maine with dog... suggestions
 

Hi all,

Husband and I are taking the pup (8 yo) up to Maine from NYC for a few days. We plan to spend 3 nights in Bar Harbor/Acadia Park area. We'lll have another 2 nights to spend along the way. We had considered stopping in Boston for a couple of nights and then though maybe Portland instead, but we don't know whether it might be better to stay in 1 place overnight on way up and then a different place 1 night on way down. Would love to hear suggestions which way to go, where to stay and what to do with dog.

My dog is a very active 8 y.o., but cannot be left in room alone because he'll bark a lot. He can stay in the car, but not if it's too hot, so the bottom line is that we need to be somewhere where he can spend every waking and sleeping moment with us.

Appreciate any suggestions,
-Charley (and Buddy)

I suggest you do a google search for "dog boarding" in your area. Leave the dog behind. He will love you all the more when you return.

thanks for the suggestions, but the trip is really for us to be able to bring him. we're going to bring him with us into Acadia, there's a lake at the Bar Harbor motel. My understanding is that Bar Harbor is supposed to be the most dog-friendly town in all of Maine. Is this untrue?

Just a caution, not travel advice. I see you have an eight year old dog, so my caution is most likely not news to you, but I read your plan to leave your dog in the car with some alarm.

Please don't leave your dog in the car even when the temperature seems sufficiently cool. Temperatures in cars can rise dramatically on the most temperate days. And leaving a dog alone in a hotel room can be problematic. Depending on noise and other environmental factors your dog could become anxious or frightened and not enjoy being in an unfamiliar room alone.

We have three dogs and only travel with them when we go to our own vacation home. We board them for all of our other travel.

I do not mean any offense and understand that you know your dog better than anyone else. Just my thoughts . . .

no offense. we will not be leaving the dog in the room at all or in the car for more than 10 min. and even then only if the temp was cool and with windows open. I really appreciate your concern though, it's sound advice for sure.

Would love some suggestions though. We have books and websites www.bringfido.com, but particularly for Bar Harbor they list lots of restaurants that are dog friendly but no reviews. same with beaches and lakes.

I am not familiar with Bar Harbor, except for a single visit sans pets several years ago. So no help there. Here's how I would research your questions:

Cross reference the dog-friendly restaurants, hotels, beaches, parks, etc you have identified with sites such as trip advisor to find reviews. There doesn't seem to be a single source that compiles pet friendly places and general reviews of their products and services. I've provided a link to the Boston Globe travel guide and I would recommend visiting the NYT travel guide for ideas, although the columns are dated and are not specificaly about traveling with pets.

Here are some sites that might help (or perhaps you've already seen this info):

DogFriendly.com: http://www.dogfriendly.com/server/tr...-_Acadia.shtml

Acadia pet rules: http://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/pets.htm

Boston Globe Maine Guide: http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/maine

NYT 36 hours in Bar Harbor: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/27/tr...harbor-me.html

Trip Advisor Bar Harbor Restaurants: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...bor_Maine.html

and Hotels: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g6...ne-Hotels.html

And, final suggestion - call or write the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce. There isn't any dog friendly info posted on the site, but there may be someone who can answer your questions.

See: http://www.barharborinfo.com/

My expertise is dogs on Martha's Vineyard. If you ever want information on visiting the island, with or without pets, I would be happy to advise.

I hope you all enjoy your Bar Harbor visit!

Wow, thanks a lot for all of the info portiaperu. For future reference, is Martha's Vineyard a good place to vacation with pup in tow?

We're taking our dog on his 4th trip to Bar Harbor/Acadia this September. He goes out hiking with us during the day, and we usually leave him in his crate in the room in the evening while we go out to dinner (he's dog-tired by then...), although sometimes we'll leave him in the car if conditions allow (we're not idiots!)

All to say in IS possible, but summer might be more difficult. Don't think I saw when you're planning this trip.

~Liz

Thanks Liz. We're going two weeks from now. Unfortunately he's never been crate trained, so he'd bark and cry like crazy if we left him in the room in the crate. Are there any stand-out restaurants that you can think of with outdoor seating and would you recommend visitning anywhere else nearby on the way there/back? Boston for example.

MV is VERY dog friendly.

File under future travel.

traveling with a barker sounds extremely difficult. Is he a barker at home and how do you deal?

We enjoyed this place in Portland for its dog friendliness a couple of years ago.
http://www.eastlandparkhotel.com/

stayed in the upper renovated floors, but perhaps all rooms have been renovated by now. There is an adjacent park that makes dog duty easy. We found Portland to be a very dog friendly town with lots of water bowls in front of stores and some great dog filled parks.

Is your dog a furniture dog? We found that by bringing our own down comforter and stripping the bedspread or their comforter and bringing some of his toys and pillows made our vacation stays a safe place so after he was wiped out we were able to leave him for a few hours with the ac on, the tv on all things to make the room a cocoon. We also left a large cup of ice with a bit of water in the car whenever we were out and about. That way anyone walking by that might be concerned could see the cubes and the water and know he was fine.

And yes we rented a cottage on the vineyard once just for our hound! It's a lot of work, especially hotel staying and during inclement weather that is too cold or too hot for car stays which were always a safe place for him under a big tree in the shade.

Hi!
We are bringing our 8 year old border collie mix with us to MDI for the umteenth time. Dogs are allowed on leashes in most places in Acadia Nat. Park. She loves to hike. We do have to be careful on hot days though and always carry h2o for her as well as us when hiking. We usually camp on MDI and most allow dogs with rabies certificates. Many hotels in Portland allow dogs including the Marriott. In Freeport (LLBean) the best western allows dogs. Not fancy, but Okay. The best Western in Augusta also allows dogs. Nicer than the one in freeport, but it depends what you want to do while you're there. If we go out to eat at night we leave our dog in the car, parked in the shade with windows partly open. It's usually not that hot at night, and she's dog tired like the other peoples pooch.Good Luck!

portiaperu--thanks, MV on to-do list

Thanks for the tips. We'd love to camp, but don't have any practice and living in NYC doesn't lend itself to any, so that leaves motels/hotels.

Portland seems like our second location. The Eastland Park hotel looks really nice, but is $200 per night. Is that a good rate?

LittleWing--the ice in the car tip sounds really good. We took Buddy up to Niagara Falls last year and he had a blast. He was fine in the car if we had to leave him, though he always seemed to want to drive :)

He doesn't bark at all when we're with him, it's when we leave. We found out that after we left he would bark for about 10 minutes straight every morning. We figured out a way to prevent it by hiding 3-4 treats around the place and then when we leave he goes hunting.

Nothing puts a smile on my face like seeing a dog in the drivers seat waiting patiently. I miss the attention from strangers that fell in love with our old hound. We stayed at the Eastland because it was dog friendly, off season and gave us a good rate - I think 139? I would search options for Portland area before the Boston area. And it is not only a great dog friendly town, it is a great food town.

Eastland's not available and Residence Inn (Marriott) Downtown's over $200. Anyone know anything about the Fairfield Inn Portland Maine Mall?

Ok. so we're planning on booking at Howard Johnson Plaza in Portland for 2 nights and Harborview Motel & Cottages for hiking in Acadia Park and visiting Bar Harbor and surrounds for 3.

Anyone familiar with these? Also, would love any food recommendations. It's ok if you don't know if they're dog friendly (though prefered), I'll look into that myself.

Thanks a bunch.

Is that HoJo in SOUTH portland? If so, well...it's sort of a "motel row" type of accomodation, one of six or seven places in a row on a strip of nondescript road....a mile or so from a mall, ten minutes to the beach, ten minutes into town for dining....sufficient for a night or two but not a place where you'll walk outside for neighborhood walks or dining or really get a "taste of Maine". What's the rate and what nights are you looking for something in Portland?

As for Bar Harbor, instead of having us research dog-friendly places for you, why don't you tell us what restaurants you've found listed and then we can give you our reviews and comments of those places?

one thing that we always loved was that a lot of toll collectors give out dog bones, one of the few perks of not using an ezpass!

check out chowhound.com

Hi joesource,
The HoJo is located at 155 Riverside Street/I-95, I'm not sure what part of town that is in. We're staying there for 2 nights so hopefully it will work out (probably won't be spending too much time at the hotel).

Here are some restaurants I was thinking of in Portland:
"Federal spice", "Harraseeket Lunch & Lobster", "Cole Farms" and "The Lobster Shack" - any reviews would be appreciated.
Here are a few places that I found in Bar Harbor: "Beal's Lobster Pound", "Jordon Pond House" and "Rupununi".

Thanks again.

Any help appreciated. Thanks.