4 days - Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine Part 2

This is to continue previous post on fall in New England..

Day 3

It was said that the sunrise at Cadillac Mountain is not only spectacular but also the first place in the U.S. to view the sunrise. We woke up very early and were excited to view the sunrise. Unfortunately for us and the many others who woke up early that day, the mountain was not only foggy but also raining. The only thing we can see was this:

It reminded us of those disaster movie. We should have just sleep in. I think I dont have fate with sunrise (it happened at monument valley too)

Hence, we went back to our accommodation and slept more. Took some walk after breakfast at the town

The kids of the town were traveling with this. how cute!

Then, we went to Acadia National Park ring road. Sad to say, the fog was still around during the duration when we are at Acadia.

Along the ring road, we saw the thunder hole

and more fall colours

Jump for fall colours!

and other scenic places

The whole ring road took us about 90 minutes and it could probably be done in 45minutes if you don't stop that long.

What's going to Maine without visiting the lighthouses and eating lobsters? So, we went to visit our first lighthouse - Marshall Point Lighthouse after Acadia National Park.

Marshall Point Lighthouse

We wanted to try Miller's Lobster Co. which is near Marshall Point Lighthouse before we leave for our next destination. However, it was already 7plus and dark, most of the lobster shack closes at 7pm or 8pm. And one thing you might note, lighthouses are usually located at the tip where the lighthouses can overlook the ocean. Usually there is only one road to lead you to where the lighthouse is located. Hence, traveling from one lighthouse to another lighthouse or town may look near on the map but it is actually very far away from each other. Being so dark, we will not be able to see another lighthouse, so, we settled for tavern food near our lodging. It was a nice surprise as the food was really good.

Like I mentioned earlier, lodging in Maine towns are difficult to locate when you arrive late at night. They do not have bright lights like chain hotels/ motels. But the good thing is, it is usually owned by the locals and they are very friendly and hospitable.

Our hotel, white anchor inn, has a nice view and is located in boothbay area. The only thing was that they do not have heater, which is probably why they don't operate in winter.

Balcony where you can sit down and relax

The front of the cabins

 I guess, Maine is still better to be visited during the day. If it was not for our rushed itinerary, we will not have to drive to so many places in the dark.


Day 4

Our lodging owner told us about Boothbay. We did not plan to visit boothbay but stayed there was because it was near to Pemaquid Point Light, the lighthouse we want to visit. However, listening to what the lodging owner told us made us want to take a short trip to Boothbay before we visit Pemaquid Point Light.

It's just so calm and serene

At boothbay harbour, there is also an ocean point road, which is a scenic drive. How I wish own a house here...

Because I didn't have my lobster the night before, i really wanted lobster for breakfast. But like what hubs said, who eats breakfast in the morning? I couldn't find any lobster shack that are open. All of them opens at 11.30am (oh, have to mentioned, we saw the opening hour of a lobster shack was 11.29am to 8.31pm, seriously?! Do that minute matter? Next time, I am going to open a restaurant and set my opening hours as 11.23am at the 40th second to 8.47pm at the 50th second. LOL)

Back to the itinerary, after doing the scenic drive at ocean point, we drove to Pemaquid Point Light. In the map, the lighthouse was sooooooo near to us (like 10 minutes away), but sadly, there isn't a bridge that link where we are to the lighthouse, so we have to drive 1 hour.

Pemaquid Point Light is a must see lighthouse if you need to see one in Maine.

After Pemaquid Point Light, I finally (after praying and crying and throwing tantrums ..just kidding), I got to eat my Maine lobster!! And plus, we had a good view! Did I mention that it was real cheap too?

View from the restaurant

this cost me around 24 bucks only!

 Before we head back home (almost 10 hours drive), we stopped by our last lighthouse (Portland Head Light). This is a famous lighthouse as there were a lot of people. I guess it was also because it was near to Portland.

Maine has a lot of small little towns with no chain hotels and no chain restaurants. It seems like a good place to retire in or to have your summer holiday home to be located in. It is also nice place to escape to from the hustle and bustle of city life. The 3 and 1/3 trips although packed, but it was still rewarding in general. Nature really help you to destress and the New England area is really one of the best place in the US to view the fall colours.

4 days - Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine Oct 2 - Oct 5 2014 part 1

Because it is autumn now, we had to see the beauty of fall colours. And the best place to see it - Maine! New England area no doubt is a famous place where you can see the fall colours.

Also, if we are already going to Maine, why don't we visit the nearby Vermont and New Hampshire? It's kinda of wasted if we only visit one state in this trip (since we are already driving so many hours there)

With the shortest time (3 and 1/2 days) we can pull out, we managed to visit Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.


Thurs Night

Drove up from DC to Connecticut after work. By the time we reached Hartford, CT, it was already 2 plus in the morning.


Fri - Day 1

Left really early in the morning and drove 3hrs to Rock of Ages in Vermont. We were in time for the first tour at 9.15am. I was surprised that there are quite a number of people at the tour considering it is not that famous.

Rock of Ages, the world's largest deep-hole dimension granite quarry 

Well, it is an interesting place but we don't feel that it's worth to go there especially with our tight schedule. Quoted from hubs "why do I travel all the way here and wake up early to see rocks?"

Soon after this uninteresting place, we went to Ben and Jerry factory tour (just the sound of it seems yummy, right?)

What's not to be loved about Ben and Jerry's? This is definitely a must do if you are in vermont. At the end of the tour, you will get one free scoop of ice cream. Also, if you go to the ice cream parlor, you could try special flavours that you can't try elsewhere. What's more? There is even a ice cream cemetery at the factory in memory of those flavours that "died". How cool is that!

Ice cream cemetary

This ends our tour in Vermont. 

After Vermont, our initial plan was to take the Kancamagus Highway and to Mount Washington Auto road. However, not much information could be found on Kancamagus Highway when I was doing the research for our trip. We stopover at the New Hampshire visitor center and asked the kind lady for help with Kancamagus Highway. Kancamagus Highway will take longer time than we thought and we will not have time to go to both Kancamagus Highway and Mount washington auto road. Damn Rock of Ages! We really should have skipped that.

We decided to go mount washington auto road. On the way there, we saw many beautiful scenery and fall colours. 

Finally, we reached the entrance of Mount Washington Auto Road. The line for cars to go in was really long. If you are intending to go there, be there at least half an hour before it close. You don't want to be stuck in the line and didn't even have to chance to go in!

 A cd will be given to you at the entrance which you could listen to as you drive up and down the mountain. One more thing to note is that your car need to have the Gear 1 function to be allowed to drive up the mountain. You will need to use Gear 1 to drive up the mountain to prevent overheating.

On the way up...

And we have finally reached the peak of the mountain!

You can choose to take the train to the peak if you don't want to drive up the mountain

After Mount Washington, it's time for us to leave New Hampshire for Maine. Along the way, we managed to see the picturesque sunset.

After driving for another 4hours plus, we reached North east Harbour, Maine, which is near where we are heading to the next day (Acadia National park).

By the time we reached Maine it was already dark and most of the small towns hotels do not have bright lights like chain hotels. We had a hard time locating our hotel (we circle the town like 4 times) but when we finally found our accommodation (Colonel's Suites) for the night, we were pleased with our choice. 

The accommodation was a really nice place and they provided us with a very good free breakfast (it was a surprise for us because it was not stated in our expedia booking).

As i felt to Maine deserve to have one post of its own, so, this trip will be continued in the next post...