Crossing roads, waters, and memories on the route to Acadia
From Loveland, Ohio, my girlfriend, Laine, and I traveled by car, and mostly backroads, up the northeastern arm of America to Acadia National Park in Maine while stopping to see family, friends, and anything else that we felt needed to be seen on the way.
Our time together on the road passed by with doo-wops and la la's, friendly folk and loving family, rain storms and long shadows, seemingly familiar state routes and train tracks, greenish-blue ponds and lakes, and many rolling mountains or hills — depending on what you like to call them.
Once in Acadia, I still remember sitting atop Champlain Mountain, looking down on Mount Desert Island as it held hands with the Atlantic — the mountain wind blew airs that felt free. We sat above the shadows and along the clouds, holding onto that oceanic mountain air for as long as we could.
Laine Dannemiller, my girlfriend, journals at our campsite near Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, on the first night of a 12-day camping trip en route to Acadia National Park, Maine on June 25, 2020.
Laine picks flowers for us, alongside a hilltop back road near Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, on June 26, 2020.
A boy drives away on his tractor after telling us we could drive onto his farm road for a better view of the hills.
Laine walks along a farm's fence line near Spring Creek, Pennsylvania.
My Aunt Pooh and Laine in Sharon, Connecticut, on June 28, 2020.
Laine dries off before leaving Long Pond, where a family of Loons sung a song together while the sun set in Marlboro, Vermont, on June 29, 2020.
Jeff O'Neil, my dad's childhood friend, hosts us for a quick ride on his boat on Squam Lake in Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, on July 1, 2020.
A scene I didn't photograph that stuck in my mind while I drove away from New Hamshire's mountains and into Maine for our first time on July 1, 2020.
Laine and I sit at the end of our campground's dock on Sommes Sound, looking over towards Mount Desert Island on July 1, 2020.
The Bowl Trail on July 2, 2020.
Near Mount Champlain's summit on July 2, 2020.
Sand Beach captured on Ilford HP5 film on July 2, 2020.
Laine and I share a moment on a rock face off of the Ocean Ridge trail on July 2, 2020.
Sommes Sound softly glimmering under the full Moon on July 2, 2020.
Climbing to the Bubbles trail summit on July 3, 2020.
Climbing up the Beehive Trail on July 3, 2020.
The South Bubble summit on July 3, 2020.
Along Jordan Pond on July 3, 2020.
Jordan Pond on July 3, 2020.
Shadows in the setting sun at Southwest Harbor on July 3, 2020.
Exploring the coast at Little Hunters Beach on July 4, 2020.
Walking the Wonderland trail on July 4, 2020.
Exploring the Ocean Ridge trail on July 4, 2020.
Pacific Ocean view from Bass Harbor on July 4, 2020.
Sommes Sound Campground on July 4, 2020.