Fall Trip 2009

Looking to celebrate our 40th anniversary and the coast of New England, specifically Maine. We are planning on a Saturday to Saturday around the 19th-26th of September.

Flying into Boston (which we have visited before)and looking for comments on:

- crowds this time of year

- itenary suggestion, thinking Portland, Camden, Bar Harbor

- interests are general sight seeing, food, nature

Thanks for the replies...........

Fall Trip 2009

We did New England last fall from Oct 4-12 (although we included NH%26#39;s White Mtns and Woodstock, VT) and had a delightful time. Lots of great seafood and beautiful sights. You%26#39;ll likely be a little early for the fall foilage, esp in Maine, but you never know. I would recommend 1-2 days in Wells/Ogunquit/Kennebunkport. Don%26#39;t forget to walk the Marginal Way in Ogunquit. Maybe 1 day in Portland, including a visit to the Portland Head Light House in Cape Elizabeth. Then, proceeding further north spending maybe a day in the quaint Boothsbay Harbor waterfront area. Next, would be Camden...take a trip up Mt Battie while there...it%26#39;s a short but nice excursion. Then I would do at least 2 days in Bar Harbor. Acadia Park there will take at least one day and is worth it. We even took a photo of Stephen King%26#39;s house in Bangor on our way over to NH.

Have a great time..and congrats on the 40th.

Fall Trip 2009

What were your feelings about traffic? A lot of what I read indicates the weekends are brutal, even at that time of year, with the locals and Bostonians making the trip.

So you feel the timinng is doable? Not too hectic?

Any places to stay suggestions? We have done B%26amp;B%26#39;s and they can be iffy.

Thanks for the congrats.

I definitely think it%26#39;s doable. We were there for 9 nights and visited NH, VT, CT and MA.

We flew into Portland, so I can%26#39;t speak to Boston. However, the traffic in Maine was minimal. In fact, it was rather dead with a little bit of activity in Bar Harbor.

We stayed at budget hotels and all were acceptable. In Wells (near Ogunquit) we stayed at The Garrison.

http://www.garrisonsuites.com/index-2.html

In Boothbay Harbor, we stayed at the Flagship Inn.

http://www.boothbaylodging.com/

And in Bar Harbor, we lodged at Bar Harbor Motel. The latter has a beautiful grounds and great locale. You%26#39;ll notice that it gets great reviews here at TA in the Bar Harbor Lodging reviews. I would only add that I thought the bed was hard, otherwise a swell place to stay.

http://www.barharbormotel.com/welcome.htm

In Ogunquit, walk the scenic 1.25 mile Marginal Way which starts at Perkins Cove and goes to Ogunquit Beach. It%26#39;s an easy walk and you want find a prettier mile of coast to view. Ogunquit also has the only real sand beach that I saw while in ME. Lots of quaint shops in Ogunquit and in nearby Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. Someone can direct you to Bush 41%26#39;s summer %26#39;home%26#39; there. Good restaurants in Kennebunkport, too.

Next, I would go north to Portland. The lighthouse I mentioned earlier is beautiful in Cape Elizabeth near P%26#39;land. We ate in the Portland Old Town area where there are many good eateries and shops.

We headed for the evening to Boothsbay Harbor, stopping to see the LL Bean Outlet frenzy in Freeport. Boothsbay is so quaint. Again, good eateries and a neat bridge to walk over and check out the harbor. We found good prices at the gift shops there as they were about to close down for the season.

Next, in Camden, you can hike and take in the outdoors at Mt Battie. Here you can view Penobscot Bay and Camden Harbor from high above. We hit this area en route to Bar Harbor and it was a little congested, but nothing major. Lots of eateries/shops, too.

state.me.us/cgi-bin/…

In Bar Harbor, we spent a day touring Acadia Nat%26#39;l Park. It is fantastic. Take your time...maybe even spend 2 days. You can procure a CD for a self-guided tour. The nie lady at our hotel let us borrow hers. Plenty of photo opportunites on the way to cold Cadillac Mtn. Plenty of places to get out and hike along the rocky shores where there are many marked paths. You could drive the course one day and find an area to return the following day and hike. Also, visit Jordon Pond Restaurant (the only full service rest. in the park) because a) there are several cool walking trails near it, and the beauty of the pond is stunning and b) the rest. is very good and the popovers were fantastic.

Bar Harbor also overs whale-watching tours and the Kitty will take you to Nova Scotia.

I do not think the traffic should be bad at all. It as usually only crazy July and August and then when leaf peeping season starts. You will be just before that so it should be quite nice. It really is a great drive up the coast from Boston.

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