best day of the year

i spent my birthday weekend camping in Acadia National Park.

BEST DECISION EVER!

{birthday self portrait at 26}

last year's here

my birthday started off with a 4 and half hour road trip north to Bar Harbor, Maine. the leaves are just starting to turn their vibrant, fire colors so the drive was extra gorgeous. we stopped in some little town on the way for a quick bathroom break and found some fresh strawberry milk from a local farm, which was delicious!  

we set up camp with our buddies, amber & ryan and noelle & eric (and their cute kids), and planned the day.

jeremy and i decided to hike cadillac mountain to watch the sunset.  you can also drive to the top so everyone else met us up there for the show.  the hike was great.  there wasn't much foot traffic and we scrambled over rocks the whole way up, which is the best kind of hike out there.  it makes it extra fun to jump from rock to rock.  

we saw incredible views and we even stumbled upon a buck.  he stood there for a good two minutes before deciding to run off.

we made it to the top (hooray!) and checked out the views from every angle.  they were beautiful!

isn't it all so gorgeous?  i was constantly taking pictures and trying to soak in every minute of it. the sun started to dip lower and lower towards the horizon, so we found our friends and scoped out a good spot to watch the magic.

 we watched the sun set on the best day of the year and then headed back to roast hot dogs and s'mores at camp (with Reese's and Andes, so good!).  i tried my hand at homemade popcorn over the fire. most of it burned, but i got to sample a bit of it.

and that is how i spent my birthday, communing with nature with my best friend and great company.  25 has been a great year.  there have been plenty of adventures and good times.  let's keep them coming!

more camping posts on the way...