Up the Coast in Down East Maine

Our first stop in Maine was near Bar Harbor. We stayed in a fabulous Airbnb in Hancock where we would watch gulls and egrets from our porch and living room window as the tides rolled in and out changing the texture and contours of the water before us.

Acadia National Park

Cadillac Mountain. I stopped at both the information center outside the park and the tourist center inside it. This, mostly because the information center was not yet set up this early in the season to sell me my park pass. “I want to go up Cadillac Mountain” I said, at the first stop. “Good news!” She said, “you can drive up!” I guess she had surmised I wasn’t a hiker. I’m not sure why, as I had all the gear and proper footwear. “No, I want to walk”, I replied. “Oh”, she said, looking slightly deflated. “Well, you’ll want to do the north rim trail, it’s shorter”. Hmmm. She definitely didn’t fashion me a hiker. “Ok, thank you”, I said, stamping my National Park passbook as physical evidence of my Acadia visit and taking the maps she’d highlighted with good trails for Cadillac Mountain (both the longer and the shorter one) and for our return together the next day. Off to procure my park pass at the visitor’s center I went.

At stop two, I purchased my park pass and was guided towards the south rim trail, which was my original goal because it was, in fact, longer, at least as described on AllTrails. “There are better views on the south rim trail”, she said, adding, “or so I’m told, I’ve never done it”. Hmmm.

Going with my gut, I parked on the roadside by the south rim trailhead. The trail passes through woods over rocks and boulders left in the wake of glaciers thousands of years ago and dodging exposed tree roots until you exit the woods to a mostly open rock mountain trail. Following the blue marks and rock cairns over boulders covered with colorful lichen I climbed to arrive at the summit with a feeling of accomplishment, as I walked amongst those who had driven to the top and took in the views of Maine’s mountains and islands and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. This is why we climb.

Ocean Trail. On our second day, we followed the Ocean Trail from Sand Beach to Otter Cliff. This is a moderately easy and relatively short trail hugging the rugged, rocky Maine coastline with spectacular views of the ocean and coast.

We also stuck closer to home (Hancock) in the morning with a visit to Carter’s Beach. We were alone and it was utterly quiet, though I suspect it won’t be later in the summer. As we headed south and west, we realized we’d cut the Bar Harbor/Acadia area short and have already made plans to adjust our future northern border/Canadian route west to include more time here.

Lobster Rolls at Red’s Eats. Red’s Eats in Wiscasset is not a secret. It’s won countless awards and mentions and has been featured on several food programs, including on season 5 of “Somebody Feed Phil” on Netflix. As you drive south on Route 1, it’s hard to miss. It’s the lobster shack with the line wrapping around the bend down the sidewalk. After a wait of over an hour, we ordered our lobster rolls, one with butter, one with mayo, both of which are served on the side. The lovely, toasted buns come piled high with lobster meat so you can have your cake and eat it too by both dipping hunks of it into the fresh, locally made warm butter and with a little mayo spread on the bun. We bypassed several other lobster shacks on our jaunt down Route 1 and waited in the long line, while we watched others abandon ship for Sprague’s across the highway and were glad we had. Deee-licious. Were we not trying to watch our waistlines, we definitely would have gone for a plate of fried clams as well, whose smell wafted up and at us from all directions.

Boothbay Harbor. Three years ago, we’d planned to do this exact trip (or a reasonable semblance of it) and had booked the Topside Inn in Boothbay Harbor. Well, then, COVID. So, we had a gift certificate from our deposit which had actually appreciated (they added value to it at various rates of increase depending on what year we chose to rebook). Run by Mark and Buzz, at the top of the hill overlooking Boothbay Harbor it was yet more evidence of my wife’s diligent and fruitful research into lodging across our international travels. Delicious, fresh-made breakfasts with eggs from the chickens who live below our piece of the deck in the most stylish chicken coop in Maine, painted lobster-adorned cornhole boards adjacent to Adirondack chairs overlooking the harbor, and a bar added during the COVID shut-down all make for a lovely spot in the world to spend a couple of nights. Their slogan is “Above it All”, where the Inn sits physically over the harbor and where it, metaphorically, lives up to the hype. Patrons return and again and again, so be sure to book well in advance.

While in Boothbay Harbor we’d toyed with taking to sea on a harbor, lighthouse or puffin cruise or to visit Monhegan Island. Alas, the weather was a bit cold and rainy for half the time we were there, and thus, we decided to stick to land. Pemaquid Point and its lighthouse is an easy drive from Boothbay Harbor and there’s a neat little museum about the fisherman’s lifestyle there ($4 per person admission fee to visit). For a drive closer to Boothbay, take the Maine 96 to Ocean Point Drive and make the loop along the coastline on Shore Road. For a nearby walk, you can drive to the trails in the Dodge Point Preserve and wander through the woods and along the shoreline of the Damariscotta River. For a sandwich (or a whiskey) try Marcel’s Submarine Shop: sandwiches by day, booze by night. We ate at Ports of Italy, an authentic Italian restaurant with lovely seafood pastas and secondis. Marcel had raved about the bread at Ports and he was right. Boothbay Harbor itself has lots of art galleries and artisan shops to visit as well.

Portland. Our last stop down the coast was in Portland. I spent about eight weeks living here at the Royal Sonesta Hotel as I learned the beverage distribution business at my first real job working for a company in Vermont which made software for distributors. Back and forth between Burlington and Portland, down on Sunday nights and back on Fridays. I’ve had limited chances to return since. So, on our last stop before returning to Frye Island to visit with my sister for another, this time sunny, holiday weekend, we spent a night in the Old Port.

Around the time I was doing my weekly commutes to Portland, my team at work came to an IBM conference here as well, and our boss took us to a dinner I’ve never forgotten at Street and Company. So, since we were doing a bit of a reunion tour, I booked a table here to help celebrate Melissa’s birthday (belatedly). While we waited for dinner, we visited the Portland Museum of Art, took a stroll on Baxter’s Trail in the Back Cove and (completing my reunion tour) visited the Top of the East bar at the Westin, which used to be the Royal Sonesta where I “lived”. The bar has been completely redone, except the neon highlighted sign which greets you as you step off of the elevator. From the bar, we could see Mount Washington, upon whose slopes we spent the weekend prior, and looked back on our last week touring down east and looked forward to our return.