Bar Harbor and Boothbay Harbor with kids
Jun 24th, 2013, 04:55 AM
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Bar Harbor and Boothbay Harbor with kids
Just took a short trip up to Maine with our 3 and 4 year old boys. Drove up from southern NH. We took I95 and I295 up. The rest stop in Gardiner Maine is a great place to take a break. Very clean and lots of nice picnic tables for lunch.
Bar Harbor:
Stayed at Highbrook Motel. Very nice owners, extremely clean. Rooms are dated, but there is a mini fridge and the rooms are fairly large. If you are in decent shape, you could walk downtown from the hotel. It's about 3/4 mile. We have young kids, so we drove each time. Parking downtown was free...nice, unexpected surprise! The motel also offers "breakfast" that we did not try. It was just packaged oatmeal, muffins, hard boiled eggs, and bagels.
For food, our favorite breakfast was Cafe This Way. Nice, clean, airy restaurant with delicious food. We had French toast, oatmeal, granola with yogurt...all of it was great. We also did a breakfast at Jeannie's Great Maine Breakfast. This was good too, but not as good as Cafe This Way. It was also pricier...probably due to it's location right on the main street. For lunch, we just had pbj while we were hiking. We did stop at Jordan Pond house for lemonade and popovers one day. I did not like the lemonade at all, too tart even with ALL the sugar water. But it's a pretty place to stop and relax. For dinner we got pizza at Rosalie's. It was fine. Not amazing, not bad, just okay. We also tried the BBQ at Mainely Meat. The pulled pork was really good. The ribs were overcooked. The beers were great...really enjoyed the IPA (Atlantic Brewing Company). And they only have hot sauce and a sweet sauce...no vinegar or mustard based options. Final dinner was just takeout from Hannaford...had tired kids.
Ice cream: Udder Heaven was my hands down favorite. Creamy and delicious! MDI Ice Cream had very inventive flavors, but the ice cream wasn't as creamy and one flavor was actually quiet icy. Plus, they don't really have anywhere to sit. Least favorite was Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium...their ice cream seemed to be filled with artificial colors and flavors. Would not go there again.
Walks/hikes: we started with the Bar Harbor trail. This is flat and easy with a nice view of the water. Another easy walk is Bar Island. My boys loved it. We stayed out there for about 2 hours just looking at shells and playing in the water. We "hiked" the Wonderland Trail. There was a family getting mussels for dinner off the rocks. I'm guessing that's not allowed..... We also did the South Bubble Trail...we went up the rock scramble side...it starts at the end of Jordan Pond. There is also an easier path, but the rock scramble was fun!
After Bar Harbor and Acadia we drove Route 1 down the coast. We stopped at Atlantic Baking Company in Rockland Maine. Not a huge selection, but what they had was very good. The chocolate bear claw was my favorite. I'd stop in again.
Boothbay Harbor:
We stayed at Cap'n Fish's. Very small rooms, but clean. No fridge or microwave. Breakfast was donuts and cereal. Easy walk across pedestrian bridge to downtown.
Food: Enjoyed the railroad candy at Orne's and the fudge from the general store across the street. Had dinner at Baker's Way (Vietnames) and grabbed some muffins and an apple fritter for breakfast the next day. The yellow curry chicken was really good.
Hike: hiked Mt. Battie on the way to Bar Harbor...it's in Camden. This was tougher than South Bubble, especially with the wet rocks from rain the night before. But the boys did great.
Fun: visited the Maine State Aquarium. Very small but the best touch tank I've seen. Who knew scallops spit? We were soaked when we left!
Overall it was a fun trip. I hope another family benefits from this report.
Bar Harbor:
Stayed at Highbrook Motel. Very nice owners, extremely clean. Rooms are dated, but there is a mini fridge and the rooms are fairly large. If you are in decent shape, you could walk downtown from the hotel. It's about 3/4 mile. We have young kids, so we drove each time. Parking downtown was free...nice, unexpected surprise! The motel also offers "breakfast" that we did not try. It was just packaged oatmeal, muffins, hard boiled eggs, and bagels.
For food, our favorite breakfast was Cafe This Way. Nice, clean, airy restaurant with delicious food. We had French toast, oatmeal, granola with yogurt...all of it was great. We also did a breakfast at Jeannie's Great Maine Breakfast. This was good too, but not as good as Cafe This Way. It was also pricier...probably due to it's location right on the main street. For lunch, we just had pbj while we were hiking. We did stop at Jordan Pond house for lemonade and popovers one day. I did not like the lemonade at all, too tart even with ALL the sugar water. But it's a pretty place to stop and relax. For dinner we got pizza at Rosalie's. It was fine. Not amazing, not bad, just okay. We also tried the BBQ at Mainely Meat. The pulled pork was really good. The ribs were overcooked. The beers were great...really enjoyed the IPA (Atlantic Brewing Company). And they only have hot sauce and a sweet sauce...no vinegar or mustard based options. Final dinner was just takeout from Hannaford...had tired kids.
Ice cream: Udder Heaven was my hands down favorite. Creamy and delicious! MDI Ice Cream had very inventive flavors, but the ice cream wasn't as creamy and one flavor was actually quiet icy. Plus, they don't really have anywhere to sit. Least favorite was Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium...their ice cream seemed to be filled with artificial colors and flavors. Would not go there again.
Walks/hikes: we started with the Bar Harbor trail. This is flat and easy with a nice view of the water. Another easy walk is Bar Island. My boys loved it. We stayed out there for about 2 hours just looking at shells and playing in the water. We "hiked" the Wonderland Trail. There was a family getting mussels for dinner off the rocks. I'm guessing that's not allowed..... We also did the South Bubble Trail...we went up the rock scramble side...it starts at the end of Jordan Pond. There is also an easier path, but the rock scramble was fun!
After Bar Harbor and Acadia we drove Route 1 down the coast. We stopped at Atlantic Baking Company in Rockland Maine. Not a huge selection, but what they had was very good. The chocolate bear claw was my favorite. I'd stop in again.
Boothbay Harbor:
We stayed at Cap'n Fish's. Very small rooms, but clean. No fridge or microwave. Breakfast was donuts and cereal. Easy walk across pedestrian bridge to downtown.
Food: Enjoyed the railroad candy at Orne's and the fudge from the general store across the street. Had dinner at Baker's Way (Vietnames) and grabbed some muffins and an apple fritter for breakfast the next day. The yellow curry chicken was really good.
Hike: hiked Mt. Battie on the way to Bar Harbor...it's in Camden. This was tougher than South Bubble, especially with the wet rocks from rain the night before. But the boys did great.
Fun: visited the Maine State Aquarium. Very small but the best touch tank I've seen. Who knew scallops spit? We were soaked when we left!
Overall it was a fun trip. I hope another family benefits from this report.
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