I had been downplaying it because it wasn't exactly an exotic plan, but our vacation in Maine was fantastic. Relaxing and beautiful, especially Bar Harbor. It's well worth the five hour drive from Boston. The first thing we ate in Maine was a lobster roll.

This trip was inspired by the occasion of Katie's -- my former Brookline roomie's -- wedding in Kennebunkport (actually Marshall Point, Cape Porpoise, where the groom, Andrew's, parents have a beautiful beachfront home). Kennebunkport is where you'll find Walker Point, the Bush family's summer compound. It's the antithesis of "Texas ranch" -- but they fly three flags - Stars & Stripes, the Maine state flag, and Texas. The wedding was on a very cold and rainy Saturday, but festive and fun nevertheless. Missing from the event were Heather and Jon -- she went into labor on the way up Friday night - just two towns away! Morrison Charles was born at 3:30 a.m. on June 28. Same birthday as my mom, and just a day before Akhil's and my fifth anniversary.

Speaking of June 28, we had planned to surprise my parents by sneakily gifting my mother a weekend at the same Kennebunkport B&B that we planned to stay at for the weekend. We surprised them Saturday afternoon and spent Sunday with them hanging around at Ogunquit Beach, then dining out at this nice restaurant in town called Bandaloop.

After we left them Monday morning we drove up to Bar Harbor, stopping in Freeport on the way so Akhil could see LL Bean and the "Big Boot" -- realizing a lifelong dream. Our B&B was located just outside of town, on a cliff, gorgeous, magnificent place. They had a standard poodle-dog named Woodstock.

After an early pub dinner in town, we skipped some stones for a while on the rocky beach down a steep set of steps from our B&B's waterfront backyard, then turned in early. The next morning was devoted to a reasonably tasking hike up a rocky path to Dorr Mtn., then on to Cadillac Mtn - the highest point in Maine (though not very high, less than 3,000 feet). The views of all of Mt. Desert Island and Frenchman Bay were beautiful. I had been once before, about 11 years ago, in Sept., but the summer experience in Acadia is something else. Just gorgeous.

We had lunch at Acadia's only restaurant, Jordan Pond House, famous for popovers. Lobster bisque, a lobster salad, and of course, popovers. Then we headed off to the very low-key town of Northeast Harbor, which has one main street, a marina, and little else. Perfect.

We had dinner in Bar Harbor, again, where I tried the bouillabaisse; the blueberry ice cream afterwards was better. On Wednesday, we got up and rented bikes, took them about 20 miles along the park's carriage roads (no cars allowed), followed by a second excursion to Jordan Pond house, and then a jaunt down to Southwest Harbor and Bass Harbor, where the famous lighthouse is.

That night, we did a hokey but really fun thing - saw a movie (Priceless, with Audrey Tatou) at Reel Pizza. This place had a bingo board in the theater. You order pizza when you get your tickets ($6!) and when your # comes up on the bingo board, your pizza's ready. And you eat it off a little counter built right into the back of the seat in front of you, while you're watching the film.

Afterwards we strolled around Bar Harbor and enjoyed the misty views, and all the French (tons of Quebecois tourists). We had a beer in town and watched the Red Sox game. Sadly we had just one more night at the B&B, then it was off to Boston.

We went through the park one more time Friday and got to look at peregrine falcons through a telescope, visit Thunder Hole and Otter Point, and see Seal Harbor -- where Martha Stewart and the other richie riches of Mt. Desert live -- before setting off. We stopped in Camden and Portland for snacks. In Boston, we picked the perfect hotel: Hotel Kendall in Cambridge, which gave us awesome access to Memorial Drive and the Fourth of July fireworks spectacular. It's a converted firehouse at the Kendall T stop -- for some reason we got the hugest room ever for just $122 a night.

We hung around Harvard Square all afternoon and then "dined" in Central Square before the fireworks began. I had grapenut ice cream at Toscanini's (Akhil had the burnt caramel) and ALL the Cambridge cops on motorcycle duty were there too, getting their own ice cream fix before patrolling the streets. Pretty funny.

On Saturday we jetted off to Wareham, Mass., for a tour of Factory Five, a maker of classic auto kits -- all Shelby Cobras. Akhil's still thinking about it; where would we fit the mess into the garage? We'll see. The owner was there and spent almost 2 hours with us. Following that we drove to Providence to meet Morrison - Heather's new little one. Just a week old. He's tiny. We had a little lunch near the Brown U. campus, then came back to Boston and had an as-usual amazing dinner in the North End, which, now that it's accessible with the completion of the Big Dig, was as crowded as Disneyland. I wonder if the invasion will compromise its authenticity? Well, the parking situation's certainly changed. No more on-street spaces: residents only. It's all $15 lots now.

Sunday we did the ENTIRE Freedom Trail. All that time in Boston and I'd never done that. All we had time for between that and our flight was a quick coffee with Laurel at the 1369 Coffee House. Then it was time to fly. And when I got home I did the laundry. All of it. Before bed. Akhil left 36 hours later -- he's in Europe until the 20th for the Wall-E premieres.