Up the Coast of Maine

Of course, AFTER we left the Boston area, Hannah pipes up with “we should have gone to the Boston Public Gardens.  It was like, the only cool thing I’ve wanted to see there.”  This coming from the girl who couldn’t be bothered when I’d ask for input on the trip.  “Just plan it.  I don’t want to think about it.”  Ok then.   You get what you get.  Teenagers 😑

 We were all looking forward to the open air and freedom of wide open spaces in northern Maine. We planned to stop at a few lighthouses and a coastal hike on the way up. But it needed to be a balance of stops and hauling it so the day wouldn’t drag on and make everyone miserable.

There are SO MANY lighthouses to see along the New England coast - almost 200! Maybe it was my Dad’s fascination with them growing up, but I’ve always loved them too and I will stop and see as many as I can.  They are such an image of everything I believe about Jesus, a light in the darkness, salvation through the storm, a beacon of hope, rising out of the most treacherous and beautiful parts of the world.  What is not to love??

But there is only so much time in the day.  We had to be selective about which lighthouses we stopped for.  And then of course there was Micah, howling in the backseat about how they all looked the same and stopping was dragging out the trip… sigh.  Side note:  It has not all been bad with the resident teenager.  It’s kind of like a rollercoaster.  One minute you’re in the depths gritting your teeth against the waves of complaining, another moment you’re in a corkscrew with them arguing and fighting with anyone and everyone, and suddenly you find yourself on a peak when they decide to demonstrate a glimmer of adult behavior and offer to help, play with the younger sibling and have a reasonable and enjoyable conversation with you.  I know someday the peaks will become more frequent because I have a 21 year old now.  Ride it out parents of teens, it’ll get better.  Some rollercoasters are just longer and more narly than others.

Anyway, back to lighthouses.  We were all glad we detoured for the first one.  We almost didn’t because it is on an island so you can’t get up to it.  But Nubble Point is definitely worth the stop.  It’s a beautiful spot, free (yay!) and we loved the fact that the keeper in the 60’s used to push his kid across on the little tram to the mainland so he could go to school.

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The next one was Portland head, kind of the gateway to the Maine coast and right on the main route.  Also near a burned out mansion from the 1880s and an old bunker from WW2.

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Sadly the next two I wanted to see we skipped.  The Rockland lighthouse apparently required parking in some tight spots bc it was such a small town.  Warnings of DO NOT drive your 15 passenger van and camper into the town and there is NO parking large enough meant dropping the camper somewhere and still trying to squeeze our beast into some space.  But I grieved the loss of hiking a mile long breakwater to a free lighthouse.  Micah was happy at least.

The next one we skipped too.  Pemaquid point, which is on the Maine quarter, was a lengthy detour and was one of the few you could climb.  We would have totally made the detour if Zippy wasn’t so short.  She wouldn’t have been able to climb it and the thought of leaving the 7 year old out of such a fun part of a long ride was out of the question.  Maybe next time?  Either way we continued on to Acadia and made it to Bass Harbor during the late afternoon.  Much to the girls pleasure because that meant they could swim in the pool!  I love these campgrounds off the beaten path a little.  Rather than a large gravel pad with campers parked in like sardines they tend to have sites scattered in the woods with a little more privacy and seclusion.  This one was nice like that, tucked in the woods.

It also had a nearby lighthouse!  Bass Harbor is one of the iconic sights of Acadia.  And we decided to spend our first evening watching the sunset from there.  Even sharing the rocky shore with about 30 other people, the open water and the clear, salty air was refreshing.  Already I felt better.  We had made it to a spot we have been wanting to visit for years!

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