some more engagement photos of my brother and his fiancée, we went to a nearby pull-off in Tremont. I ended up waiting on the photoshoot that I picked up some trash around the beach.

Side note, one of my biggest pet peeves is litterbugs. I tend to pick up trash if I see it on the way to going into the store or if I see a lot on the ground at my cousin's track meet. Someday, I would like to start a club where once a week, we go to a different park and pick up trash there with similar-minded people. Maybe next spring, I can get that started, but I need to make a game plan before doing so.

During that particular day, I saw a decent amount of wrappers and glass near where we were hanging out, most likely because of a litterbug who was there previously. There were no trashcans there, but there was sign saying trash could go in the dumpster across the street.

They got some decent engagement photos, like a silhouette with the sunset behind them. I was happy that they were happy and in love. I hope that doesn't fade.

Shortly before sunset, we headed back after it was getting too dark to get good photos. It was kind of late when we got back. I was hungry from only eating a light early supper, so I finished off the bag of Tostitos. I preferred to not eat the rest of it, but there wasn't enough for another person to have another bowl.

I went to bed shortly afterwards because I was pretty tired.

Winter Harbor

August 9, 2025

One flaw about vacationing is that it’s all about go, go, go and not about relaxing, which is the main reason why we need a vacation in the first place. It’s supposed to be a time to clear your head without having a lot of structure. In actuality, the tight schedule in a place far away from home can be stressful for many, so much so that some don’t find vacationing enjoyable.

On our final full day in Maine, I’m not going to pretend that we were productive because we hardly did anything that day. We mainly went to a town festival, packing, evening Mass, and out to eat. That’s the plain and simple summary.

The long version started with having a healthy breakfast of cherries, Naval oranges, a chocolate chip Clif bar, and vegan granola with nuts on top after getting ready for the day. I didn’t really like the oranges that much because they tasted spoiled, but everything else was good.

Then, my dad and I went on a brief kayak ride in the pond by the Vrbo called Morancy Pond. We ended up seeing a beaver that splashed their tail whenever they sensed humans were coming to protect their family.

After everyone was ready to go, I had the idea of going to Winter Harbor’s annual town festival. I originally thought it was a blueberry festival where we could try a bunch of blueberry foods and drinks with being Maine's state fruit.

It actually was a Lobster Festival, which was the exact opposite of what I originally thought. I mixed up the blueberry pancake breakfast sign and thought it was all about blueberries, instead of lobsters.

Day 9 Snack: Winter Harbor Lobster Festival (Winter Harbor, Maine)

Regardless, it was a nice time even with being vegan. However, there weren’t vegan accommodations for me there. My family ate at a pancake breakfast that served pancakes and sausage. Then, they had lunch at the lobster dinner with lobster, corn on the cob, coleslaw, potato chips, and blueberry pie. Technically, the corn of the cob and chips were vegan on their own, but not worth paying $5 for, let alone the actual cost of $35. I did eat my dad’s Lay’s chips while my family finished eating their meals.

I liked seeing the different craft vendors. There were a couple of them that were from Iowa, and it was nice to chat with them for a bit. They reminisced about the good old days of growing up in Iowa. I didn’t end up buying anything there because I didn’t have room in my luggage and due to using my remaining cash on donating to the pancake breakfast’s fundraiser for their roof repairs.

Another highlight was the boat racing. It was difficult to see from so far away, but I was happy that they kept is a ways away for the safety of the audience watching. One thing I didn’t like was the furniture repurposed from old lobster traps, but at least the traps were out of commission.

Afterwards, we returned to our Vrbo. I ate a late lunch of a vegan deli meat sandwich, baby carrots, and cherries while watching Reba. Then, I finished some packing before heading to church.

One thing I don’t talk about a lot on my blog is my faith. I’m a cradle Catholic, and I currently work full-time at a church near my home. I’m not super religious, but it might come off that way when I go out of my way to mention that I went to weekend Mass on my blog. We went to 4:00pm Mass at St. Joseph Church in Ellsworth. It was a much smaller church than I was used to, but the service went well.

Afterwards, we headed on a couple of brief errands to get gas for the car and cash from a bank’s ATM. Then, we ate at Helen’s for the third time this week. I had a vegan Beyond burger with lettuce and tomato, with a side of sweet potato fries and blueberry lemonade.

One of my brothers and my dad copied me in getting blueberry lemonade. The food was delicious as always. My family enjoyed eating their pies and other desserts every time we visited. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to enjoy them due to a lack of vegan dessert options, but at least I had some vegan meal options, which was better than nothing.

After we returned to our Vrbo, we finished packing and then played Estimate, also known as Up the River, Down the River. I didn’t have a great game, but I had some more quality time with family before going to bed for the night.

Morancy Pond, Winter Harbor, and the final sunset of our trip

Departure

August 10, 2025

There’s always a time on vacation when it’s time to go back home. I always have mixed feelings about coming back from vacation. On one hand, you can’t be on vacation forever. On the other hand, there’s some uncertainty about what’s waiting for you when you get back home.

Even though we didn’t run into a lot of obstacles while we were in Acadia, one thing that wasn’t immediately obvious about my Maine vacation was the story 2 days before we left Iowa for Acadia National Park. We had powerful storms 3 days in a row and too much rain. The light post that had my electricity box on it fell around 2:00am that morning.

I ended up having no electricity, plumbing, and internet plus flooding all over my basement. If you looked around where I lived that morning, similar tales were on repeat. Most of the area lost electricity that morning, trees were down everywhere, and there were numerous internet outages, like at my home and place of work.

I was lucky because my dad was able to get some electricians to my house while I was at work to reconnect my electricity. My dad, some family friends, and I cleaned my basement on Wednesday evening, and my internet and plumbing returned shortly after the electricity was restored. When MidAmerica came to my house on Wednesday evening, they were confused as to why I had called, since everything had been repaired before they arrived.

Day 10 Breakfast: Vrbo (Sullivan, Maine)

Anyway, the pro about being an early riser is taking my sweet time getting ready and having breakfast. I have a knack for waking up before my alarm, so I had plenty of time to get ready before everyone else got up. I had some plain toast, a couple of Naval oranges, and a chocolate chip Clif bar for breakfast. I even got some research done for my vegan summer meal prep blog post before getting the Vrbo ready to leave.

We had to leave around 6:30am that morning to get to Bangor International Airport on time. We piled in the car with luggage all over laps and aisles and left town around that time. Even though the airport was small, we wanted to allow some extra time in case we ran into construction, like my other family members had 2 days before on their way to the airport.

Luckily, they weren’t working because it was a Sunday, but we did not want to assume they were taking Sunday off because many road construction projects happen on nights and weekends, not just stereotypical weekdays from “9 to 5.” The other possible delay was if a car crash happened on our route, that would have made us stand still or one-lane traffic. For example, we saw miles upon miles of cars waiting because of a semi tipping over on the interstate on our way there. That messed up a lot of travel plans.

Our plane from Bangor to Chicago was nice. The main hiccup was at the airport. All of the passengers were hanging out in Gate 7, instead of Gate 8, because that area was locked. After that was resolved, everyone boarded safely, and it was a smooth flight. One cool thing I noticed was that we saw a lot of military planes during takeoff because our gate was next to the local military post.

I discovered that the United Bistro Menu had dietary labels, like gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan. I didn’t notice that the last time I flew on United Airlines. My aunt and I flew on a couple of United Airlines planes last September because my former boss was appointed bishop.

In terms of vegan menu options, there was a vegan Tapas snackbox with hummus, pita chips, bruschetta dip, rosemary crackers, green olives, and almonds. Other options include plain Pringles, nuts.com Tropical Delight Mix (banana chips, macadamia nuts, dried pineapple, dried coconut, dried papaya, and raisins, and Better Sour Guava Calamansi Lime Gummy Stars.

Note, the menu items depend on the flight and the distance of your trip. The only items available to purchase on the Bangor to Chicago flight were the snackboxes. I tried getting some pretzels in addition to water without ice, but I ended up getting a pretzel snack mix that contained dairy. That was kind of disappointing. I only had some Extra Polar Ice gum, which is accidentally vegan. I ended up getting a lot of blogging done before and during my flights that day.

Day 10 Lunch: Chicago O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, Illinois)

At Chicago O'Hare, I had the shortest distance to my gate ever. I walked past the hallway with the bathrooms right by my original gate, and that was it. I had lunch.

The night before my trip to the airport, I tend to freeze a vegan deli sandwich and keep it my lunchbox as an icepack. By the time it is lunchtime, it is thawed out and ready to eat, and it keeps the rest of my food cold until lunchtime. I tried freezing a sandwich with the remaining leafy greens from the fridge, but they were wet and slimy. I won't do that again.

I also packed some cherries and baby carrots in my sack lunch. I also bought some Mush dark chocolate oatmeal and mixed nuts from Hudson News. They tend to have a decent amount of vegan options and are a lot quicker than fast food.

After I ate lunch, I blogged a bit before boarding the plane. The funny thing was our fight from Chicago to Cedar Rapids was supposed to be 52 minutes, but we spent more time waiting on the tarmac to go than the fight itself.

We were supposed to land around 2:00pm, but we didn't leave Chicago until after 2:00pm. Shortly before we took off, there was a bit of a delay for some planes because of the storm. They got to take off before us. Then, we had a slight technical issue because we waited too long to leave. Finally, it was our chance to leave, but another plane got to go in front of us because someone went to the bathroom.

By the time we got back to Cedar Rapids, it was about 3:00pm, and I had a 4:00pm thing I wanted to make. I felt like the world was against me that afternoon. It took me a while to find my brother's car in the airport parking lot, since the Google Maps pin was kind of off. Then, there was torrential rain and construction all over the road. Most of the exits were closed because of the construction, and the shoulders were blocked with cones.

It ended up taking an hour and half to go a route that normally takes an hour. I spent most of the time going 30-40 mph on a major interstate. Everyone else was going that slow too because there was nowhere to stop. I did stop at a gas station for a bit when I had the chance before heading to my final destination.

By the time I got into town, there was flash flooding on some of the roads, so I had to take a longer alternate route to get to where I was going. On my way home, I did end up getting my online shopping order from Target. I ordered that while I was in the Bangor Airport. I also went to my parents' house to say hi to the farm cats and switch cars.

I finally made it home in one piece around 6:30pm. My rutabaga, jalapeños, and tomatoes were happy to get harvested, and my cats were extremely happy to see me. It was nice to come home to my cats because they were ecstatic to see me.

@mischievousmonsters My cats got really excited when they realized that I am home from vacation. #catlover #catlove #catsoftiktok #fyp #vacationvibes ♬ original sound - Mischievous Monsters

Vegan Souvenirs for the Soul

I enjoyed going to Acadia National Park with my family. The park and surrounding areas were gorgeous, and there were so many things to do, but never enough time to do everything.

We ended up eating out less than expected, which was better for our wallets and waistlines. Regardless, I hope you learned from my previous experiences in Acadia for your upcoming travel plans, whether or not you are vegan.

For all the fellow vegans out there, there are plenty of vegan options around the park, especially in Bar Harbor. Hopefully, there will be a day when I will go on more vacations besides the annual family vacation that's complimentary of my parents. Then, I will give you the inside scoop on more of the vegan options available in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Until then, stay safe on your trip, and please let me know how your vacation in Acadia went in the comments below. Good luck on your next veganventure. Until next time!