If you follow this blog, you know that Maine is our absolute favorite place; when G and I first started dating back in 1995, we often spent our weekends driving to Maine and visiting the small towns dotting the coast. We fell in love with the coast and with Maine itself; 26 years later, we’re still making those coastal drives, and Maine still has our heart. One of these days, maybe we’ll hop the border and even make our home in “Vacationland.” While we love Maine year-round, there’s something especially beautiful about the coast in winter—the quiet, the stillness, the solitude (all the more appreciated these days!).
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Our Thanksgiving getaway to Acadia National Park was a short one, but the two days away gave us a little escape from our routines and our four walls. Being in the Travato allows us a way to travel without really interacting with anyone else or with any public spaces, and our first experience boondocking with Boondockers Welcome was a success; the site, while really just a parking spot in a business lot, was perfect for our needs and offered a convenient base for us for our two nights in the area.
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I’ve been putting off writing this post mainly because I’ve struggled to put into words what visiting the site was like—it was nothing like what G and I expected. I was expecting a memorial, perhaps a piece of the fuselage, but nothing prepared me for the wide area strewn with pieces of the airplane. Metal lodged into trees, the outline of a window, markings and rivets on large, somewhat-intact pieces. We were certainly standing on sacred ground, where 7 United States airmen lost their lives on a winter’s day in 1963.
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Phew, our 11th camping trip of the summer, our 25th and 26th nights spent camping in our 2002 VW Eurovan Weekender! After a few trips to state parks that have been busier and a little less private than we would like, our expectations for Lily Bay State Park in Beaver Cove, Maine, were admittedly low. And boy, were we pleasantly surprised!
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All good things come to an end; we had to have a less-than-awesome weekend camping after such a great stretch, right? Sure, not every weekend has been perfect in every way, but overall, each weekend has been a winner. This past one was a little bit of letdown; in fact, we ended up staying only one night. But let me first say this: if G and had kids, we would have loved Mt. Blue State Park in Weld, Maine. Mt. Blue is most definitely a family campground.
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After our weekend camping at Cobscook Bay State Park in Maine, just minutes away from New Brunswick, Canada, G and I weren’t sure how any camping weekend would compare. Our most recent weekend had us returning to a town park in Freeport, Maine, where we had camped twice last year, Winslow Memorial Park and Campground. Last year, we were new to this van-camping thing, and we loved Winslow; this year, with a few more trips and some really scenic parks under our belt, we wondered if Winslow would still rank up there. And let me just say this: YES. An absolutely resounding yes.
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If you’ve seen the highway signs, then you know that Maine is “the way life should be” (no offense to the 603, but I tend to agree)—and Cobscook Bay State Park is certainly, in my mind, the way camping should be. I’m not sure how any campground—or campsite—will compare after this particular weekend.
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I’ll start off with this: I really, really, really wanted to fall in love with Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal, Maine, just minutes outside of Freeport. It’s close to home (just shy of 1.5 hours away), and my hopes were that we’d love it so much that it would become one of our go-to close-to-home parks. Unfortunately, such was not the case. And while I’ve had a few days to think about our one-night stay here at Bradbury, I still can’t quite put a finger on what I (we) didn’t love about the park.
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On a recent camping trip to Camden Hills State Park, we took advantage of two trails that offer some fantastic views—the Mount Battie Auto Road and the Shoreline Trail. With the option to drive or walk the auto road or take one of the many other trails up Mount Battie, everyone can access the gorgeous views—the same is true for the Shoreline Trail. Round-trip on the auto road was about 3.2 miles; from our campsite to the Shoreline Trail and back to the campsite was just under 2 miles. Together, about 5 miles of walking/hiking. Not a bad way to spend a beautiful June morning!
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Camden Hills State Park is located in Camden, Maine, which is mid-coast Maine, about 85 miles north of Portland and about 75 miles from Bar Harbor. The Camden/Rockland area is gorgeous, with so much in the area to do, see, and explore. We’ve visited a few different times over the years, but we hadn’t ever visited Camden Hills State Park. The wait was worth it.
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Our summer plans initially included a few days in New Orleans (a conference for G, and a few days for me to play tourist) and then a two-week trip to the West Coast—a week in Washington State with family then a weeklong road trip down the Oregon Coast and into Northern California. We were looking forward to a few camping weekends as well, but most of those hadn’t been planned out at that point. And then, well, the global pandemic. Needless to say, our plans went out the window once COVID-19 hit. We canceled all of our bookings and flights and even the two camping reservations we had already booked. We cleared our calendars. As for summer? We would simply wait and see. Now, as I write this, we’re currently scheduled to be camping 30 days this summer, in 11 different parks (I’m hoping those numbers increase with the addition of more reservations—we’ll see!) throughout Maine and New Hampshire.
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That same stillness and quiet in a typically bustling place is what draws us to Acadia National Park in the off-season, and in the winter in particular. While sharing the park, one of the most visited in the country, with so many others is certainly fun on some level of community and camaraderie, we’ve come to love the days and months when we can hear our only our own footsteps on a trail or when we share “hellos” with only a few others.
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Since coming back from our road trip, we’ve been itching (I more so than G) to get back out in the van and to camp; however, with all the plans for the road trip, we (I) didn’t think to make any plans for after our return. Ooops! But as luck would have it, I stumbled across a fantastic park in Freeport, Maine, not far away from us: Winslow Park and Campground. We could not have been more thrilled with our weekend spent at this fantastic little park.
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In a city filled with some pretty great places to visit, Portland Architectural Salvage in Portland, Maine, might just be one of my favorites. Its website heralds “everything old is new again,” and this about sums up the place: it’s got that grandfather’s garage kind of feel, mixed with a DIY/HGTV/shabby chic vibe. It’s the kind of place that makes me want to buy an old farmhouse and restore/renovate/redecorate. And any place that makes me nostalgic for favorite movies, favorite books, and loved ones long passed is worth the stop.
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Well, we knew this trip would end at some point, right? And let’s be honest, two days of traveling home won’t really yield the most exciting blog posts, so I’ll save you all a favor and combine the days! On our visit to PEI last summer, we drove the entire way home in one shot—just more than nine hours of driving; I think it took us around 10+/- with stops. This year, we decided to break up the trip with a stop halfway, in Lubec, Maine—home to West Quoddy Head Light and the easternmost point in the continental United States.
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I missed Monhegan the minute we left and vowed to return. It’s one of those places that sticks with you, and I was filled with questions and curiosities. Still, we needed to leave and continue on our journey, with our next stop just a mile down the road: Marshall Point Lighthouse, the lighthouse featured in the 1994 film Forrest Gump. The lighthouse is a beauty and so very worth the stop. That day, the bridge, the fog, the light itself—incredible. Ah, Maine. Maybe it’s true what the state’s welcome sign says; Maine really is the way life should be.
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Monhegan certainly cast its spell on us. And yet, I couldn’t tell if G (the introvert) liked it at first—he kept saying it was so quiet, so still, that he wasn’t sure he could get used to it. That, however, was exactly what drew me (the extrovert) in. And then, by the time we were set to leave, both of us were ready to stay longer. One day just wasn’t enough.
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Day two of our three-week road trip took us from Boothbay Harbor, Maine, through Rockland, and up to Camden. Two lighthouses, a burger, and another great old inn made for a fantastic second day!
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While we live just about 15 miles from the Maine border, our travels these past 24 years together have largely skipped the Casco Bay area and focused either on southern Maine (Kittery, York, Ogunquit, and the Kennebunks), Freeport, or Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park. We’ve visited Portland a handful of times and few places in between all the others, but not often. Our Memorial Day trip to Hermit Island Campground in Phippsburg with our van changed that, as we finally had the chance to explore one of Maine’s “fingers” along Casco Bay. For this trip, we’ll be exploring parts of Maine on both the front and back ends, and we decided to make our first stop in Boothbay Harbor, a town we had only visited once before.
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