As a northern mid-westerner, Maine has been on my bucket list. I LOVE nature. Whenever I mentioned going to Maine my friends would say, “but.. why Maine?” Let me tell you something. Maine has set the bar pretty high for all of our travels since then. On vacations, my husband and I frequently look at each other and say, “Yeah, but Maine was better.” Let me show you why!

We had an entire week at the beginning of June to go on vacation. I thought it would be amazing to visit Maine because the weather would be just starting to warm up, but not warm enough for huge crowds of people to be out adventuring at the same time as us.

We brought our daughter and her friend with us, so some of the longer and more strenuous hikes were off the table. However, watching them enjoy nature together was well worth the trade!

Day 1:

We flew into Portland and rented a car to drive up to Acadia National Park. There are closer airports that we could have flown into, but we wanted to be able to drive the countryside. This was something I wouldn’t do again. We had already spent 2 hours in the car to get to our home airport, then 3 hours on the plane, and we were going to spend another 3 hours driving to Acadia National Park. The kids were sick of traveling. I was sick of hearing about how sick they were of traveling. Fly in closer if you’re going to Acadia. Regrets are heavy.

On the route from Portland to Acadia National Park, we stopped and had our first dose of fresh Maine Lobster at the Taste of Maine Restaurant. SO GOOD! We also drove over the Penobscot Narrows that had a really cool bridge. There is an observatory where you can go to the top, but we didn’t make it before they closed. This area is full of history!

Okay, so Day 1 was really just a lot of us traveling from Michigan, through Maine and up the coast to Bar Harbor. We stayed in the Atlantic Eyrie to spend four days in Acadia National Park. It was a no-frills, easy access place to get rest between adventures. The view of the harbor from our room was nice, too!

Day 2:

We had to reserve a car pass and wake up SO EARLY to view the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain. Sunrise was at 4:45am, so we were up about an hour before then to make it in time. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate for us so we didn’t get a clear view of the sunrise. But, we could see the warm glow from the sun through the clouds and we can totally say we did it.

The rest of the day was wet, cold and rainy. We were tired of being cooped up in our room, so we decided that we were just going to make the best of it. We checked the tide charts and decided we were going to head into Bar Harbor and check out the Bar Island Path. It’s a trail that is only accessible during low tide. You can make it across to an island that sits in the harbor. You have to be careful to make it back to the mainland before the tide comes back otherwise, you’ll be stuck until the water recedes again!

Lots of others had the same idea!

It was cold, wet, and windy, but we saw some interesting ocean things that we never see in Michigan!

We went back to our hotel for a little while to warm up and dry off. When the rain finally subsided, we wanted to get out and adventure some more. I had an itinerary all planned out, but the rain was really not helping. So we had to improvise. We went to Jordan Pond to see if that would be an okay place to spend a rainy afternoon.

The boardwalks were a little slippery.

The fog was so thick we couldn’t actually see much of the Jordan Pond. It was good to be out of the hotel, though.

After that, it was nearing high-tide. We drove around the Park Loop Road to Thunder Hole. We must not have timed it right because it didn’t make a lot of thunder for us.

After checking out Thunder Hole, we decided to go for a walk at Otter Cliffs. We couldn’t see very far, but I think that added to the experience. At least it wasn’t actively raining on us anymore!

Part of me still wonders what it looks like on a clear day!

In Michigan we have Day Lilies that grow everywhere. People sometimes just call them “ditch lilies” because they grow on the sides of the roads. I thought these flowers all over New England were so much prettier.

After our outdoor adventures, we went to Bar Harbor for some shopping. The girls bough souvenirs and we went back to our room to plan for the next day.

Day 3:

The weather cleared up a little the next morning and we decided to take our chances on a longer hike. We headed back to Jordan Pond and were shocked at how much the fog from the previous day had hidden.

Our goal was to hike up the Bubbles – which are those two little mountains on the other side of the pond. The day before, we had gone down the trail on the left side of the pond. To get to the Bubbles Trail head, we were going around the right side and up to the top.

It was not the leisurely stroll we had taken the day before. We actually had to scramble up some rocks!

We kept one adult in front and one in the back in case anybody lost their footing.

The view from the top was amazing. We definitely worked up a sweat, but it was worth it! We could point out to the girls the area that we started and show them where we walked along the edge of the pond.

Then, there was more climbing!

At the top, I don’t think you can leave until you try to push the boulder off the edge.

We weren’t successful 🙁 And right after that, the rain started up again. We had to carefully make our way back down the mountain. The rocks get REALLY slippery when they’re wet. It was raining so hard that we were all jogging (when it was safe) and hysterically laughing on the way back to the car. Our shoes were sopping wet! Back to the room we went to dry off!

When the rain stopped we went back to Bar Harbor and did some more shopping, and eating 🙂 The girls had ice cream while we walked along the boardwalk.

Day 4:

It was nice to actually see the sunrise without fog and rain!

We planned to drive to the other side of Desert Island (where Acadia National Park is) to see some of the other areas and search tide pools.

The first place we went to was the Wonderland Trail. I kept looking for critters like seals, but never saw any. The girls were happy to be out and adventuring without the rain!

After a short walk through the forest, we made it to the shore where the tide was almost all the way out. We spent about an hour searching the tide pools and trying not to slip!

There was a ton of sea weed covering the rocks.

After we were done exploring the Wonderland Trail, we went to Ship Harbor Trail to see what we could find there while the tide was still low.

The girls found a lot of shells and a couple of crabs, but it wasn’t like what I’ve seen in Pacific Ocean tide pools.

After exploring tide pools, we stopped at the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse on our way to get lunch.

After we were rested up and ready for more hikes, we went to the Beech Mountain Trail. One thing I loved so much about Maine is that you could play in the ocean in the morning and climb a mountain in the afternoon.

The girls didn’t love the elevation gain, but we took it slow. It was just over a mile hike, so we knew they would make it! Besides, the views were worth it!

We kept climbing on our way to the fire tower.

The very top of the fire tower is blocked from access, but it was still a great view to see all the way back to the ocean.

Since this was our last day in Acadia National Park, I really wanted to pack in some of the things we couldn’t do while it was raining. We took the girls back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon siesta and then hauled them out one more time to squeeze in a couple more adventures!

We parked at the lot to see Sand Beach first and then followed the trail to finish the Great Head Trail. We looked back and could see Sand Beach from the top.

We packed sandwiches and had a picnic dinner while we watched for critters.

I appreciate the fact that the trails throughout this park are so well marked. You can see the little swatch of blue paint on the rock behind me as I was going up this rock.

After we finished the Great Head Trail, we let the girls say goodbye to Acadia by chasing some waves at Sand Beach.

Then we caught a really gorgeous sunset before going back to our room.

Day 5:

We left Acadia National Park and travelled North toward Baxter State Park. Mount Katadin is in Baxter State Park and is the northern most termination of the Appalachian Trail. Hubby and I want to go back one day to summit Mt Katadin, but that wasn’t in our plans for this trip.

We rented an AirBnB on a lake local to Millinocket, which is the town nearest the entrance to the area of Baxter State Park we wanted to visit. Our hosts provided kayaks for us to explore the lake. We could see Katadin from the water 🙂

After kayaking, we drove to the New England Outdoor Center to meet our guide for a moose tour. He took us out on a pontoon boat across Millinocket Lake in search of a moose. He didn’t think we were going to be lucky enough to see one that evening, but as he started to head back we finally saw one!

He let us get MUCH closer than I thought.

On the way back, we could see the sun going down over Millinocket Lake.

Day 6:

We had one day to make the most of Baxter State Park and this was it! The first place we went to was the big “Keep Maine Beautiful” rock.

Next, we entered Baxter State Park and drove around to The Sandy Stream Pond trail. There are three moose observation points on this trail. We saw a ton of moose sign, but didn’t get a chance to see another moose. However, this trail was breathtaking!

The forest is so thick here that you can’t hear anything except the sounds of your own footfalls. It was so serene and beautiful that it didn’t quite feel real. I mean, look at Travis in this picture. It looks like he’s standing in front of a green screen. Nope. He was actually in real life standing there.

Something else that I had never encountered, but LOVED about Baxter State Park is that at the beginning of every trail head there is a check-in box. You put your name, date, and time on the check in sheet in case you get lost. Northern Maine is so desolate that if you get lost, it could be a while before anybody finds you!

After the Sandy Stream Trail, we hike the Little and Big Niagara Falls trails. This place was also unbelievably beautiful.

You could walk right up to the edge of the water as it cascaded down.

After we looked at the falls, we went over to visit Dacey Pond. There is a ranger station there and canoes you can take out onto the pond. We went for a short paddle before wrapping up our adventures for the day.

Day 6:

We packed our things and left the AirBnB to make our way back to Portland for our return trip. One thing I wanted to do before we left was go on a whale watching tour. We had one scheduled for the first day we were in Acadia, but it was cancelled due to weather. I booked a second one in Boothbay Harbor (about halfway between Millinocket and Portland) but it looked like the weather was going to get us once again. When we got to Boothbay, and it was foggy, but they didn’t cancel the tour.

It was eerie heading out into the ocean on such a foggy day.

We didn’t see any whales, unfortunately. We did get to see an ocean sunfish, though!

After our whale watching tour, we went back to Portland and let the girls play in the pool until they kicked us out. I wanted them nice and tired for our return travels home the next day.

Although the weather didn’t cooperate with us the whole time we were in Maine, it was still one of my favorite vacations. We will be going back one day to spend some more time in Baxter State Park!