Our trip to Maine was absolutely wonderful. I would definitely visit there again, or possibly live there. :)
Day One: After leaving super early and still dark, we drove until we got to Amsterdam, NY and we spent the night in a B & B, which was a very cool converted farmhouse. The innkeepers were super nice and were full of ideas on things to do in Maine, since they had been there a number of times before. We also visited the local Target. This Target had everything we had always been looking for. Matt bought GI Joes. They had a full stock of Wii's and Wii Fits too, but we already have those. Went to bed early and got up for a nice breakfast before continuing on our way. A note about NY toll road: EXPENSIVE!!
Day Two: I was very surprised at how beautiful Massachusetts was. Still mountainy and very pretty. We made it to New Hampshire and noticed large signs for the State run alcohol stores. We decided to stop and check them out. Great deals on all alcohol. We bought a few bottles and headed on our way. For the 20 miles or so that one travels through New Hampshire, there are 3 to 4 liquor stores within feet of the highway. :) We made it to Maine. YEAH!! Immediately upon entering Maine I notice a suspicious looking car sitting on top of a bridge. I say, Is that a Cop?? Next a cop car comes screaming down the entrance ramp and pulls someone over a few cars ahead of us, right next to the other couple of people who were getting tickets from multiple other cops. They were radaring people from the bridge and radioing to cops who were waiting to pull people over. We stopped at a info center and got some info. I talked Matt into going to Freeport for some shopping. The LL Bean headquarters are there. Lots of neat stores. Had our first Maine lobster roll. It was delicious. We also got some Whoopie Pies to go. Continuing on our way, we stopped at a winery. A interesting stop. We were the first visitors for the year. We talked a while with the owner and got some wine. We finally made it to the cottage about 8:00 or so. We unloaded and headed the 16 miles to the closest fully stocked grocery store. We got there right before they closed, so we just grabbed a few things and headed back to the cottage.
Day Three: The sun rises early in Maine. We went back to the grocery store, which was amazingly well stocked and picked up some supplies. Grabbed some dinner in town. Back at the cottage we decided to go and investigate the little island (Bar Island) that was right behind the cottage. We could walk to it at low tide. Then we relaxed the rest of the day.
Bar Island
Day Four: Went to Bar Harbor. We were trying to catch the whale and puffin tour, but we started to late and didn't make it to town in time. Bar Harbor was about 1 1/2 hours south of the cottage. We stopped at a comic store on the way down for Matt to check out the stuff they had. On the way into town we stopped a another winery and got some more wine. Then we wandered around town looking for restaurant I had read about and could not find it. Apparently it was a few miles outside of town. So we ate at a different place called the Fish House Grille and we split a whole lobster meal. My first whole lobster experience. It was tasty. We got some ice cream at a little shop for dessert. They had lobster ice cream that I thought about getting, but I played it safe and got Pistachio and Irish Mudslide. Back to the cottage for some Iron Dragon.
Jasper Beach
Day Five: We went to Jasper Beach, which is a neat little beach made of jasper rocks. It was really hard to walk on. lol I also found some sea glass here. Then we headed north. Visited Eastport and Lubec. Got some good lobster quesadillas and a lobster roll in Eastport. They also had a statue there for the TV series Mystery in Small Town X. Matt remembers it, I do not. The winner had actually died in the 9/11 attacks, so the statue had a little plaque in memory. Lubec is the easternmost point in the United States, but the only thing we did was buy chocolates at Monica's Chocolate. Mmmm, blueberry truffles.
Statue in Eastport
Day Six: Headed back to Bar Harbor to try and catch the whale and puffin tour. When we will learn to call ahead. sigh. Tour was cancelled for weather on the ocean. So we head to Jordan Pond, which is the restaurant we had been looking for on Monday. It was in Arcadia National Park. Best Lobster Stew, ever. Lobster Stew is made with lobster, butter, cream, and milk. That is it. Jordan's Pond is also know for their popovers with strawberry jam, which were tasty too. After lunch we drove to Cadillac Mountain and drove almost to the top of it. It was getting really foggy so we turned around because we wouldn't be able to see anything any way. We stopped at the Oceanarium on our way off the island, which is a lobster hatchery and had a number of sea creatures we could touch and hold, like sea cucumbers, scallops, sea urchins, and horseshoe crabs. It was really informative and interesting to see, even if the lobster hatchery was empty. Too early.
Jordan Pond
View from Cadillac Mountain, half way
Day Seven: We went on a 5 mile nature hike at the Great Wass Island Nature Conservancy Trails on Beals Island. Wow, was that a rugged hike. It took us 2.5 hours, or so. The trails were marked with little blue dots of paint to make sure we didn't get lost. There were rocks to climb and breaks in the trail to jump and the walk along the coast was extreme. We saw a no dogs sign and wondered why until we got to the cliffs at the shore. We also saw alot of old lobster traps busted on the shoreline among a lot of other junk the ocean had deposited. The terrain was amazing. I'd do it again, but it hurt to walk for two days after we finished.
View from Trail
Day Eight: We called the whale and puffin tours, before driving the hour and a half, to find out it was cancelled again. At least we learned eventually. I had wanted to go to another winery, but I called them too and they don't open the tasting room until June. We found that in a lot of places. Things in Maine seem to open in June. Next time we will wait until at least June to go. We relaxed the rest of the day. For dinner I called and made reservations at a upscale place down the road from us called the Chandler River Lodge and we had a really nice dinner with the best seafood dip and homemade dressings. We even bought a bottle of wine to split. We headed back and started pack up to head home the next day.
Day Nine: We left really early and it was really foggy. We drove all the way to New Hampshire to buy a ton of liquor at great prices. Then we didn't stop until we got to Niagara Falls, NY. (except for food and bathroom breaks) First we went to the Seneca Niagara Casino, but the line was too long to get a hotel room at the casino so we walked across the street to the Crowne Plaza and got one of their last rooms. I didn't figure it would be so busy. After checking in we walked a few blocks to the American Falls. We didn't stay too long because some ugly looking clouds were rolling in quite quickly. So we went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. I ate too much, as normal, but the spring rolls were really good. We went to a souvenir store and than back to the hotel to relax a little before heading to the casino. It was busy. We checked out all the slots first and settled on Monopoly. I played a few rounds and than more than doubled my money. WOOHOO! I turned $20 into $40! Big spenders are we. :) I was ready to go, but we wasted a little more money and than walked away still ahead.
American Falls
Day Ten: We checked out and walked to a restaurant I found online for breakfast,only to find it doesn't open on Sunday's until June. Again the June opening foils all my plans. So we walked back to the falls and checked them out for a while, we walked to Goat Island, which is the island between the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls, and admired the view of the falls from there. Then we left Niagara. Matt said we could come back again sometime to explore the Canadian side when we have the appropriate paperwork to cross the border. We stopped at a few wineries in Ohio, which only offers tastings for a cost since lawmakers wanted more money. We stopped at three and got wine from two. This one and this one which had it's tasting room in an old church. Continuing on our way we finally reached MI. We stopped at Trader Joe's in Ann Arbor and picked up some neat stuff and then made it home about 9pm.
All the pictures from our Maine Trip can be found here.
The Niagara Falls pictures can be found here.
