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aertre

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Feb 21, 2013
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Hi all,

We're planning a trip to the Maine coast for July. We will stop in Mass. on the way and then go to Boothbay Harbor, Bar Harbor and then down to Wells. Anything we shouldn't miss while we're there? We will probably rent a car (no toad) in Wells so we can get to Portland and Portsmouth and anything else interesting.

Thanks,

Cindy
 
Camden, ME, is a lovely village and tourist trap. Very pretty harbor, numerous restaurants, and the usual knick-knack shops. You have to drive right smack through it on US 1, so you may as well stop and enjoy it.

In the Bar Harbor area you might want a car to tour the island and Acadia National Park. There are, however, free buses to get your around as well as paid tours, so you might get by with that. All depends on how much flexibility you want.

We will be at The Narrows Too in Trenton, just before the little bridge that goes over the Narrows and out onto the island where Bar Harbor and Acadia are located, all during July and August. Where will you stay near Bar Harbor? Summer is very busy there and you will want reservations.

Likewise, where will you stay near Boothbay Harbor? The campground I know of. Shore Hills, is 5 miles from the harbor village.
 
Rockland, ME, is also a lovely village and tourist trap. Very pretty harbor, numerous restaurants, and the usual knickknack shops. You have to drive right smack through it on US 1, so you may as well stop and enjoy it.
 
We are in Thomaston, adjacent to Rockland, right now. Staying at Sal****er Farm campground, overlooking the Georges River. If stopping here, the Transportation Museum at Owl's Head is a nice visit. Mostly cars and airplanes, but some bicycles, motorcycles, wagons, etc. as well. Only about 3-4 miles from downtown Rockland.

Thomaston, Rockland, Camden & Rockport are all adjacent, so you can easily spend several days in the area enjoying the scenery, shops, cafes and restaurants.
 
I like the outlet stores in Kittery and I am a big fan of the Nubble lighthouse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Neddick_Light

Perkins Cove is also a great little fishing town to wander through
 
Wasoki said:
If you are stopping at Freeport / LL Bean, the local municipal park (Winslow) has some great waterfront sites.
Click to expand...

You can also spend the night in the municipal parking lot for RVs just down the hill from Bean.
 
    In behind Freeport is a unique little spot called The Desert of Maine.  It is an actual sand desert with sand devils, drifting sand, etc, and it has a campground.  Here is there website, it is worth a night or two.

http://www.desertofmaine.com/
 
The desert of Maine is really cool.  I took the kids there when they were small....but I am also the girl that would take a major side trip to see a giant ball of string.
 
Jeff,

Is the municipal lot free? My wife and I want to stop at LLBean and stay overnight and move on to Mass. Can we just park in the lot (towing) and then move on? How it work?

Thanks,
Mike & Pam
 
    We have overnighted at the Freeport Tourist Bureau, which is down the road about 5 miles.  There are signs saying no overnighting, but the first time we stopped as it was snowing in May, we saw the police turn around, but they didn't give us any hastle.

Ed
 
In Freeport about 4 blocks south of Bean is a street to the east that has signs saying parking and RV parking. If you follow it two blocks east (and down the hill) you then turn north for three blocks and there are three lots, one to the east that is the Chamber of Commerce and across the street from that to the west are two lots. The south lot of those two is marked RV parking only and the city allows overnight parking there. There are no parking fees.
 
Many years ago we did the Main trip, stopped in Booth Bay Harbor, parked in the Church parking lot, and across the street was a Lobster co-op.  all the boats pulled in and sold there catch

Great town.  Great trip..

Be prepared for a lot of traffic, that is why they call Main the Vacation State.
 
Hi all,

Sorry for the lateness getting back but I got sidetracked. :eek: Thanks for all your replies!

Gary: We are staying at Shore Hills in Boothbay and Oceanside KOA in Bar Harbor. I've made reservations! I know some people don't like KOA's but this one got good reviews and it's right on the water. I didn't think about renting a car in Bar Harbor, we'll have to think about doing that. Even though the buses run right to the campground, it would give us more flexibility. I think we'll stop in Camden on the way back from Bar Harbor, it sounds pretty.

Tracy: Kittery and Perkins Cove sounds like something we can do when we're stationed in Wells. Thanks!

Johnandcarol: We are doing LL Bean and Rockland sounds like something we can do when we're go to Camden. Thanks.

Jeff: Thank you all for mentioning that you can overnight in Freeport. That might be something interesting to do. But I'll have see how my husband feels about that!  ;D

Ed & Diane: the Desert of Maine sounds very interesting. So much to see! Next time we'll have to plan 2 months!!

Tin Man: Yes, I do know about (or at least read about) the traffic. Oh well, the price we pay for adventures I guess. Plus, this was the only time this year we could go.  ;)

Thanks again for all of your suggestions and ideas, we greatly appreciate them!

Cindy
 
Just a quick heads up on car rentals.  There are none in Bar Harbor that I know of, but there is an Enterprise in Ellsworth that you have to go right by on your way down to Bar Harbor.  Having a car will give you a much better chance to see the area and the National Park itself.

There are also no rentals in Wells - I think the closest is another Enterprise in York, which is south, or Durham, NH which is west.

Good luck and enjoy.  By the way the worst traffic is on Fridays and Sundays.
 
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