the northeastern most state in the u.s. Maine brings to mind fresh Atlantic
lobsters incredible baked goods a rocky coastline with lots of lighthouses and
beautiful areas like the Acadia National Park which happens to be the
biggest attraction that brings us to make our journey to Acadia National Park
started at the Welcome Center in Kittery Maine where we decided to get off the
interstate and hop on coastal route 1 to Portland as with any good road trip we
made several stops along the way including a detour the baldhead cliff as
Kate put it the area is called bald head you have a bald head we have to go check
it out although the coffee shop was closed we did enjoy the spectacular
views of Maine's rocky coastline from bald head cliff the holy doughnut I'm
very curious about these potato-based doughnuts me too I'm gonna try one our
trip to Maine was supposed to be about Acadia National Park and all of its
beauty however we got a little sidetracked by all the delicious food
Maine has to offer first food stop on the list was the holy doughnut in
Scarborough with a wide selection of doughnuts on display it was difficult to
choose one so I let the expert behind the counter pick by the way if you want
one of the gluten-free doughnuts arrived extra early before they sell out I asked
for recommendation the guy said the dark chocolate with sea salt is their most
popular so I figured I'd give it a shot let's see potato based doughnut
it's kind of like a cross between your standard istana the really light ones
and the old school cake donuts and the flavor texture is completely different
than any doughnut I've had before but this is delicious oh that was a good
doughnut let's get back on the road second food stop was scratch Baking in
South Portland you know this place takes their baked goods seriously when they
have a name for their sourdough starter although the sweet treats are tempting
we came for the freshly baked breads I picked the sea salt snacker and Kate
grabbed a baguette if you can't tell by the look on Kate's face she really liked
the bread really good so would you say this ranks up with the best bread you've
ever had we decided to take the baguette with us as we made our way down to the
sand to check out the beach scene in Maine before we got back on the road
with all the clever road signs about spending money on lobster not speeding
tickets we pulled into the local grocery store and had them steamed up a fresh
Maine lobster to enjoy in a van at six dollars a pound this Lobster was what
Kate calls an awesome deal why yes officer I would much rather have
12 lobsters than pay a speeding ticket at this point you might be wondering
yourself are they ever going to get to Acadia National Park yes yes we will but
first a stop in Portland Maine
it's a beautiful day this charming city on the coast has quite the history
established in the 1600s as a trading and fishing settlement Portland has been
renamed quite a few times throughout its history we spent an afternoon exploring
the city where we stumbled across a funny joke street art inspired by Henry
longfellow a section of the Berlin Wall and quite the party on the waterfront we
made our way back to the van which happened to be parked outside a Monument
Square and decided to have dinner before we got on the road for Acadia National
Park very glad to be going to Canadian National Park after a holiday there's a
lot of traffic out there right now going the opposite direction when there's
availability we prefer to camp in the national parks but not knowing what the
bug situation was like we decided to stay at narrows two camping resort
our registration tax or insight 737 okay
we set up our new camping chairs to enjoy the views of mountain desert
arrows and unwind from the travel
it was hard at work outside getting all of our hiking gear sprayed down with bug
repellent hopefully this will keep the mosquitoes the chicks and those biting
flies away we've heard biting flies are quite the nuisance in Maine it is really
beautiful there's quite a lot to see at Akkadian
national park so we decided to go on a driving tour first off the visitors
center to purchase our Park Pass and chat with the Park Rangers got our new
annual Park Pass and we are good to go let's see so we are all the way up here
what I'm thinking today let's take the park loop drive we can go all the way
around end at Cadillac Mountain and then tomorrow we can go hiking sound good
sounds good I'm excited this seems like a lot of fun
it just kind of freaked me out a little bit when the Ranger was talking about
the ticks and the mosquitoes and the black flies he's like when you check
yourself at night make sure to check your belly button cuz these are very
small ticks and they're getting people's belly buttons I was like yeah hopefully
the permethrin will do its job and keep the ticks off of us so let's see before
we started the 27 mile scenic drive we put on our anti bug gear since Kate has
an allergic reaction to mosquito bites she borrowed her mom's bug shirt for
this trip with many overlooks and trails along the way it took us the entire day
to complete the scenic drive our first stop was sand beach where we went on the
ocean path trail and spent some time at otter point and thunder
this fairly level trail is over three miles roundtrip and an easy walk
beautiful views of the rocky coast our second stop was Jordan pond we went on
another three-mile trail around the shore with scenic views all around
including the bubble mountains
this is one of the most popular trails and most photographed areas in Acadia
National Park the bugs around the full force and we were glad to have our gear
on good seems to be working out fairly well
soulkey dark are you impressed at how well and walking backward I am very
impressed we stopped at Bass Harbor to see the
lighthouse built in 1858 this is where we learned that light patterns and
colors are unique to each lighthouse the one at Bass Harbor has a red light that
darkens every four seconds
with Sewall campground on the way we took a quick driving tour to scope it
out for our next visit the wooded campground has several loops for tent
and RV camping while there are no hookups or showers at the campground
each site has a picnic table and fire ring the bug situation is a whole other
story let's just say we're glad to be at the RV resort our final stop on the
scenic drive was Cadillac Mountain while we could have hiked to the top of this
Granite Mountain to see the panoramic views we opted to drive so we could make
dinner and enjoy the spectacular sunset from the comforts of home
we found a nice little pullout so we can watch the sunset and I have to say that
is one epic view across Acadia National Park
you
time to explore Baba looks like a beautiful town one of the most well
known vacation spots in Maine Bar Harbor is a beach town on mountain desert
island or MDI as we've heard the locals refer to it when you're ready to rest
from all that hiking take a seat and enjoy the views of Frenchman Bay and
mountain desert narrows if you're hungry check out the full Downeast experience
complete with blueberry pie we decided to go to Atlantic brewery for their
complimentary tour and tasting followed by a game of cornhole there's a lot to
see and do in Maine and we've barely scratched the surface now it's your turn
to go explore