Portland
Rocky coastline, lighthouses and lobster rolls are just the beginning of what vacationland has to offer. Flying into PWM, we spent our first full day exploring shops and enjoying the food of Portland.
Before checking into Hampton Inn, we ate lunch at Bissel Brothers Brewing, just minutes from the airport. My husband recommends the hot maple chicken sandwich!
After check-in, we strolled from Congress Street to Commercial Street before patio hopping along the wharf. First, Camp Pennant for a cocktail with views of the harbor. Then, Gilbert’s Chowder House for an appetizer of blueberry pie and, you guessed it, clam chowder. We rounded off the night at Boone’s Fish House where lobster rolls, and lobster mac and cheese were served and mostly enjoyed by our Minnesotan taste buds.
Before leaving Portland, we made a stop at the Portland Head Lighthouse. There, we walked the one mile paved trail following the coast and to the lighthouse itself. Accessible and fun with great views- do this if you’re in Portland!
From the lighthouse we began our journey to Blue Hill where our home in the woods awaited. Of course we had to stop at the flagship LL Bean store along the way- making my Boat and Tote dreams come true. We refueled at the Maine Brewing Company with beer and wood fire pizza before finishing our drive.
Blue Hill
Our Acadia Park accommodations were 45 minutes outside of the main entrance in Blue Hill. This provided us a serene and spacious rental home with a beautiful deck and outdoor space. Since we had a kitchen, we were able to make our own coffee, breakfast and to-go lunches for the park each day. Blue Hill also had a couple restaurants that we checked out for dinner, and a grocery store not more than 7 minutes away from our house. After dinner, we played cards and went to bed early to prepare for our first day at Acadia.
Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor
We began our tour of Acadia at the highly recommended Jordan Pond Path. This 3 mile loop along the water’s edge was peaceful, scenic and adventurous at times as we navigated rocky shoreline terrain and wooden board walks. It also provides a beautiful view of the rounded peaks of the Bubble Mountains..
After our morning by Jordan pond, we went to check out the Hull’s Cove Visitor’s Center before driving the scenic loop that goes one way through the park. Along the scenic loop we encountered the Sand Beach, Thunder Hole and Otter’s Point- all great places to stop and take pictures of the coastline. We ate lunch at the Sand Beach, and we stood in the chilly ocean to cool off.
While the entire scenic loop takes about 30 minutes to drive, we preferred to take it nice and slow and stop at multiple scenic overlooks. Ocean path, a one mile gravel trail, connected Sand Beach to Thunder Hole and Otter Point and it was a nice post-lunch walk.
The scenic loop took us right past Bar Harbor, a quaint tourist town on Mount Desert Island by the sea. Here, we grabbed a cold beer at the Atlantic Brewing Company, peeked into souvenir shops, and got the best caramel sea salt ice cream. Our first day at Acadia came to a close, and we drove back to our house in the woods in Blue Hill. We ate dinner at Blaze which had a great beer garden on a river. We recommend the fish and chips and the local brews!
The next morning, we ventured to the far end of Acadia to walk the Pretty Marsh trail, and to check out a lighthouse. Both stops were short and sweet and great photo opportunities.
After exploring the outer skirts of the par, we drove back to the scenic loop and made our way to the Bee Hive Loop trailhead. We stopped at a few look out points along the way, including our lunch location of the day overlooking the Porcupine Islands.
Hiking Bee Hive Loop was one of my highlights of the week. A steep beginning was followed by vertical climbing portions of the trail with metal ladder rungs. A short but challenging hike- only 1.4 miles round trip- the Bee Hive Loop is not for the faint of heart. Though, I highly recommend if you are up for the challenge!
After our hike, we drove up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. There, we saw 360 degree views of Acadia and the town of Bar Harbor. Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the eastern seaboard of the US. To drive up Cadillac Mountain you need a vehicle pass, which you can buy for $6 on the recreation.gov website under Cadillac Mountain Daytime Passes. The daytime passes are readily available, though the sunrise passes (for those wanting to be the first to see the sunrise in the US) are highly competitive and sell out almost immediately.
My brother and I didn’t score a sunrise car pass, so we ambitiously decided we would hike the North Ridge Trail the next morning to catch the sunrise anyway.
We ended day 2 at Acadia with a popover and Maine blueberry ice cream sundae at Jordan Pond along with our park souvenir shopping.
The following morning at 2am, my brother and I left our cabin rental and drove the 45 minutes into the park and went to find the North Ridge Trail head. Luckily, there were roadside parking spots near the trailhead and we began our assent. Led by flashlights we hiked following the blue painted trail markers. While there were some flights of stone steps, the majority of the hike up Cadillac Mountain was flat sloping rock interspersed by gravel path segments.
The closer to the top we got, the less we needed our flashlights to guide us. We quickened our hiking so we could see the peak of the sunrise from the top of the mountain. It took us about 1 hour to hike the 2 miles up. The hike was worth it for the peaceful views.
After resting for about an hour, and watching the colors of the sunrise dance across the sky, we began our descent. It took us another hour to navigate the steep slopes downward and back to the car. We refueled with a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way back to the cabin. Despite not getting a driving pass up the mountain, I do not regret taking this early morning hike, in fact, not getting the pass allowed us to perhaps experience the highlight of the trip.
That day, we said goodbye to Blue Hill and Acadia, and drove to Ogunquit to experience the beaches that Maine had to offer. We interspersed the 3 hour drive with stops at various parks and lighthouses.
