This year for our August vacation we decided to go to Maine. We started the trip with four nights outside Portland, at a vrbo near Old Orchard Beach. The first night we went straight to the local beach (Pine Point Beach), which was stunning, and then had dinner at our house.
The next day we also spent at our local beach and then for our first dinner out we went to a nearby restaurant on the water called the Bait Shed and I had my first lobster roll of the trip. I’d say overall the lobster rolls in Maine are much superior to MA because of the freshness of the lobsters! This first one was probably the weakest of the trip because otherwise it was pretty basic, the roll wasn’t buttered or toasted, but still a great way to start off in Maine!
The next day was a bit foggy so we drove into Portland, stopping en route to see Crescent Beach State Park. I was impressed at this LL Bean sponsored shed with beach equipment for anyone to borrow!
From there we drove over to check out Portland Head Light and tried to get a foggy view of Cushing Island, where Andrew had spent many summer vacations as a child.
We had lunch at Luke’s Lobster in Portland, which turned out to be my favorite roll of the trip. Mmmm…
After lunch we went to the Portland Children’s Museum, which had the usual air and water play exhibits but the highlight for the kids was this vertical climbing wall, which seemed to me like an ant farm for children. They loved it!
We stopped for a beer at the Bissell Brothers Brewing Company, and then tried to have dinner at a place called Eventide in Portland, but despite our early arrival the wait time was something like 2 hours so we gave up! It was raining at that point so we drove to a pizza restaurant and had a nice dinner there.
The next day we went back to the beach in the morning and for the afternoon we drove into Old Orchard Beach. Andrew and Sarah opted to play mini golf while Blaine and I wanted to check out the rides at Palace Playland. We did the ferris wheel, several rounds of bumper cars, and Blaine even decided to try the big roller coaster, the Sea Viper! We had dinner at a restaurant right next to the Sea Viper (another lobster roll — not bad) and played some arcade games before heading back.
On 8/24 we left Portland and drove even farther north to our second stop, four nights in Bar Harbor. We stayed at another VRBO which was part of a larger hotel with its own rocky beach.
The main draw of Bar Harbor is its proximity to Acadia National Park, which did not disappoint. We hadn’t anticipated the kids would have much appetite for hiking given their resistance to our short local weekend hikes, but they really surprised us! Blaine was motivated by a geocaching scavenger hunt organized by the national park service which took us on a number of challenging hikes!
The most challenging was the one to the top of the Beehive. We took the easier route to the top called the Bowl Trail, but it was still the most difficult hike we’ve done with the kids, lots of scrambling over rocks and climbing some very steep boulders to reach the summit at the end.
We ate our packed lunch at Thunder Hole and then went into Bar Harbor for some ice cream! Blaine was set on going to MDI (Mt Desert Island) Ice Cream and Sarah wanted to go to another place Aunt Jody recommended, called Ben & Bill’s, so we split up! Ben & Bill’s was delicious, very creamy, huge number of flavors with lots of mix-ins. Blaine insisted MDI Ice Cream was better and that we’d have to return another day to compare.
After ice cream we’d scheduled a tour with Lulu Lobster Boat Rides! It was one of the highlights of the trip, the driver was fantastic (Andrew noted his previous job had been as an instructor for the Coast Guard) and the ride was smooth and easy despite some choppy water. The guide, Galen, was a former school teacher and was smart and funny, keeping both kids and adults entertained for the two hour ride. We also learned a lot about lobsters! We all got to put rubber bands over their claws and Andrew got to wear one on his head.
We stayed in town for dinner that night and ended up at a place called Merchant & Frye, which was fine, nothing too memorable.
The next day our plan was to arrive early to spend the day at Sand Beach in Acadia. We were not there for very long, however, when it started to rain on us! We tried hiding under the beach umbrella for awhile and had our lunch early, before giving up and heading back to the car.
We decided to pick up some geocaching checkpoints and embarked on a hike that we thought would be brief but which turned into an hour-plus endeavor! It seemed a bit treacherous to Sarah so we head back to the car, but Blaine and Andrew stuck with it to the end.
After the wet hike we stopped in to Jordan Pond House for the traditional tea and popovers, which were delicious! Andrew and I also had a cup of the lobster bisque which hit the spot.
I believe this was the night we went to dinner near our VRBO at a place called Jack Russell’s Steakhouse and Brewery, which was surprisingly well executed and with excellent service!
Saturday, 8/27, was our last day in Bar Harbor and we had reservations to go to the top of Cadillac Mountain in the morning. But first we went on another geocaching hike to see Bubble Rock, a glacial erratic that had traveled more than 30 miles via glacier and was deposited atop the mountain.
Then we headed up Cadillac Mountain (by car) but found that it was much too foggy to see anything, sadly! Plus it was cold.
So we gave up and drove over to the other side of Mt Desert Island and checked out the Ship Harbor Trail, which was much more manageable and had beautiful scenery.
We stopped for a snack in Southwest Harbor at the Little Notch Bakery (I had a tasty raspberry pie empanada thing). Then our last stop of the trip was the National Park Visitor Center to get a passport for stamping, including completion of the geocaching task.
That night we had dinner in Bar Harbor again, this time at the West Street Cafe. Delicious lobster roll! Last one of the trip? Perhaps.
We decided to complete our ice cream showdown and headed over to MDI Ice Cream so Sarah and I could compare. Sarah decided she liked Ben and Bill’s better! But I was impressed with the high quality of MDI and think I’d give it the edge, though the flavors are very nontraditional (I had the salted caramel and “The Dude” which was a white russian flavored ice cream inspired by the Big Lebowski).
There was a village piano in the Green outside MDIIC so we enjoyed some music before heading back to our rental house.
I took this picture the next morning to show the view from our rental. I also happened to capture the rally car convention going on at the hotel rooms below. The group was up the previous night checking out each others’ cars and revving their engines to impress one another. It finally got to the point that I was looking up Bar Harbor noise rules when they promptly stopped at 10pm.
Andrew got up early that morning and managed to book another reservation to drive to the top of Cadillac! It was a beautiful clear morning and we were able to see in all directions!
Then we started our drive back south, stopping for lunch at the Allagash Brewery outside Portland. I was just kidding about that being the last lobster roll!
We made it all the way to Boston, where we planned to stay for two nights to break up the return trip. We checked into our room at the Intercontinental and then walked over to a place called Joe’s for dinner on the water.
The next day our plan was to do some sightseeing so we walked over to check out the major sites on the Freedom Trail. But first we stopped for donuts.
Next stop, the Old South Meeting House! Notable as one of the meeting points in planning the Boston Tea Party, among other things. They had wonderful information and a scavenger hunt for the kids to complete.
Then on to the Old State House! It was outside the State House that the Boston Massacre occurred.
Again there were lots of great exhibits, many geared toward kids. Not so dry as the sites run by the national parks! I kept hearing a name I did not recognize, James Otis, credited with the slogan, “taxation without representation is tyranny.” I wondered why I’d never heard of him since it sounded like he was an important part of the revolutionary activities in Boston… turns out that he suffered from mental illness exacerbated by a blow to the head and he became erratic, on one occasion breaking all the windows at the Old State House, and he burned all his papers. Then he died when he was struck by a bolt of lightning! Fascinating.
Anyway! Then it was on to Faneuil Hall.
We had lunch at Shake Shack at the kids’ request. Then Andrew went back to the hotel to catch up on some work and the kids and I went to check out the Boston Tea Party site and reenactment. It was an expensive tourist trap but we actually really enjoyed it, there were actors in costume that had us all yelling “huzzah” and “fie!” and the kids got to toss tea overboard. It also had high production value with some very cool moving paintings and videos to tell the story of the Boston Tea Party and the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
That night we had our last dinner out at Legal Seafoods and the next morning we drove back to Larchmont.
