I have been thinking about our journey to Maine this past summer and have desperately been wanting to find time to share it with you so I’m so happy to say its finally here. After a crazy busy end of the year, I found time to sit down with some tea and sift through all of our photos from our Maine adventure! These were some of the best days and we just adore Maine. Enjoy – and I hope it inspires you to plan your own Maine adventure!
Driving all the way to Maine with our trailer at first seemed like a daunting task, but once we hit the road and were on our way- it really was a great road trip. We broke up the trip by booking one night in upstate New York at Stoney Brook State Park. Im so glad we did this, even if just to get out of the car for a few hours. Our original plan was to spend the night and continue our drive in the morning, however, after our evening fire, we decided to load up the boys and drive a few night hours until we were tired.
This is what the back seat view looked like.
We arrived at the Bar Harbor Oceanside KOA just in time for a beautiful Maine sunset over the Western Bay. There were a few campgrounds in the area but decided on this one mostly for it’s location and water access for the kayaks. I wrote an entire campground review in full if you’d like to read more about the campground here. It was so beautiful to set up camp with this lovely view. While our site wasn’t right on the water, we were just one row of campers back and still had a great view.
The next day we explored the campground a bit. It was a great family campground to spend our week. We especially enjoyed kayaking in the bay.
This cute little sweets truck came around and the kids were SO excited.
Breakfast at the Ball Camp
The next week was packed with exploring Mt Desert Island. We walked around downtown Bar Harbor, and hiked, kayaked, and did yoga in Acadia National Park. No matter what you’re into, there is so much to see and do here. If you’re interested in Kayaking but don’t have kayaks, we used Coastal Kayaking Tours in 2015 when we visited, and had a great time!
One of our favorite food stops was Stewman’s Downtown. We ate fresh seafood right on the water. It was perfect!
One of our favorite parts of this trip was watching fireworks in downtown Bar Harbor. We had read that they were one of the best firework displays in the country. They were by far the best we’ve ever seen. They seemed to go on forever, and every time you thought it was the finale, they just kept coming. Walking around downtown was crazy busy, the roads shut down and there were people everywhere…if you can brave the crowds for the show though, they were highly worth it!
Exploring Acadia National Park was one of the main reasons we chose to vacation in this part of Maine. Ian and I visited here in 2015 and knew we wanted the boys to experience it. Acadia with kids is fantastic. There are so many options for hiking, many are perfect for families.
There are lots of short hikes along the cliffs and the waters edge. The views were just stunning.
Gorham Mountain trail was a really great hike. There were a couple of look out points before you reach the actual summit. It was a bit of a foggy day over the bay, but again, the view was beautiful.
Jordan Pond was another area of the park we wanted to explore. There is a trail that encircles the pond, as well as a fun tourist stop- Jordan Pond House which serves tea on the lawn overlooking the pond. This stop seemed incredibly busy, however, the water was wide open, so we opted to view via kayak. We were so glad we brought these with us. It was a really fun couple of hours here.
This beautiful spot is probably my favorite place in all of Acadia. We went to Cadillac Mountain to check out the view from the top. This is a highly populated stop, depending on the time of year. There is quite a bit of room to roam though, so if you walk just a bit down the rocks, you’ll find yourself away from the crowd that tends to stay near the parking lot. There is no hike to see the views here, you can step right out of your car and take in all of the beauty of this stop.
In 2015 when we visited, I did a little research in the area and found an incredible movement called Yoga In Your Park. These are groups of nature-loving folks like ourselves, that meet in various places in Acadia for yoga. It’s family friendly, so Ian and I knew we had to join this group again with the boys. Nolan is especially a little yogi, and was excited to join.
As the sun started to go down, a fog rolled in over the mountains, and the view was incredible. We didn’t want to leave after yoga and just hung out here, soaking it all in.
From the road inside of Acadia, there are many spots to pull over and take in the views. This spot we loved in particular, as you could see all of the small islands around Acadia. It was especially fun for Ian and I to see this view as we kayaked around these little islands when we were here in 2015. It is just beautiful from atop the mountains in the park.
This is also the spot we chose to take our family photo announcing that we would become a family of 5 in December!
Last but not least, the only thing Nolan wanted to do the entire time we were in Maine was to eat a lobster. There’s definitely no short of lobster pounds, so we saved the best for last and visited one on our last night before heading back to the Mitten. Ethan wanted nothing to do with it, however, Nolan and Ian split a lobster, and Nolan loved it!
Overall, if you’re considering a trip to Maine, we highly reccomend it. These were some of the best days spent with each other, exploring and adventuring.
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