September 2014 Roadtrip to New England

We departed Nashville on Saturday September 6th for our drive to New England, specifically Bar Harbor, ME. Day one was uneventful. No rain to speak of but it was cloudy for awhile and then it turned out to be a beautiful day.

A beautiful rainbow to end our first day

Day one ended in Hagerstown, MD. It was a long day but we made a lot of progress and enjoyed the scenery. Sunday's drive took us to Portsmouth, NH. Another beautiful day for a drive although it did rain toward the end. Tomorrow we get to Portland, ME to begin our adventure - can't wait.

On our way to Portland, we stopped in the little coastal town of Ogunquit, ME (Rusty's cousin told us they had a beautiful boardwalk there we would enjoy). It was a beautiful, sunny day in the 60's - perfect weather. We went to a little restaurant called Huckleberry's on the shore for breakfast, we had blueberry pancakes - yummy.

Selfie along the coast

 We took a long walk along The Marginal Way (boardwalk) which ran along the coast of ME. It was beautiful.

Marginal Way

Marginal Way

Bed and breakfast along Marginal Way

Marginal Way

Rusty

Beautiful flowers along boardwalk

Rocky shoreline

After spending a few hours in Ogunquit, we headed to Portland. One of my favorite things in Portland is the Portland Head Light.

Portland Head Light

We spent a lot of time exploring the grounds, climbing around the cliffs. The grounds around the Head Light are beautiful. I just can't say enough about how beautiful it is at the Portland Head Light.

Rusty along the shore

Rusty and I on the cliffs

Portland Head Light

While in Portland, we went looking for a place called the Lobster Shack. Rusty's sister Terri had told us about it. We googled it and found it, followed the directions. It took us through all these neighborhoods, etc. - we thought we had made a wrong turn, but low and behold we finally ran into it. It was amazing. We had a great lunch and just sat and enjoyed the view.

The Lobster Shack

View from our picnic table

After leaving Portland Head Light we headed back to Portland. Had dinner that night at Sebago - a local brewery. The next day we spent exploring downtown Portland. A lot of really cool architecture and some great cobble-stone streets.

Court House

Government building

Fire Station

Old churches

Old Churches

Rusty on cobble-stone street

We had lunch at Becky's Diner - we had heard about this from Triple D's and Guy Fieri. It was a really old little diner with great food.

Becky's Diner (Diners, Driver-ins and Dives)

Sunset in Portland September 9th.

Portland sunset

After another night in Portland we headed to Bar Harbor. We love walking the streets of Bar Harbor as well as exploring Acadia National Park. We did some hiking and just driving along the park road and exploring all the park has to offer. We actually visited a couple of different sections of the park we hadn't been to before. Our National Parks are one of the most beautiful things our country has to offer.

Bar Harbor

Dinner our first night

Storm over the Atlantic on September 11th.

Schooner in Harbor

Great Schooner in the Harbor.






Frenchmen's Bay @ Acadia National Park -

Frenchmen's Bay

Jordan's Pond in Acadia National Park

Bubbles @ Jordan Pond

Bubbles @ Jordan Pond

Bubbles @ Jordan Pond

September 11th - Although we had been to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park before, we had never visited Southwest Bass Harbor Lighthouse. We also took the opportunity to hike along Canada Cliff Trail and Beach Cliff Loop hiking trails.

Lighthouse

Bell at Lighthouse

Southwest Harbor

Beach Cliff Loop

Beach Loop Trail

Beach Loop Trail

Canada Cliff Trail

Selfie at top of trailhead

Rusty at top of trailhead

View at the top

We also took a drive and had lunch at The Colonel in Northeast Harbor. Acadia Park has some beautiful drives and spectacular views.



A cool little place we ate at after exploring both Southwest and Northeast Harbor in Bar Harbor called Dink's. Rusty LOVED the lobster.

Rusty chowing down

Dinner one night

On September 12th we did the Great Head Loop hike - awesome views.

Beach from Great Head Loop Trail

Rusty along trail

Sheryl taking a break

Awesome views

Rusty hiking

Wild flowers on hike

Thunder Hole and views from Cadillac Mountain

Thunder Hole

Harbor View from Cadillac Mountain

Cadillac Mountain

Cadillac Mountain

Fog on Cadillac Mountain

Great Head Trail 

We did a lot more hiking on this visit than we have done in the past, great weather (we only had rain a couple of times and they weren't all day soakers) and great visit.

Sunset in Bar Harbor

September 13th we departed Bar Harbor and took a scenic drive along the coastal roads. Driving into Castine we saw this really cool home along the road.

Home on road into Castine

We visited the little town of Castine, ME. There is a Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) in Castine. We watched them getting ready to go out on the boats. We also visited a small Lighthouse.

Ships in Castine Harbor

MMA working ships

MMA ships

MMA teaching vessel

Castine from harbor

Castine Lighthouse

Small vessel in harbor

Old Church we saw along our drive

Uneventful drive through Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania. Beautiful skies and the trees were just starting to change colors.

On September 15th we entered Shenandoah National Park and took a drive on Skyline Drive. It was very foggy but still a beautiful drive. This is such an amazing drive, the scenery is just stunning.

Black and white of a bare tree

Trees starting to change

Beautiful rolling hills

More beautiful hills

Lake down in valley

We spent our last night on the road in Wytheville, VA. The fire alarm went off in the hotel, someone had left some cookies in the microwave too long and they burned and set off the alarm. Luckily we didn't have to evacuate. We arrived back home on September 16th. Another great trip.