New England Road TripApril 29 - May 3, 2026
We did a road trip through Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island so that Traci could knock out states #31 (Maine) and #32 (Rhode Island) in her quest to run a half marathon (13.1 miles) in all 50 states. Of course, we made time for sightseeing. This trip was enjoyable.
Things I Really Enjoyed
- Harborside Hotel: This classy resort is located next to the water in downtown Bar Harbor, Maine. Many of the attractions and restaurants are within walking distance.
- Acadia National Park Tour: We booked the Bar Harbor Premium Tour with Cadillac Mountain and Acadia tour via Viator so that we could see the highlights of the park in the short time we were in the area. I was impressed by the tour from start to finish.
- Food in Maine: We never had a bad meal during our time in Maine. The state is proud of its blueberries, lobster, and seafood in general. Even beyond these classics, we loved everything we ate in Maine - even our meal at a gas station!
- New Hampshire Scenery: Our drive through New Hampshire treated us to beautiful mountains, forests, and lakes.
- American Classic Arcade Museum: This New Hampshire museum is located on the third floor of the Funspot entertainment center. There are 325+ arcade games along with their backstories. We had a fun time reliving our childhood.
Things I Would Do Differently
- Car Rental Strategy: We rented a car in Maine and returned it in Rhode Island. By doing this, we had to pay mileage on top of the daily rental rate. Given we drove 732 miles, our bill was expensive! We probably could have saved a few bucks if we rented a car for the Maine portion of our trip and then rented a different car for the day that we drove to Rhode Island.
- Choose a Different Time to Visit: We were in the area during the off-season (late April/early May) because that was when the half marathons that Traci ran were happening. The disadvantage of this off-season was that many attractions, tours, restaurants, and even hotels were not yet available. Additionally, the weather was miserable during most of our time in New England. On the flip side, there were no tourist crowds to contend with.
Trip Report
Our trip got off to a slow start. We boarded the small United airplane on time, but we did not push back from the gate for almost an hour. The captain made an announcement indicating that there was a problem with one of the engines. Yikes! We would need to wait for the mechanics to troubleshoot the issue. As unsettling as this news was, I guess I was not too worried. I slept during most of the hour that we waited on the plane. Finally, the pilot informed us that the mechanics determined that the engine problem was not serious enough to cancel our flight. Off we flew to Portland, Maine.
Once we finally took off, our flight from Washington Dulles Airport to the Portland International Jetport Airport lasted a little over an hour. Something that I was not expecting was that United flights now offer free in-flight Wi-Fi for members of their loyalty program. This was convenient even though I slept most of the flight.
The pilot was expecting turbulence. As a result, we never got a full beverage service. Instead, the flight attended poured you a cup of water if desired. In the end, we did not encounter much turbulence.
The Portland airport is relatively small. This was the first visit for Traci and me. Being the curious travelers that we are, we took some time to explore the airport instead of immediately collecting our luggage from baggage claim. We were impressed that there was an area containing board games that you can play while you wait for your flight. We took pictures in front of the Maine posters and taxidermy of some of the state's wildlife - moose, bears, birds, etc... We abruptly terminated our exploration when we heard an announcement over the airport PA that called us by name asking us to come to the baggage claim office to retrieve our luggage.
We retrieved our luggage from the baggage claim office and then went to the airport's car rental where we rented a black Nissan Altima. We would be dropping it off at the Providence airport in Rhode Island at the end of our trip. It wasn't until we left the airport that we realized that we probably should have planned to rent two cars for this trip - one for the Maine portion of the trip and a different one for the day we drove to Rhode Island. The issue we encountered is that we were charged mileage on top of the daily rental fee because we dropped the car off in a different state. In hindsight, we could have saved a few dollars if we returned the car at the Portland airport and then rented a different car for the day that we drove to Rhode Island. We would have turned in the car with a total mileage of around 200 miles instead of the 732 miles we drove during the entire trip. Oh well, live and learn.
Our destination for the day was Bar Harbor, Maine, which is about a 3-hour drive from Portland. I had planned a few stops along the way. Our first stop was in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, which is just outside of Portland. The 20-minute drive from the airport to get there reminded me of suburban Connecticut with its New England style houses and small-town Main Street feel. The reason for this Cape Elizabeth stop was to see the Portland Head Light. This iconic lighthouse is located on the seashore in Port Williams Park. It is the famous lighthouse that appears on just about every travel brochure and website about Maine that I've seen. In fact, the Portland Head Light is said to be the most photographed lighthouse in the United States. I don't know who is keeping count, but Traci and I definitely made a contribution to the photo total that day.
We paid the small fee to park in the parking lot and then made the short walk to get our close-up view of the lighthouse. So often, the places we visit do not match the picture that I had in my mind before our visit. This was not the case for the Portland Head Light. It looked exactly as I imagined it would look - right down to the large waves crashing against the rocks at the base of the lighthouse. Traci and I spent some time taking pictures from a multitude of angles. There were very few people in the park on this cold, windy day in late April. We did not visit the lighthouse museum. Instead, we walked along some of the paths/trails that parallelled the coastline. We paused occasionally to be wowed by some of the huge waves pounding the shoreline. We could see other lighthouses in the distance, but they were not as picturesque as the Portland Head Light.
At one point, Traci and I wandered into an area of the park where dog owners are not required to have their dogs on a leash. Traci and I were approached occasionally by different dogs that seemed to be looking for a human to play with. The dogs lost interest in us when they sensed that we were not interested in playing them.
Port Williams Park seemed like a nice place to visit in better weather. In addition to the lighthouse and trails, there is a pickleball court, a playground, a small beach, food trucks (not in service during our visit), picnic areas, historical sites, and more. Traci and I walked the trails until Traci determined that she was well on her way to making her 10,000 steps per day goal. With that, back to the car we went to continue our road trip towards Bar Harbor.
It was about a 30-minute drive north to get to our next stop: Freeport, Maine. Freeport is the location of the L.L. Bean clothing brand headquarters. We happened to pass by it on during our drive, but it was not our desired destination. I wanted to see something on a much smaller scale: the Freeport McDonalds. Yup, you read that right: McDonalds. What fascinated me about this McDonalds is that it is located inside a mansion that was built in 1850. It maintains the mansion exterior so that it complies with the historical building code of Freeport, but the interior looks like a typical McDonalds. We took a few pictures of the exterior and almost bought some food when we entered. But in the end, we decided to try to hold off on buying anything. We were looking forward to having memorable seafood meal in Bar Harbor later since Maine is known for its seafood - especially its lobster.
We continued to drive north for about 2 hours to get to our next stop: Brewer, Maine. Brewer is a small city located across the river from its larger sister city, Bangor. The purpose of our stop in Brewer was to see the "North to Freedom" Statue that commemorates the slaves who escaped to freedom through Maine via the Underground Railroad. The statue is located in the very small Chamberlain Freedom Park. It took us a while to find the park. Our GPS navigation kept saying, "You've arrived" but we did not see anything that resembled a park. Finally, while waiting at a red light during yet another backtrack, we saw a statue on a patch of grass on a hill next to a gas station. We parked at the gas station and walked over to check out Chamberlain Freedom Park. The statue we saw was that of Major General Joshua Chamberlain, a professor and Civil War hero. There were some panels explaining his successful leadership of Union soldiers during the Battle at Gettysburg. Down the hill from the Chamberlain Statue was the "North to Freedom" Statue. It was that of a slave emerging from a tunnel. As Traci and I stood there taking pictures, I could not help but wonder how many people in the rush hour traffic traversing the intersection behind us even know this small historical park exists.
"North to Freedom" Statue
From Brewer, we had about an hour's drive southeast to get to Bar Harbor, our final destination for the day. Bar Harbor is a vacation destination. As we got closer, the monotony of the tree-lined route we had been traveling on began to give way to billboards advertising rental properties, water activities, aerial sightseeing tours, restaurants, etc... This all looked great, but our problem was that we were in the area about two weeks before the mid-May tourist season would began. The weather was dreary and many of the businesses had not opened yet for the season. This point was really driven home when we arrived at the hotel we had booked for our overnight in Bar Harbor: Holiday Inn Resort Bar Harbor – Acadia National Park. Pulling up to the front of the hotel, we were greeted by a sign indicating that the hotel was closed for renovations! What? Why are we just finding out about this? Reading a little more, we found that the Holiday Inn had moved all guests with reservations to their sister property: Harborside Hotel, Spa & Marina. We got a little worried when Traci called the number on the sign for more information. The lady who answered did not seem to know much about the situation. Yikes!
We drove to the Harborside Hotel and spoke with the receptionists in-person. Fortunately, the Holiday Inn had indeed moved our reservation to Harborside. All was good. In fact, all was great! The Harborside Hotel was an upgrade from the Holiday Inn. It is a luxury resort located at the marina in downtown Bar Harbor. We were in walking distance to restaurants, activities, and attractions; whereas, the Holiday Inn was about 3 miles outside of town.
We had a large, gorgeous room (#1053) at the Harborside Hotel that overlooked the marina. We would occasionally hear a soft thump as the floating piers bounced off each other in the water. The room had bath robes and slippers waiting for us. We were very pleased with the accommodations.
view of the marina from our balcony
Now that we had the hotel situation sorted out, it was time to finally get something to eat. We had not eaten anything since the stroopwafel snack and cup of water we received on our morning flight. It was now evening. We were beyond hungry. When planning this trip, I was sure to include a list of restaurants from which to choose. I know that you can use AI for trip planning these days, but I still like to do my own online research when creating a travel itinerary. Doing so helps me to get excited about the trip in addition to giving me a sense of accomplishment when things go to plan or better. Even when things don't go as well as I hoped, we still have the memories and I have material for the trip report.
I digress - back to dinner plans. Choosing a restaurant from the list of candidates that I had created became simple since we soon discovered that most of them had not yet opened for the season. In the end, we chose Geddy's. The restaurant was about a 3-block walk from our hotel. It was a short but miserable walk. The temperature had dropped because the sun had gone down. Additionally, we felt the bite of the cold wind coming off the water. Ah, but the interior of Geddy's was warm and lively. The wait staff was welcoming and friendly. As I mentioned before, Maine is known for its seafood - especially lobster. Traci decided to go all in on the Maine experience and order a lobster roll (lobster meat on a roll of bread). There are several types of lobster rolls ranging from the traditional Maine lobster roll served cold and topped with mayonnaise and other condiments. We don't care for cold seafood, nor do we like mayonnaise. Therefore, Traci decided to get the Connecticut roll which consists of warm lobster meat covered in melted butter and served on a toasted roll of bread. It was heavenly! As for me, I ordered the Atlantic Seafood Pie that consisted of "Wild-caught haddock with a shrimp, scallop, lobster, and Jonah crab crust, topped with a lemon butter sauce". Wow! That was amazing! This rich dish contained a lot of seafood. I could not eat it all. Unfortunately, given that we would be on the road for the next few days, I was not able to take my leftovers with me. We still left room for dessert though. In addition to lobster, Maine is known for its sweet blueberries. We finished off our meal by sharing a slice of delicious blueberry pie. There you have it, our first Maine-themed meal.
lobster roll and fries
blueberry pie
Geddy's was closing for the night by the time we left. Bar Harbor was pretty empty when we arrived. It was a dark, cold, windy ghost town by the time we walked back to the hotel - no cars, no people, no nothin'.
The next morning, we got an early start. We needed to eat breakfast and be checked out of the hotel by 8:45 AM. Why 8:45 AM? That's what time our tour pickup was, and we would not be back before the Harborside Hotel's checkout time of 11 AM.
The Harborside Hotel offers a rather pricey breakfast at their restaurant, but Traci and I decided to venture out to try one of the local restaurants on my list of candidates that specialize in breakfast. Once again, it was easy to narrow down our restaurant choice because all but one of the restaurants on my list were still closed until the tourist season began. We ended up eating at Everyday Joe's which was part gas station and part tiny diner. Keeping with the Maine theme, we had blueberry pancakes - delicious!
We had driven to Everyday Joe's because I wanted to make sure that we were able to make it back in time for our tour pickup if the diner happened to be full - it wasn't. Given we still had plenty of time to make it back to the hotel, Traci decided to walk back so that she could make a dent in her 10,000 steps per day goal while I drove the car back to the hotel.
We checked out of the Harborside Hotel. As I was rolling our suitcases to the car, I saw our tour van pull up to the hotel entrance. We would be touring Acadia National Park which is very close to Bar Harbor. Given Traci and I would be in the area for such a short time, I figured it would be best for us to hire a guide to show us the highlights of the park instead of trying to explore it on our own. I booked the 4-hour Bar Harbor Premium Tour with Cadillac Mountain and Acadia via Viator a few days before our trip. It was the only company that I could find that was offering tours of the park in late April. The other companies that I researched would not begin giving tours until mid-May.
As I thought would be the case, Traci and I were the only clients on the Acadia National Park tour that day. Our guide gave us some facts about the park as he drove us to the entrance. The thing that stood out to me from his commentary was the fact that the park is interspersed between a handful of communities.
We were the only vehicle entering the park at the time. Our guide seemed to know all the rangers at the entrance booths. He told us that the advantage of visiting the park during the off-season is that there are no crowds. He said that during the tourist season, it could take an hour or longer to enter the park by vehicle.
The park has a loop road that visitors can drive and see the highlights. Our guide rode on this road but we did not do the entire loop. We started off at Sieux de Monts Nature Center which was closed. It was here that our guide showed us a natural spring and gave us information about George B. Dorr who is known as the "Father of Acadia National Park". From there, we were driven to other major sites of the park such as Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Jordan Pond, Otter Cliff, Little Hunters Beach, and Jordan Pond House. At each place, we were given time to explore on foot. It was a cold, rainy day that numbed my fingertips each time I took my hands out of my pockets to take a picture. The rain vacillated between heavy downpours and annoying drizzles. I dreaded each time our guide let us out of the van, but I knew we would probably regret missing a stop because of the weather. Therefore, Traci and I never declined when our guide asked if we would like to explore a place on foot. I was really impressed with our guide's tolerance to the awful weather. He did not use an umbrella and he was not wearing a jacket. He wore a baseball cap, an L.L. Bean pullover, and jeans. I never saw him shiver. Traci and I were dressed in layers and still got cold.
Acadia National Park was not the most picturesque park that I have seen - at least not during our late April visit. It is heavily forested. I imagine it is quite scenic during fall foliage. For me, it was the sensory experiences that made our visit enjoyable. Among my favorite stops in Acadia were Sand Beach where we watched and listened to the huge waves crash along the beach. Traci and I had fun trying to touch the cold water and retreat before the fast-approaching water got to our shoes/boots. I loved Thunder Hole which is an area where the ocean is forced through a narrow cavity resulting in a high plume of water and a thunderous sound that you could sometimes feel rumble the ground beneath your feet. The guide told us that we were lucky to be there on such a stormy day. The storm made the water much more violent and thus Thunder Hole really put on a show. Another experience that I enjoyed was Little Hunters Beach. Like Sand Beach, there were gigantic waves, but Little Hunters Beach was different in that it is full of round rocks - no sand. As the waves retreated you could hear the rocks being jostled. It sounded like someone pulling pearl necklaces from a jewelry box.
One of the most famous sites in Acadia National Park is Cadillac Mountain. In addition to the magnificent views of the ocean and landscapes below, Cadillac Mountain's 1,530-foot summit is a popular place to watch sunrises and sunsets - so we were told. Unfortunately, our guide was not able to drive us to the top because the summit road was not yet open for the season.
Thunder Hole
Sieux de Monts
Little Hunter Beach
Sand Beach
We made a stop a Jordan Pond House. It is a popular place for afternoon tea and getting a bite to eat but you will need to make reservations weeks in advance. Since we were there before the tourist season began, the only thing that was open at Jordan Pond House was the gift shop. I tried a blueberry soda while I was there. It was sweet but I don't consider it something I have to have again. From Jordan Pond House, we followed our guide on foot along a trail in the pouring rain to have a look at the Jordan Pond Gatehouse that was commissioned by John D. Rockefeller in the early 1930's as a gateway to the network of park's carriage roads. To me, it looked like something from an old movie.
Despite the weather, we enjoyed our tour of Acadia National Park. Our guide was very knowledgeable. I enjoyed the sites that he showed us. We had an unexpected treat at the end of our tour. Our guide made a stop at a restaurant called Peekytoe Provisions which is located in downtown Bar Harbor. It was here that he treated Traci and me to lobster rolls - delicious! I don't know how I missed this in the tour description when I booked, but we were certainly grateful for this unexpected treat.
After the tour, Traci and I were dropped off back at the Harborside Hotel. Since I had already put our luggage in the trunk of our rental car, we could immediately head out of Bar Harbor to continue our road trip. Before leaving Bar Harbor there was still one other thing I wanted to see - the Bar Harbor Land Bridge. For about 1.5 hours before and after low tide, you can walk across this strip of land to get to Bar Island. You have to keep track of the tide schedule though. If you happen to get stuck on Bar Island, then you can expect to wait up to 9 hours before the water recedes enough to cross. Your other option is to hire a private water taxi service that can cost around $150. None of this was a concern to us because it was high tide when we were there. We saw nothing but choppy water.
We said goodbye to Bar Harbor and got on the road. Our destination for the day was Augusta, the capital of Maine. It was about a 2-hour drive from Bar Harbor. Just about every time we got on the road to go to a new city during this road trip, the drive always seemed to be within the 2 to 2.5-hour range. The drive was not all that scenic. It was mainly a tree-lined route with a majority of the trees being of the pine tree genre. It was raining cats and dogs during most of the journey. We broke up the drive with a stop at a Walmart and a Kohl's so that Traci could get some coconut water in preparation for her two upcoming half marathons. The Kohl's stop had nothing to do with her races. She just loves shopping there.
When I originally started planning our New England road trip, there were some sights that I wanted to see near Augusta, but as we got closer to our departure date, I found out that some of those sights no longer exist or were temporarily closed. As a result, there was nothing in particular that we wanted to see that day. Augusta would make a good overnight on our route to get to an attraction in New Hampshire - more about that later.
We stayed at the Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Augusta (Room #220). I was pleasantly surprised by this hotel. It seemed new and was nicely decorated. This Fairfield is located in a suburban commercial district where there are also office complexes. There were plenty of chain stores and chain restaurants nearby. In fact, I chilled in our room while Traci took the car to go to Kohl's.
For dinner, we went downtown to a wonderful restaurant called Otto's on the River. Downtown Augusta is not a huge metropolis. It has more of a historic town feel. I was expecting to drive on a highway and deal with cloverleaf exits to get there from our suburban hotel, but this was not the case. To get there, we drove through suburban and rural neighborhoods until suddenly, we found ourselves on a downtown street.
downtown Augusta
Our dining experience at Otto's on the River was awesome! We had a table next to the fireplace and a window where we could see the river (and a parking lot) if it were not nighttime. The restaurant was practically empty on the Thursday evening that we were there. There were only two other tables that were occupied in this cozy restaurant. The owner told us that his regular waiters were not there that evening; therefore, he would be the one waiting on us. He was very personable and had a noticeable New England accent. Everything we had that evening was amazing. The warm bread we had before our meal was so delicious. The owner told us that it is his own recipe that uses pancake batter as its base. The melted butter that was brushed on top really set it off. For our entrees, Traci had scallops and I had seafood pasta that had generous chunks of shrimp, scallops, lobster, and haddock. I was not able to finish my dish. We would be leaving Augusta the next morning. I would have hated for such a delicious meal to be thrown away; therefore, I made up in my mind that I would finish it the next morning. After all, our hotel room at the Fairfield had a refrigerator and microwave. The owner prepared doggy bags for us. He even threw in some complimentary chocolate-covered strawberries - such class; such hospitality. I don't normally write about our meals in my trip reports, but I was so impressed with our Otto's on the River experience that I felt that I should try to capture the memories. In fact, I was beginning to realize that every meal we had in Maine was incredible.
Downtown Augusta was empty by the time we left the restaurant that night. We drove past the capitol building to have a look from the car and then returned to our hotel.
The next morning, I made good on my self-promise to not let that delicious seafood dish I had at Otto's on the River the night before go to waste. Instead of eating the complimentary breakfast at the Fairfield, I used the microwave in our room to heat up my meal so that I could enjoy my seafood pasta for breakfast. It was just as amazing as the night before. Continue...
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