Before I tell you about my vacation, I just want to say that all of our thoughts are with everyone in Texas and Louisiana affected by Hurricane Harvey. Just watching the news every night it is horrifying to see all of the damage. [We’ll soon have an important message about our “NCP Cares” community outreach program and how we’re trying to do our (small) part to help.]

I recently got back from our vacation, and boy, did we all have a great time! We spent part of the trip visiting Acadia National Park in Maine. It was absolutely beautiful! We hiked and went on a bus tour of the park, and saw some incredible things. (See some photos below, which don’t do the place justice!) We also ate lots of “lobstah.”

Have you been able to get away this year? (Or plan to sometime soon.) If so, let me know what you did or are going to do.

Monday is Labor Day, which means our offices, including the Panel Support Center, will be closed. We’ll be back at 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday, September 5.

Before we go off on our long holiday weekend, I wanted to share some fun facts from wallethub.com:

Labor Day Weekend Travel:

  • 25% of Americans plan to get out of town for Labor Day weekend
  • 86% of Americans plan to travel by car
  • 16.1 million Americans will fly to their destination

Most popular Labor Day Weekend destinations are the following:

  • New York
  • Las Vegas
  • Los Angeles
  • Orlando, FL
  • Chicago

In addition, 40.6% of Americans plan to BBQ over Labor Day Weekend.

Speaking of labor, many people have long commutes to work (I know I do!). Check out these stats, also from wallethub.com:

  • 51.8 minutes: The average time Americans spend commuting each day
  • 76.4% of Americans drive to work
  • 0.6% of Americans bike to work
  • 4.4% of Americans work from home

We hope you have a great Labor Day Weekend. And again, our thoughts are with those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

Here are some photos I took from Acadia National Park. They’re views from some of the hikes we went on.