We are leaving for our Maine trip soon. Spending some time in Boston and then driving to Brunswick on Monday morning. We will spend the day there (and hopefully hit all of the restaurants suggested above!). Planning on hanging out on campus a bit on Monday as well. We are touring Bowdoin Tuesday morning and then driving to Colby after lunch for a late afternoon tour there. That night, we will drive to Bar Harbor. Yes, that’s a busy Tuesday but I think we will be ok.
We will check into our Bar Harbor hotel on Tuesday night and spend Wed and Thursday there. We are driving back to Boston on Friday but don’t have to get back until late since we aren’t flying out until Saturday morning. So…we were thinking of taking the scenic route along the coast for our Friday drive from Bar Harbor to Boston and kind of taking our time, probably eating both lunch and dinner in Maine. Maybe Camden for lunch and a little looking around and then Portland for an early dinner. Does that make sense? Or are there other stopping points that make more sense? We’d probably want to leave the Portland area by 7pm or so to get back to Boston before 10pm.
May hit traffic into Boston. It’s only about 100 miles but on a Fri there’ll be folks headed down and out toward the beaches or Cape. Check traffic before taking Rt 1 south of Portland through Ogunquit.
Have a great time.
I swear there used to be a welcome sign as you entered that said, “…you can breathe now.” Dunno. It now says, “The way life should be.” Ayup.
^I don’t recall that welcome sign and we’ve lived here since '86.
We usually don’t have issues with traffic going south on Fridays, but we always take the highway. It’s great going south at the beginning of the weekend and north at the end - we can chuckle at the heavy traffic going the opposite direction each time.
ML, I searched. It was “Breathe easy, you’re in Maine,” which amused me becuse I’m always delighted and take a breath when I cross into the state. But the tag line was, “All indoor public places are smoke-free.” I think it was in for a sort time only, when a law changed. Maybe just one or two signs, no idea.
We have a old custom with the girls to count the kayaks on cars and call them out. Two = kayak, kayak. You get the idea.
When we drove up from Boston to interview for our jobs in 1986 and crossed into Maine, we were struck by two things: 1. No billboards! and 2. The number of cars that had kayaks and canoes on them. I think right then we decided we wanted to live here.
Posted on a local news station FB page: “Ouch! There are severe delays on the Maine Turnpike southbound starting in SACO all the way to the New Hampshire border. That’s 30 miles.”
@MaineLonghorn Yikes. Well, it is a Sunday afternoon. I would expect traffic. Just like here in Chicago. Don’t even think about driving from Michigan back to Chicago on Sunday afternoon…
Today is bad, lol. I looked at that long line of red earlier. Something has changed in highway traffic patterns and it’s not obvious construction. Coming south, it nearly always backs up a bit (not too aggravating) where 495 peels off, north of Boston. Then the 93 turnoff toward Boston. But my recent trips have been more than usual. This last trip, I came back on a Tuesday.
ML, I hope it’s not just more and more people headed to/from Maine.
Especially in Brunswick! BTW, the International Music Festival is now going on at Bowdoin. You might want to check the schedule–its online–to see if there is a concert you might want to catch. Anything in the Studzinski will be great, including the student recitals, which I love.
Oh, and if you are staying overnight in Brunswick and want to catch a movie, definitely go to the Eveningstar. Not only do they have interesting movies and real popcorn, but there are big old sofas you can sit on down front! It is my favorite movie theater, ever. It’s right in the middle of town, and you can stroll over to Gelato Fiasco after the show.
Tagging on to this thread rather than creating a new one–I am going to Monmouth, ME to see a show at Theater at Monmouth in two weeks. My daughter (an MFA acting student) is working there this summer and staying in Winthrop. I have been to Maine, but never to this particular area (inland). There aren’t a whole lots of options for lodging nearby, so we are staying at an Air B&B near Wiscasset, which is about an hour away.
If anyone is familiar with the Monmouth/Winthrop area —I am wondering if there is any place to get a meal before or after the show? Should we just go back to Wiscasset? We are going to Brunswick (which is 30-40 minutes away) one night to an Asian resturant whose chef/owner used to be our neighbor. (I also saw the gelato recommendation above for Brunswick.)
Would love any suggestions for other interesting restaurants in the area.
Alas, that is not an area I know at all. If you are staying in Wiscasset, you could try to get a lobster roll at the famous Red’s. I believe that each one has the meat of an entire 1 1/2 lb lobster, and is made with Kate’s Butter, a Maine butter that I used to use in my truffles/caramels/toffee/etc.
