9 day Northeast tour: Maine summary

Hi All,

Well, we just completed a trip to the NE area and had a great time. The tripadvisor boards were greatly helpful and I wanted to post our thanks and a wrap-up summary to hopefully help others in the future.

Since this post is focused on Maine I%26#39;ll cover that here and post the rest in the appropriate forums.

Our trip was a bit of a whirlwind but a ton of fun... We%26#39;re not huge spenders and not big fans of the B%26amp;B scene since it%26#39;s a bit restricting. (Love to hike, explore and admire nature)

Itn: Landed in Boston, got the car and went onwards to: Cape Cod, MA; Acadia NP, ME; Baxter statepark, ME; Greenville, ME; Gorham, NH; through Vermont via 91; New Hope, PA; Valley Forge, PA; Washington DC; Lavalette, NJ; back to Boston.

Acadia was beautiful in Fall. We wished we%26#39;d spent more time hiking, you%26#39;d need at least 4 days to really get to explore much of the park.

Starting out on the one way loop road we stoped to visit all the spots including the Jordan Pond House. The Jordan Pond House was nice, a bit expensive (10$ for a bowl of chowder), but it%26#39;s a great stopping point to use facilities, and to start hiking around (or bike riding) on the Carrige Roads.

Wonderland was a great (20min in) hike, and the beaches were amazing (starfish, crabs, 100% shell and boulders beach covered in seaweed - pull back seaweed for fun). The tidepools and wandering around the lighthouse just down the road from Wonderland was also fun.

After Acadia we went up north to visit Baxter State Park.

We arrived in the later afternoon and were only able to hike 5mi before sunset. The lakes and surrounding area were very similar to what I would expect of a rainforest. 4in of moss covering the ground, mushrooms and fungi everywhere... beautiful. Great hiking spots! we passed grassy pond and some others.

After Baxter we decided to stay in Greenville as we really really wanted to see a moose ;)... no luck it was rainy and they hide in the thick forest to keep dry.

Of all the locations we visited the only one we would skip would be Greenville, ME. Why? Because there really wasn%26#39;t anything there that made it special... you can see moose everywhere up in that part of the country. I%26#39;d give Millenocket or one of the other towns a try for lodging. BUT if you%26#39;re going to go to greenville Antie M%26#39;s was a great quaint local diner that we stopped at (good food, huge portions, low prices, lots of locals eating there).

If you%26#39;re staying in Greenville, I wouldn%26#39;t recommend staying at the Moosehead Chalet. Mainly it just wasn%26#39;t worth it... since we arrived late we decided to stay in the ';economy'; motel room for 90$ a night vs. the lakefront motel for $130.

Our room had the absolute minimum. Which I guess just surprised us since we%26#39;ve stayed in many many more hotel rooms that cost less and provded more... especially given that it was far from the hight of the season.

After we left I realized I had left a pair of pants and thinking it would be easy to have it returned... I called, the woman said she woud check with her housecleaning staff. But never called back.

From Greenville we headed onto Gorham NH.

I would highly recommend staying at the Top Notch Inn, very clean, tidy, and great (helpful and cheery) staff, for only $50.

Gorham is the gate to the White Mountains and it seems like there really is a ton of things to do around that area, of course including Moose Watching.

9 day Northeast tour: Maine summary

Forgot to mention, our hotel for Acadia was the Mariott Fairfield. Great location (5min from Acadia entrance), friendly staff, great room, best rate of the entire trip from their website(89$)! :) and for 2 nights earned 50,000 mariott points! :))