I deserve beating with a stick for the terrible title, not that it will stop me. I suspect that by the completion of our nomadic life I’ll resemble a pinata at 6-year olds birthday party.
When we moved to New York City back in 2016, we always knew it was more of an extended vacation, rather than a permanent change of address. Like any vacation, we produced a list of all the things we would like to do. When we were ready to leave we pulled out the list to see how successful and diligent we had been; Everything but Maine.
So Maine was a must-do trip and a great destination for our break away from New York. Everyone, just everyone that has visited Maine said Arcadia Nation Park is fantastic. So, at least we didn’t have to plan too much!
A Brooklyn, New York to Arcadia, Maine drive would not be fun at 500 miles, so we broke it up with a stop in Rhode Island, somewhere Renee was very keen to see. To be honest, you have to stop to see it otherwise its gone in the blink of an eye as its so small! Our experiences in Rhode Island will be covered elsewhere (don’t wait here for the link to show up, its already been ten weeks since we were there and I’m writing about Maine first).
Back to the main plot. The plan in Maine was simple; see rugged coastline and eat lots of lobster. I think we were outstandingly successful on both counts!
Schoodic Woods Campground/Winter Harbor
I’m an avid follower of wheelingit.us, and they put me onto this fantastic National Park campground. The park is relatively new and therefore accommodates big rig RVs like ours. The sites are well spaced with trees and scrub separating them, so you do get good privacy, yet still have the opportunity to talk to people walking past the end of the pull-through sites. It is one of those places where the photo’s do not do it justice; you will have to buy or borrow an RV and see and feel it for yourself.
A short drive from the campground is Winter Harbor, a quaint old fishing village. A key feature for us newbies to Maine was the lobster co-op, where most of the local fishermen land their catch of lobster. Renee rushed in to order two lobster to be collected mid-afternoon, only to be confronted with the decision of soft-shell or hard-shell. “Hmm, don’t know, I’ll take both,” she replied, so we had four lobsters for dinner. It was still early days so the lobster was particularly good and the belly unusually empty. We ate like it was a competition and downed the fare, only to collapse as we crossed the finish line. It was a lovely evening, so we used the Zero Gravity reclining chairs to help reduce the strain on our stomachs.
Soft-shell are the ones that have shed their tough outside shell, necessary for them to grow without bursting! The soft-shell lobster is easier to open and the meat is sweeter.
Winter Harbor has a few attractions, beyond the fabulous view and the small fishing village feel.
- Lobster co-up. Just do it, this is Maine!
- Coffee shop. A newly opened coffee shop, open in the mornings for coffee and cake. It’s located on the main road on the way into town, keep your eyes open on the left.
- Weekly farmers market. It’s only small and open one or two mornings per week, but we enjoyed it and came away with vegetables and some excellent goat cheese.
- The Pickled Wrinkle. Just down the road in Birch Harbor, this pub has good food, but not fancy.
- J M Gerrish. Very good food and ice cream. It’s not open every day, so check the schedule and find time for lunch.
The main Arcadia peninsular
We stayed at Timberland Acres RV Park; convenient for both the local town of Ellsworth and the main Bar Harbor part of Arcadia National Park.
Our fur babies needed a good walk. We found out that Little Long Pond allowed dogs off-leash, one of the very few that does. We had a lovely walk and the dogs had a wonderful time.
Summary
Highlights of our stay in Maine:
- Lobster, lobster, and more lobster. There are many places that serve lobster and others where you can order what you want (live or cooked) and it will be ready for your pick up time. I think we can say we finally did get tired of eating lobster!
- Beautiful, rocky, rugged coastline
- Blueberry ice cream! And more blueberry ice cream!
- A wonderful off leash park that the dogs loved – Little Long Pond
- Cadillac Mountain – amazing views. OK, we confess, this trip didn’t involve hiking of any sort. We were short on time so we just drove to the top J
Arcadia is indeed wild, rugged and spacious. In the time we had we only fitted in a couple hikes and a visit to Bar Harbor, but we do work full-time! We definitely want to visit again and are tentatively planning a visit to Maine in the fall of 2020. Perhaps that’s recommendation enough. If you visit, hopefully, you will love it as much as we did.