Hello fellow Escapees,

We're excited to be attending the 56th Escapade as well as Boot Camp! Sort of having a “home court advantage" for this year’s rally, I wanted to share some info with those not familiar with the area that might be planning to make use of their trip east to see more than just Essex Jct VT and perhaps heading to Maine!

We have travelled the Maine coast extensively. I have also toured the Maritimes quite a bit by motorcycle and car as well as Newfoundland and Labrador, & Gaspe too. Last summer we were excited to see that RVLOVE.COM (Marc & Julie) were coming to Maine for nearly a month. We had the pleasure of meeting them and they also introduced us to Erik & Kayla of LIVINLITE.NET. I made up a couple lists of things to do and places to see/go for them. 1 for Southern Maine and one for Bar Harbor area. Many folks never get their noses out of the tour guides and think Bar Harbor is all Maine has to offer, but they miss out on so much more. Tour books and guides are fine if you want to go where 98% of everyone else reading those books go.

So I dug the lists out of my sent items and wanted to post them here for those who might plan to spend some time in the northeast before or after the 56th Escapade. So here are some potential “to do & see” items in Maine.

Southern Maine area York-Freeport (places within 60-90 minute drive or closer)

Nubble Light house, York (just over border from NH) - great sunrises if you're into them http://nubblelight.org/

Lots to see and do in Ogunquit, and Kennebunkport (including Bush estate)

Old Orchard Beach -boardwalk, restaurants, fireworks at night

Ken's place on Pine Point rd, scarborough, 10 minutes from OOB above. Great seafood.

Scarborough Marsh also Pine Point road, there's a nice bike/walking trail and place to rent kayaks too.

Portland Headlight, Cape Elizabeth - One of the most photographed light houses in the world. http://www.portlandheadlight.com/

2 lights State park Cape Elizabeth (10 minutes from Portland Headlight) http://www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/doc/parksearch/details.pl?park_id=28

The 2 light houses are down the road 1/2 mile east of the park and at the light houses you should eat at the Lobster Shack! Good eats!

South Portland: Bug Light and Spring point lighthouses. Nice view back at the Portland Skyline across the harbor too! (Both light houses in sight of each other)

Bug Light: http://www.southportland.org/departments/parks-recreation-aquaticspool/parks-department/major-parks/bug-light-park/

Spring point light located on SMCC campus and south side beach faces entrance to harbor and Portland Head Light can be seen from there too. Plan to walk the campus!

Spring Point Light: http://springpointlight.org/

Becky's Diner - Comercial St Portland. Simple home cooking but a destination spot for many! http://www.beckysdiner.com/

Portland Maine Old Port area - shops, bars, adjacent to Portland waterfront

Dimillo's floating restaurant, Comercial St Portland. More formal than Becky's and a little pricier. http://www.dimillos.com/restaurant/

Portland Eastern Promenade - Gorgeous views of Casco Bay and Portland Harbor. Take a lunch and enjoy the view! http://www.easternpromenade.org/about-the-eastern-prom/location/

Casco Bay Lines, Ferry from portland to Islands, mailboat cruise is a nice way to see Casco Bay!

http://www.cascobaylines.com/

Spring point light and Bug Light South Portland (across from Eastern Promenade)

LL Bean (of course) in Freeport

Quaker Ridge (AKA Hacker's Hill) Casco Gorgeous views of White Mountains, Sebago lake, gorgeous sunsets (pack a picnic - totally free) Open M, W F, Sa Su 8:30-sunset http://www.loonecholandtrust.org/places-we-protect/preserves/hackers-hill-project/

Near Quaker Ridge is Naples ME on Rt 302. Seaplane rides, restaurants, boat rentals, nice views of Long Lake

If you have a perfect day forecast, the Mount Washington auto road (NH) is a fun destination via car or motorcycle. http://mtwashingtonautoroad.com/ Plan to arrive at base as early as you can as it tends to be better visibility in AM Bring something warm as 80F at base is usually about 45-50 at the 6288' peak! If you do go, there's a TON of shops and restaurants in N Conway NH near the mountain, places to eat & shop.

There is a Tiffin Dealer in Nashua NH called Camper Inn, no personal experience there. Also a camping world in Conway NH if you get up that way. There are also CAT and Cummins shops in Scarborough, 10-15 minutes south of Portland.

Mid Coast area - Brunswick to Rockland:

City of Bath - nice shops and views of the famous Bath Iron works where many US military ships are built.

Phippsburg: Fort Popham and Popham Beach state park

http://www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/doc/parksearch/details.pl?park_id=40

Booth bay Harbor & Southport Island (VERY touristy, but for a reason so worth a look). http://www.boothbayharbor.com/

Maine Botanical gardens at Boothbay Harbor - if you life this kind of thing, this place is awesome! Bring your camera. http://www.mainegardens.org/

Moody’s Diner, US Rt 1, Waldoboro - This place is an institution and great simple home cooked food (save room for desert!) http://www.moodysdiner.com/

Rockland Area:

Famous breakwater, plan to walk it on a nice day! http://www.rocklandharborlights.org/

Rock Harbor Brew Pub - excellent local eatery & brew pub http://www.rockharbor.me/

Owl’s Head Transportation Museum - very cool place: http://owlshead.org/

Bar Harbor area and other areas Down East:

Downeast is a term thrown about loosely but to us it's East of Bucksport. Everything else is just Northern New England.

Other things to see/do "up theya" as we Mainuhs would say:

Helen's Restaurant in Ellsworth is awesome and their deserts are fantastic. In season, the fresh blueberry pie is outstanding.

The town of Bar Harbor is a cool little town just to walk around and take in all the sights.

Sunrise/sunset on Cadillac mountain (Acadia National Park)- fantastic!

Jordan Pond house in the park - fresh popovers with strawberry jam and lobster stew there to die for!

http://www.thejordanpondhouse.com/

2 cats restaurant in Bar Harbor (town) - granola-ish but good food!

Bass Harbor light, iconic lighthouse. http://www.acadiamagic.com/BassHarborLight.html

Thunder Hole, touristy, but cool if you catch the tide right. http://www.acadiamagic.com/ThunderHole.html

Whale watches out of bar harbor - very high success ratio, puffin sightings too

If you like antique vehicles, this place is cool! http://www.sealcoveautomuseum.org/

More Acadia info: http://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/placestogo.htm

Off Island but nearby:

Schoodic Point (40 minutes from Bar Harbor island) http://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/upload/schoodic.pdf

Deer Isle/Stonington 1 hour from Bar Harbor, beautiful drive, you can take the mail boat to Isle Au Haut from Stonington harbor (Isle au haut also part of Acadia Nat park). This was my first patrol before I transferred back to Portland area. It’s a living Norman Rockwell painting. See town of Blue Hill on the way there also. Very quaint.

On was to/from Deer Isle, you could also go through the very beautiful Castine, home of Maine Maritime Academy, prestigious school for many a ships captain & crew. http://mainemaritime.edu/

If you go up Route 1 from Belfast area towards BHB, you will go across the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. If you have the time, it's worth the ride to the top for the amazing view of Penobscot Bay. http://maine.gov/mdot/pnbo/ at 420' the highest bridge observatory in the country (take a ride up and bring your camera).

Further “Down East” from Bar Harbor, a wonderful “day drive” could include Schoodic Point (noted above), several wonderful small towns on Rt 1 going up the coast (east) The original Helen’s Restaurant in Machias (great eats!). And if you want to say you’ve been to the eastern most point in the USA, West Quoddy Head lighthouse is a MUST! (gorgeous too!)

http://www.westquoddy.com/

And if you made it as far as W. Quoddy Head, bring your passport and drive across the bridge from Lubec to Campbello Island (Canada). Another gorgeous lighthouse there http://www.campobello.com/lighthouse/

as well as FDR’s former summer home, now a museum you can tour (and we strongly suggest it!). http://www.visitcampobello.com/

I know this only barely scratches the surface, but hopefully it will give some of you some valuable intel so you can maximize your time in the great state of Maine. For those who might be continuing on to the Atlantic Maritimes, I may be able to offer you some suggestions if desired. Especially Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland/Labrador.

VT & NH have tons to offer as well. Hopefully some locals from there can take a stab at a similar list. If not I will try to jot down a few as time allows.

I can't do too much in the way of recommending campgrounds as we are just about to take delivery of our 41' Newmar Mountain Aire and start full timing in the next few months. Prior to that we've only done pop-up camping. But we did tour the Freeport/Durham KOA it looked very nice and they were super friendly. RVLOVE stayed at Moody Beach campground in Wells (Thousand Trails membership) and it seemed nice too https://www.thousandtrails.com/maine/moody-beach-rv-campground/. A smaller more intimate campground is Blueberry Pond (PA member I believe) http://www.blueberrycampground.com/. Also a BMW friend had stayed at Wild Duck campground in Scarborough and said it was good (lots of trees so maybe tough on satellite).

Hope a few of you find this info helpful.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Mainuh

Wow , this is a great list .

Between you and what other folks have sudgested our trip is pretty much fulll going and comeing home .

Thank you for the info.

I live in central Maine, and this will be my first Escapade, prepping for spending my first winter in warmth!

Thanks for all the Maine information! We haven't made any plans for after Escapade other than we want to spend time in New England. Anyone have plans?

Wondering if Mainuh or pegwillen, or anyone else would know - we will be in Acadia prior to the Escapade. I had planned to take US Route 2 west to get to Essex Junction, but the "RV enabled" Garmin in our motorhome is recommending that we take I-95 south to Boston area and then I-89 north to Burlington. Googlemaps shows that there isn't much time difference, though the interstate route is almost 100 miles longer.

I would prefer to go the US highway, but... we have a big bus (43' Bluebird, 50K pounds), and I rarely drive the speed limit (usually slower). I would hate to hold up logging trucks or other traffic for long periods of time. And, I certainly don't want to deal with load zoned bridges or low overpasses.

Does anyone know if US Route 2 from Maine to Vermont:

• has passing lanes, particularly on uphill sections?
• has any load zoned bridges or low overpasses?

Thanks in advance for any input! I'm going to look for any big rigs in our camping area with Vermont tags to ask them too!

I can speak to the Maine part, there are slow lanes, and if a logger can go through you should be able to.....however, getting to Acadia via Ellsworth will be a headache, at least by my standards, this being the tourist season the traffic is terrible. Lamoine State Park is an option if you have a toad.

  On 7/14/2016 at 8:18 AM, pattic777 said:

Wondering if Mainuh or pegwillen, or anyone else would know - we will be in Acadia prior to the Escapade. I had planned to take US Route 2 west to get to Essex Junction, but the "RV enabled" Garmin in our motorhome is recommending that we take I-95 south to Boston area and then I-89 north to Burlington. Googlemaps shows that there isn't much time difference, though the interstate route is almost 100 miles longer.

 

I would prefer to go the US highway, but... we have a big bus (43' Bluebird, 50K pounds), and I rarely drive the speed limit (usually slower). I would hate to hold up logging trucks or other traffic for long periods of time. And, I certainly don't want to deal with load zoned bridges or low overpasses.

 

Does anyone know if US Route 2 from Maine to Vermont:

• has passing lanes, particularly on uphill sections?
• has any load zoned bridges or low overpasses?

Thanks in advance for any input! I'm going to look for any big rigs in our camping area with Vermont tags to ask them too!

Sorry, just saw this. But Rt 2 is a good US route and while may be slower with summer folks here should be fine for those reading this later...