A picture postcard day in Portland, Maine

Vanlog, Portland pier parking lot, Portland, ME

Wow! What a day! We woke up in the Cabela's parking lot around 7 AM and drove to Cape Elizabeth, ME to the Portland Head Light House parking lot, where we had breakfast and then walked the trails along the cliff with unbelievable views of the quintessential Maine light house. Absolutely stunning! 

Then we drove into downtown Portland. This was fun! We were trying to find parking in the late morning with a big camper van in the Old Port area. There was the one parking lot that would park us next to a guardrail for $45 a day. Nope! Too expensive for my tastes. The $15 a day lot was full though and the parking garages were way too short for my tall van. We must have circled the block and the filled $15 a day lot for 45 minuted before Jessica flagged down some people who were leaving and stood in the space until I could back into it. Parallel parking on a curve in a tight squeeze. Yep, fun! Anyway, we parked and then got lunch at Porthole. Ain't no laws when you're eating lobster claws (or lobster rolls as the case may be). Our first ever lobster rolls. First ever White Claw too!

We had all afternoon to kill and were not giving up our parking space for anything, so we walked a mile to the Portland Art Museum. And wow! What a nice gem of an art museum! Many Winslow Homers, Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Sargent, Whistler, Rockwell Kent, Andrew Wyeth, and many more. I even loved the modern art section here. Great, great museum. Five stars.

On the mile walk back to the car, we stopped at a local Italian market store and bought some rice crackers, creamy Havarti cheese, and an amazing bottle of moscato d'asti from Strev for our sunset cruise on the Wendameen. The Wendameen is a windjammer owned by the Portland Schooner Co. Our cruise of Casco Bay was from 6-8 and included a beautiful sunset and calm waters. Perfect weather for a sail! Following the sail, we had a 2 min walk to our car in the pier's parking lot. A beautiful red full moon was just coming up. Since we were paid for 24 hrs til tomorrow at 11:41 AM, we decided just to spend the night right there. No signs saying you couldn't. We expect to wake up to the sound of seagulls tomorrow. 

A quality day in Maine

Vanlog, Bath, ME

We actually slept in today! Until a little after eight! We had the George's Highland Trailhead parking lot to ourselves last night, a nice tucked away boondocking site on a quiet rural road outside of Camden, ME. Got a good night's sleep. We drove to Camden Hills State Park and climbed the steep Mount Battie Road to the summit of Mount Battie, which overlooks the harbor of scenic Camden below. There, we maneuvered the van such that we had these incredible views from the van with the sliding door open while Jessica made us pancakes with fresh Maine blueberries and homemade maple syrup from our sugar maple tree this past February. People would pay for this experience! We are becoming quite the experts at finding good places with scenic views to have breakfast in the van.

They also have a nice observation tower on the summit of Mount Battie with a charming guard at the base of it. 

Jessica wanted to do some hiking this morning (LOL), so we parked the car along Rt 52 and hiked the popular Maiden Cliffs Trail for phenomenal views from the top of Megunticook Lake--1 mile up with an elevation gain of 800 ft and then the much easier mile return. Jessica's still mad I wouldn't let her keep her favorite hiking stick (didn't want ants in the van).

After the challenging hike in 85 degree weather, we drove across the street to Lake Megunticook Lake itself and did a little swimming. At least, I did some swimming. I swam out to the quaint diving platform in the lake and back several times. That idiot out there with his arms int he air in a sign of victory is just me showing off. Jessica dipped her feet in the water. It was nice and warm--quite refreshing. And I'm counting it as my weekly shower too!

We drove about 10 miles to Rockland, ME and the Farnsworth Art Museum. This quaint little museum hosts the Wyeth Center in an old church building with three generations of Wyeth painters (similar but smaller than the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford) and other art featuring the Maine coastline. 

Next stop was at Owls Head Light Station (no apostrophe) in Rockland, ME.

Finally, we drove 2 hours to Portland, ME, stopping along the way at Waterfront Park in Bath to cook some raclette for dinner and then staying overnight in the Cabela's parking lot in nearby Scarborough. Overall, a quality day. 

A meh day in Maine

Vanlog, Camden, ME

So I set the alarm for 4:15 AM and quietly left camp headed to see the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain. I drove about 45 min to the summit and then Jessica joined me and about 200 others on the granite rocks overlooking Frenchman Bay. It was a very cloudy morning and the sunrise was not really much to look at. But since we were up, we pulled off the road on the way down from Cadillac Mountain and had a fantastic view out the sliding door while we ate our breakfast. 

We drove the park loop to Sand Beach and decided on the 1.5-mi round-trip hike to Great Head. This hike was a little steep at first, and very rocky, but the views of the rugged coastline were amazing. But Jessica slipped on some sandy rocks and hurt her knee, so all in all the hike was just meh.

After our hike, we completed the park loop and drove to the lesser traveled half of Mount Desert Island. There, we sat on the beach at Echo Lake watching the very young kids go in the very cold water. Too cold for us to go swimming or get that natural bath that we needed after three days on the road. 

The best photo stop of the day in Acadia was at Bass Harbor light house, where we had lunch and got another lucky parking spot for the van.

Despite being up since 4:15 AM, we drove another 2 hrs to Camden, ME. Here, on Main Street, a black pickup and I collided our elephant ears with a loud clunk. Luckily, no damage to either vehicle as the mirrors are designed to fold in when this happens. But it was a bit of a scare. We parked in town and walked down to the lovely harbor and got some ice cream. Then we drove a little outside of town to a remote trailhead for a popular hiking spot, cooked some chicken breasts up for dinner, and camped (boondocked) overnight in the parking lot there. 

After today, I think Jessica is tired of #vanlife and ready for #yachtlife.

Acadia National Park

Vanlog, Blackwoods Campground, Acadia National Park, Maine

We woke this morning by 6 AM and had breakfast, made up the beds, did the dishes, washed up and were on the road by 6:45 AM. We still had three hours of driving ahead of us to make it to Acadia National Park in Maine. We arrived at the very full Hull's Cove Visitor Center around 10 AM. Monday is the day that the cruise ships are in port, so the park was especially crowded. After getting our maps and stampy stamp, we drove to a pull-off overlooking Eagle Lake, opened the sliding door, and had an early lunch with this amazing view.

One of my favorite parts of #vanlife is just sitting in the van parked at a spot with a great view like this, so that is exactly what we did for a while. Next, it was on to Jordan Pond, where we got very lucky and another Promaster saw us looking for a place to park and gave us his space as he was leaving. We hiked the entire perimeter of Jordan Lake, about 4.5 miles total. I was especially excited to hear a loon and then to see the mama loon and her two babies on the lake. Seeing a loon in real life was one of the things on my bucket list and one of my hopes for this trip. I've never seen one before that I can recall. 

After our hike, around 2 PM, we waited for a table outside at the Jordan Pond House and had an artisan cheese plate and their famous popovers. They are a thin, flaky pastry with an egg flavor to them that taste fantastic with butter and fresh strawberry jam. 

From here, we drove to Seal Harbor and then to our campsite in the Blackwoods Campground. We set up our tent (for show) and then drove out of the park to Bar Harbor to our favorite lobster pound, the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound, where we each had a 1.5-lb lobster for dinner. The meals were definitely the highlight of our day today. 

On our way back to the campsite, we stopped in Northeast Harbor at the marina just before sunset and then had a brief campfire with s'mores in the campground. All in all, a quality day! 5 stars!

On the road again

Vanlog, Portland, ME

Only a few weeks removed from my cross country trip and the itch to get back on the road again has struck. Only this time I have a copilot! Jessica and I hit the open road this morning at 8:15 AM and drove 480 miles to Portland, Maine on our way to Acadia National Park tomorrow. Since today was only a driving day, there are not many photos to share--mainly some skyline pictures of Manhattan as we drove past Newark, NJ and the Welcome to Maine sign: The Way Life Should Be. Low tire pressure light did come on again, so we stopped near Portsmouth, NH to get gas, use the restroom, and pump up the tires. A guy at the pumps backed into us because his rental doesn't have a backup camera like his regular car does. Ever hear of a mirror, dude? Fortunately, no damage or scratches done to either car or van. We were back on the road again in no time at all. This was the first trip where we are using the bench/bed that my dad and his brother built in bed mode. Jessica crawled in the back for a two-hour nap while I was driving (shh! don't tell the Massachusetts Highway Patrol!) and she loved the spaciousness and comfort of it. After 9 1/2 hours on the road, we stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Portland, ME, where we are boondocking it overnight. Cracker Barrel has the greatest policy with regards to allowing RVers to stay overnight int heir parking lots. It's a corporate wide policy, not a franchise, so it holds at every Cracker Barrel across the country. Always a good cheap meal, bathroom open til 10 PM, and upscale neighborhood for urban boondocking. And there's usually always at least one other RVer in the parking lot too for security. Welcome to Maine, the way life should be....