Would we go back to Maine? Absolutely! Particularly the DownEast area, which includes Camden and Acadia. The down east term is from sailors from the west sailing east and downwind to reach the area.
We chose to avoid the southern heavy traffic tourist areas of Portland, Kennebunkport, etc and concentrate our time in Camden and Acadia National Park. Then we headed north on highway 1 to get to the town of Lubec (Loo-back), supposedly the first place to see the sun in the US each day.
Well, after the beauty of Camden and Acadia, and the awful roads in the north to Lubec, we aborted Lubec. The highway 1 scenery north of Acadia is not worth the hype, as we were spoiled by the other 2 areas. It was going to be a rainy few days anyways, so probably no sun to even see.
Camden was enchanting. It was a town to wander through, among the retail, restaurants and fishing harbor, and we found many surprises in the town that I won’t mention so you can experience it yourself, but rest assured, we highly recommend it. It was the place where we first experienced a sense of calm and contentment and Bill was content to spend more than his usual ‘maxiumum 15 minutes in one place then: “ok, ready to go?”’.
One of the fun things about this type of travel is you can’t research EVERYTHING, otherwise you’d never see what was actually in front of you. That is a big change for me, as I usually plan an action packed vacation calendar. But, we’re retired and have no big plans in place and all the time in the world to accomplish it. That has now turned out to be rather fun, because one way we decide to go places is based on the name itself. We took a hike to Echo Lake in Acadia NP, I was excited thinking I’d be able to yell and hear an echo. Never found that experience if it even existed but we did happen upon a beautiful beach and stopped to have a snack/picnic there. It’s the surprises that make the day special.
Feet on the ground — The beauty of Acadia, especially the Schoodic Peninsula, will show itself if you just get out of the car or off the bike and hike further into any area and find those surprises. The true beauty of an area cannot be found from the parking lot.
Recommendations: Be sure to see the shoreline at low tide, when the most rocks are exposed for those great Maine photos.
Bucket list accomplishments: Walking on the ocean floor
The first of the national parks we hope to accomplish
Sandy’s first sailing adventure and Bill’s first schooner sail
Written by Sandy
Thanks for continuing to share your adventures!
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