Maine Travel Recap | What To Do For A Long Weekend In Maine | Acadia National Park | Traveling Photographer and Photo Editor | Bar Harbor, ME
Maine Travel Recap
In September 2020 we drove 12 hours from Maryland, all the way up to Bar Harbor for a long weekend with Josh’s twin sister Nicole, and her husband, Adam. We left on Thursday around 9pm, and arrived in Bar Harbor around mid-morning on Friday with 4 people, 2 cars, 2 kayaks, and 3 dogs. We had almost 3 full days and 3 nights, and I wished we had 3 weeks instead! Maine absolutely blew us away, and we plan to go back in the skoolie as soon as we can. September ended up being a perfect time to go, because we had no rain, it was in the 70s each day, and the nights were cold, at around 40-50 degrees, but not freezing.
For this trip, we stayed in the most STUNNING Airbnb right on the water in Brookin. As pretty as the photos in the Airbnb listing are, they seriously don’t do this location any justice! When we arrived to the cottage Friday afternoon, our jaws literally dropped. The cute little cottage is located down a long gravel driveway through the woods, that opens up onto a private peninsula (with only the one other cottage on the property) that is surrounded by it’s own little coves, and overlooks a stunning landscape of water with a picture-perfect island right in front of the cottage’s property. I’m not even kidding when I say it’s definitely the prettiest place I’ve ever vacationed. Besides the unreal location, the cottage was perfect for a weekend getaway because it had all the necessities, like hot water and a kitchen with an oven, but it felt like a true cottage/cabin with all the natural wood and no frills. The one drawback was it’s not insulated, which means the nights are COLD in September. We were okay with all the warm clothes and blankets we had brought since it was fall, but if you come in the summer and think you won’t need any warm clothes, you’ll definitely be cold at night!
Even though we were dead tired after driving all night long on Thursday and then walking around Bar Harbor for a few hours on Friday, as soon as we got to the cottage and saw everything, we just HAD to unload the kayaks and explore! We took turns paddling around the cove while Nicole and Adam’s dogs played on shore, and Sam, Josh and I’s dog, swam all around with us. This Airbnb was literally Sam’s heaven since he thinks he’s a fish, not a dog. After we were too tired to keep exploring, we watched the sunset which was truly one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen. This Airbnb was a photographers DREAM because of it’s perfect positioning with the sunset.
The next day, Saturday, we slept in a little and then drove the 45 minutes to Acadia National Park. Since we had a later start this day, Acadia was VERY busy when we arrived and we did have a little trouble finding parking for our hike. We ended up parking on the side of the road that follows the coastline around the edge of the park.
Our first hike was the Gorham Hike, which I highly recommend! It’s a relatively short, moderate level hike with the most gorgeous views at the top.
After descending back to the car, we walked across the road to check out the cliffs by the ocean, which was another gorgeous view.
Next, we started heading back to our Airbnb in Brooklin, and on the way we stopped at the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound, which is right after you exit the island that Acadia and Bar Harbor is on. Lobster pounds are where you can get the most amazing, freshest seafood ever, and I strongly recommend going to one that isn’t on Mount Desert Island, because those are more expensive, more touristy, and not as good. Josh and I got 2 lobsters and an order of mussels to split, and it was SO GOOD. We were even allowed to bring our dogs into the outdoor dining area, which made it even better since we never go anywhere without Sam!
That evening we watched another insanely gorgeous sunset at the cottage, and then our minds were BLOWN when it got completely dark and we happened to look up at the sky! The entire night sky was filled with more stars than any of us had ever seen, and we could even see the Milky Way with our naked eyes, since we’d never stayed in an area with so little light pollution. We spend hours that night stargazing, and I just HAD to try my hand at astro photography. I ended up taking my favorite image ever, which is the shot below with the Milky Way lined up perfectly with the island. This Airbnb was truly a photographer’s dream!
On Sunday morning Josh and I got up to watch the sunrise, which is a must in Maine since you get to see the sunrise first out of the whole country! We had originally planned on going to Cadillac Mountain for it, which is the touristy thing to do, so we had heard it gets REALLY packed. Since this was our only day to catch the sunrise, we didn’t want to risk not being able to find parking at Cadillac Mountain and missing it. So instead, we decided to go back to the cliffs in Acadia we visited the day before and watch it there. It ended up being insanely beautiful, and we were the only ones on the cliffs that we could see, besides one other little family. If you’re looking for a quieter spot to see the sunrise, I definitely recommend doing this instead of Cadillac Mountain!
After watching the sunrise, we went to the Bowl Hike, which ended up being my favorite hike out of the two we did. The hike starts out through the woods, and then it opens up to a pretty lake. You go around the lake for a bit and then keep climbing up to the most AMAZING lookout where you can see the lake on one side and the ocean on the other. This hike is definitely a must do if you only have time for a few hikes and want the best views!
After this hike we checked out Sand Beach, which is a super pretty spot in Acadia with crystal clear water that almost looked like the Caribbean. Then we drove back into Bar Harbor for lunch since we were exhausted and starving at this point! We ate at the Side Street Cafe, which was DELICIOUS! We chose it because they allowed dogs (we loved how dog friendly everything in Bar Harbor was, we even brought Sam into some of the shops!) and the food just happened to be amazing. I definitely recommend eating here at some point in your stay. This was our last full day here, so on the way back to our Brooklin Airbnb we decided to make a detour to see the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. This was probably the only thing I wouldn’t do again if we went back, since the lighthouse was small and access to it was very limited.
Overall, this long weekend in Maine was absolutely AMAZING, and we want to go back in the skoolie as soon as we possibly can!