Wednesday 7/28
We left our house at 5:45am and hit seven states in eleven hours(South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania) before arriving at our hotel in downtown Philadelphia. We got settled in and went exploring with a recommendation from the hotel lady where to get a good Philly Cheesesteak. We went to Oh Brother and man was that cheesesteak HUGE! It was good, glad we ate one, but not necessarily something we'd eat too much of! We then took a walk around town and walked Elfreth's Alley, the nation's oldest continuously inhabited street, and saw Ben Franklin's grave. We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel(which will prove to be a theme for the next week and a half as we fit a lot into each day!)!
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| Prepped for a very long drive! |
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| Philly Cheesesteaks at Oh Brother |
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| They were HUGE! |
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| Elfreth's Alley |
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| Betsy Ross house |
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| Ben Franklin's grave |
Thursday 7/29
After a decent night's sleep(usually our first night anywhere is horrible sleep, so I'll take a decent night!), we packed the car back up but left it in the parking garage for the rest of the morning as we set out to enjoy some time in the city again. We had breakfast at Old City Coffee, got in a short line for the Liberty Bell(I've always wanted to see it!), explored the Visitor's Center where we saw a movie on the First Continental Congress, sat in Congress Hall and toured Independence Hall! Whew! We got a true taste of American History in just one morning! We said goodbye to Philly at about noon and got on the road for our next long stretch of driving! On the way, we detoured to check out the Statue of Liberty and get a glimpse of New York City from Liberty Park in New Jersey. We were racing against an incoming storm, but we got there and saw everything and ran back to the car just before the bottom fell out! However, that rain stayed with us for the entire rest of the drive to Portland, Maine - even as we crossed over the Washington Bridge into New York! Serious amounts of traffic!! We made a stop in Connecticut for a snack and were greeted with low 70s and zero humidity(and at this time it was so hot back in South Carolina with the heat index well over 100*!). This was the beginning of lovely temperatures for our trip! It was a very long drive as we saw seven states - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine! When we finally arrived at our hotel in Portland about 8:30pm, actually it was outside of Portland closer to the airport, all of the restaurants had already closed at 8 and we had to scramble to find a grocery store and put together a dinner with what we could from there! It was a very late night!
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While waiting for Liberty Bell to open, we got a
few pictures |
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| Independence Hall |
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Congress Hall - this was an original chair from the
Colonial days |
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| Independence Hall |
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| Where the Declaration of Independence was signed |
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| Bye, Philly! |
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Liberty Park - the storm was getting close and the winds had
picked up, but it made for beautiful flying flags |
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| The closest M and the kids have been to New York City |
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| Pretty cool to see Lady Liberty |
Friday 7/30
We woke up and had breakfast at the hotel, but also headed straight to the apparently infamous Holy Donut where we waited in line about 30 minutes to get 1/2 dozen doughnuts! They definitely had some crazy combination of flavors and were delicious! Our next stop was Portland Headlight(which is another name for a lighthouse). It was a beautiful, clear day after all the rain that we drove through Thursday. The park area around Portland Headlight was great for walking and bouldering over the rocky ledges. For lunch, we drove down the street in the direction of our next destination and found a cute little place, The Good Table, with the most amazing blueberry salad(blueberries in Maine are so good!) and then went to a beach that I'd heard was good and not super crowded, but it stunk like sewer fish so that was a bust and we left before too long! Our afternoon and evening consisted of all things lobster! I'd booked us a trip out on a lobster boat where we were able to catch our own lobsters(and also caught lots of crabs!) and then took those with us to a restaurant next door to the wharf and had them cook it for us! It was one of the highlights of our trip catching the lobster! I think C would have stayed on the boat all week helping with the cages! However, the kids and I were a little over ambitious getting a lobster each as we discovered they were a lot of work and we thought it was absolutely disgusting! Oh well! We at least tried it! After dinner we took a walk around downtown Portland and out along the Eastern Promenade. Maine is so pretty! We ended up grabbing dinner #2 since the kids and I were still hungry after not eating our lobster! We made it back to the hotel and on the drive back witnessed our first of many beautiful sunsets!
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| The line for Holy Donut |
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| First glimpse of our first Headlight |
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The water was freezing! Like, hurt your toes
freezing! |
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| Ready to catch some lobster |
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Wherever the lobster baskets/cages were, that's
where you'd find C! |
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Putting the bands on the claws - everyone was
a pro at this accept me! I was obviously not
meant to deal in lobsters;) |
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Baiting the cages before throwing them
back in for another catch |
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Picking out the lobsters we'd be taking back
for dinner |
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| This guy did enjoy his lobster - and mine too! |
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| This is how the rest of us felt about it! |
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| Eastern Promenade |
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| Our first day in Maine had us hooked! |
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| So many evenings of this! |
Saturday 7/31
Saturday we leisurely drove up the coast of Maine with our final destination being Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park! Our first stop was at Pemaquid Point where we found the best little lunch cafe, Cupboard Cafe, where we ate lunch and also took some to go for tomorrow's adventures! We loved the Headlight overlooking Pemaquid Point because it was quite so touristy(it was more off the beaten path) and there was a museum in the downstairs part and we could have gone up to the top, but opted to get going down the road instead! We did spend a lot of time at this stop - enough to work up an appetite for some ice cream that we found in an even more off the beaten path town, Round Pond, ME!;) Our next stop was Camden Hills State Park where we embarked on the most strenuous hike of our trip to the summit of Mt. Battie. The views were breathtaking! We met some locals up there and started talking about how we had a timed entry to see the sunset at Cadillac Mountain in Acadia that night and they said that we needed to leave right then because we very likely were not going to make it in time! So, we bolted back down the mountain as quick as we could considering the terrain and then M drove as fast as he could, which isn't very fast because most people along this highway are sightseeing and taking it slow! BUTTT... we made it to Cadillac Mountain with 9 minutes to spare before our entry pass expired! Whew! But, wow! So glad we were able to enjoy the summit of Cadillac and watch the sunset over Frenchman Bay! We then went into Bar Harbor in search of dinner and landed at Side Street Cafe! It was delicious - but we were also very, very hungry! They had the best blueberry pie of the trip, and we tried lots! LOL! Our hotel was just five minutes from town, so after dinner we checked in about 10pm and our legs probably couldn't have carried us much farther and were so glad to lay down!
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| Lunch at Cupboard Cafe |
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| Pemaquid Point Headlight |
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Ice cream to get some much-needed energy
before our hike that we had no clue was going
to be so strenuous |
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Hike up to Mt.Battie summit at Camden Hills
State Park |
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| The view back down over Camden, ME and Penobscot Bay |
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| Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park |
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| Views of Bar Harbor, ME and Frenchman Bay |
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| Another beautiful sunset |
Sunday 8/1
Sunday was a day spent in Acadia National Park. This time of year is very crowded in the park, so we wanted to make sure that we got an early start. We ended up eating breakfast at the hotel in Bar Harbor each morning and they provided it as a "to-go" option which we took full advantage of so that we could eat in the room and then have some snacks to take with us for our daily adventures;) We rode into the park and took Loop Road to Thunder Hole - a small inlet, naturally carved out of the rocks, where the waves roll into and makes loud thundering noises especially as it gets close to high tide. Our hike for the day was Gorham Mountain trail that took us about an hour and then we walked around the Ocean Path from where our car was parked out to Boulder Creek and Otter Point(where we saw a seal out fishing for his lunch). We then drove out of Acadia to Seal Harbor Beach where we picnicked and played on the beach for quite some time! The kids ended up getting in the water and although it was very cold, they thought it was such fun! After we'd had our fill of the beach, we drove back into Acadia and went to Jordan Pond where we hiked around the pond which was a very diverse, flat trail with boardwalk paths and lots of boulders. It was about a three mile hike and I wish we could have leisurely made our way around, but our table at Jordan Pond House was ready so we had to push it pretty hard for the last hour or so and got there in time to have an early dinner with their famous popovers and blueberry lemonade! We drove back around Loop Road to Sand Beach - again too cold for me, but the kids splashed around - and then went by Thunder Hole one more time before leaving the Park. We enjoyed dinner #2 back in Bar Harbor at Reel Pizza, shopped for some souveniers and capped off our first full day in Acadia with Ice Cream at Mount Desert Ice Cream.
Monday 8/2
Monday was our second full day in Acadia National Park. The weather was supposed to be rainy most of the day, but thankfully, it turned out to be beautiful! We spent the morning hiking up Door Mountain and around the Tarn. We also checked out Asticoa Gardens and then it was time for an early lunch and we chose to go to Trenton Lobster Pound. M and I had our first lobster rolls here - the kids opted for Kraft mac and cheese(LOL!) and blueberry pie. During low tide at Bar Harbor, there is a sand bar that goes all the way across to an island that is accessible by foot. We walked across and then up to the top of the island for a great view back down into Bar Harbor. Then we walked around through Bar Harbor and along the Shore Path while enjoying a blueberry soda. For dinner, we headed across the island to Southwest Harbor and ate at Beals which was situated right on the pier where lobster boats were bringing in their daily catches which was fun to watch! Our intent had been to go to Bass Harbor Headlight where we could watch the sunset, but that parking lot was full and there is absolutely no street parking allowed, so we looked at our map for a place on the west side of the Mount Desert Island and found a place called Pretty Marsh. This is a place that was not on my radar at all and that I don't remember reading about at all in my research for the trip, but it ended up being one of our favorite places we saw and an amazing sunset! We spent a couple of hours here skipping rocks, wading in the water, finding these little snail shells and then enjoyed watching the sun go down behind the hills!
Tuesday 8/3
Our last day in Acadia:( But, it was a good one! We met the O'Sullivans who were also vacationing in Maine at the Visitor's Center for a ranger-led bike ride through the carriage trails of Acadia National Park. We rode bikes for about two hours and then the eight of us went back up to Trenton Lobster Pound where our family enjoyed the same choices we'd eaten on Monday! We said goodbye to our friends and headed to Wonderland Trail. This is another spot that is best seen during low tide. The rocks are left with tide pools and so so so many little snails everywhere! We tried seeing Bass Harbor Headlight one more time since this was our last night in Acadia, but yet again there wasn't anywhere to park. Oh well! We went back to the hotel to catch our breath and then had an early dinner at a restaurant across the street, Jack Russell's(it was just ok), before catching our sunset nature cruise that took us around Frenchman Bay! The sunset was the best of the trip! A great last night on Mount Desert Island!!
Wednesday 8/4
We drove back down the coast today. We stopped in Camden and did some shopping and got lunch at Cuzzy's. We also stopped at a roadside stand to purchase fresh blueberries that we inhaled over the next few days! Another stop on our list was LLBean where we purchased lunchboxes, a backpack for S and a minnow trap for C;) My favorite little town of the entire trip was probably Kennebunk! It was so cute and we ate right on the water at Arundel Wharf Restaurant. We then walked around town and had delicious, crazy combo ice cream at Rococo and just enjoyed the cuteness of the town. The Bush family has their summer home in Kennebunk. We saw them playing golf as we drove into town and then we drove out past the compound and saw them all out in the yard with the kids and dogs. It was pretty neat to see them so close! We then finished our last little stretch of our drive to Ogunquit and stayed in a motel that had not looked to have been updated since the 70s - not at all what I thought I had booked, but we survived!
We woke up to a rainy day! Because the motel was less than desirable, we chose to eat breakfast out and chose the Omelette Factory. It was ok, more of an upscale Waffle House. We didn't get a chance to explore much in Ogunquit because of the rain but did manage to drive though the town of York and checkout Nubble Headlight from the car! It then rained our entire drive through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. We ate dinner at Katie's Kitchen, an Amish Restaurant and rolled into our home for a few days at a guesthouse on an Amish farm where we were greeted by a very friendly and chatty ten year old!
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| Katie's Kitchen |
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They chose to play on the playground while
we waited for our table to be ready |
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| Maine blueberries and cards back at the guesthouse |
Friday 8/6
The Amish family that owned our guesthouse, the Ladds, and lived in the farmhouse across the street left fresh bread, farm eggs, raw cow milk from their cows and bacon in our fridge for us to cook! It was amazing! We had a slow morning with a big breakfast and we were enjoying the slowness and the farm views! After we finished and cleaned up, we had a reservation to ride the Strasburg Railroad through the Amish countryside. First, though, we stopped and purchased shoofly pie and whoopie pies - they were all amazing! Then, on to our train ride! It wasn't too long of a ride, maybe an hour, but we saw a beautiful part of our country and of course enjoyed just relaxing on the train in an open air car! We found the tourist trap of Lancaster County, Kitchen and Kettle Village, and ate lunch at Stolzfus Meats which was very good and we even took some pre-made heat-up food back for dinner. We walked around the village but all agreed that being out in the country where we were staying allowed us to see much more and enjoy all that the Amish had to offer in an authentic environment. Before going back to the guesthouse, we stopped at the Railroad museum for M! He enjoyed it, we suffered through! After all that, I was able to grab a quick nap when we got back to the guesthouse. The Ladds showed us how they milked the cows and then we made our dinner. We went for one last walk down the road as the sun was setting and then M drove the Ladds to their oldest son's house who had just come home from the hospital with his first baby. The buggy wouldn't hold everyone so we were glad to be able to help out and he got to know the Ladds so much better this way!
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One of the boys that lived on the farm unloading the produce
from the gardens. |
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| Our accommodations |
Saturday 8/7
Our last morning of our Great Road Trip vacation! We woke up early to get packed up and hoping for an early start because we knew had a loooong drive home. But, the Ladds offered us a buggy ride before we left and we just couldn't pass up that opportunity! C even got to drive some - and he drove fast! LOL! No pictures from the buggy ride because the Amish do not like to have their pictures taken. We respected that - but still sad I don't have any pictures! They offered us some fresh corn, zucchini and watermelons before we left and about 8:30am we were on the road and headed back home! We travelled back through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and finally into South Carolina! We pulled into our garage after an 11+ hour drive and were so glad to see our house!
11 Days, 13 States and 2,844.6 miles
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| We were SO glad to see this sign! |
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| That's a LOT OF MILES! |
