acadia national park – of agates and madeleines

I wanted to tell you about the joys and wonders of a really well-made white chocolate bar. Never mind that I have long hated white chocolate, with the aversion stemming back to some sordid tale involving a young girl, saddened to find that a white chocolate Easter bunny does not taste the same as a milk chocolate one.

Periodically since that sad day I have tried once again to venture into the realms of white chocolate. After all, stark white chocolate makes for fun photography. However, I deeply regret to report that I am not over my white chocolate crisis; by purchasing a high-end craft chocolate variety, I have in fact only augmented it. Enter the Askinosie Davao White Chocolate Bar + Pistachios.

I am not qualified to review this chocolate. If you like white chocolate and pistachios, I’m certain that you will love this. My boyfriend loves this bar. How he can enjoy something that is too sweet for even me is incredibly mystifying, but that’s the way it goes, I guess. In the more comfortable realms of darker chocolate, I have been exceedingly pleased with Askinosie offerings, including the San Jose del Tambo and Soconusco bars. White chocolate just isn’t my thing: an aroma of this bar leads me to think of old cheese curds, and rotting fish. I keep coming back to it again and again, not making it past the smell test, turned off by what I’m sure you, gentle reader, many find innocently delicious.

So if white chocolate is your thing, don’t listen to anything except “I’m certain that you will love this.” At $10.50 per bar, I would at least hope so.

Moving on to something we can all agree on: autumn is a beautiful time of year. Exit Askinosie Davao White Chocolate Bar + Pistachios. Enter Acadia National Park.

I am remiss for not mentioning Acadia National Park to you sooner. Located a little over an hour from Bangor, the park provides hiking opportunities mixed with the chance to observe wealthy vacationers getting rugged in their unscuffed hiking boots and well-fitted EMS and Mountain Hardware outfits. Vacation homes of the rich dot Mount Desert Island, the island containing the bulk of Acadia National Park. In an area of Maine known for some of the poorer counties in all of the country, Acadia shines as a beacon of what Maine is capable of.

Scenic beauty, hospitality, and lots of fresh ocean air.

I try to avoid visiting Acadia in the summer, when it is overrun with seasonal residents and visitors fresh off of cruise boats. In the off seasons, though, Acadia is in my opinion, much more on. The perfect place for a day hike, or foliage admiration, or a last chance to sport shorts for the season – all of which we took advantage of during this past Monday’s holiday.

Getting around in the park is simple, albeit a bit pricey during the enforced fee season. Visitors can drive through the park in personal vehicles, or can hop on and off of circulating fee-free park buses. There is a carriage road system, consisting of forty-five miles of broken-stone roads and rustic bridges, financed back in the day by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. On these non-motorized roads, bicyclists and hikers can mingle with horseback and carriage riders (none of which I have tried my hand, or feet, or horse, at yet).

Hiking trails, both short and long, abound across the island.

We hiked the Precipice Trail, which was a quick, fun trek labeled by the park as a “non-technical climbing route” where “people have died.” So I suppose we climbed the Precipice Trail, actually. It wasn’t as bad as they made it sound, and it featured plenty of climbing with installed metal ladders and handrails. I say it featured lots of fun.

I can see how the trail can become instantly dangerous in wet weather, with narrow rock ledges and exposed open areas providing the catalyst for injury, or, I suppose, death. So, hike this non-technical climbing route in dry conditions, and you will be aces.

And when the sun sets, as it is wont to do insanely early here in Maine, treat yourself to a lobster roll and onion rings, just like all the summertime tourists would do. It is one of the most delicious treats I have enjoyed while here on the East Coast. Enter the Lobster Roll from Lunts Gateway Lobster Pound: more appreciated in Maine than white chocolate.