Hi Cindy. I did a similar trip with a friend over 10 days in late August-early Sept. of 1997 and we had a wonderful time. We flew into Boston and rented a car and drove through Maine, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, back to Maine and flew out of Boston. So we had a different route, but it overlaps somewhat, and I'll tell you what we liked in case it helps. The three towns in Maine that we stayed in were Camden (lovely -- great shopping, very picturesque!), Boothbay Harbor (cute but a bit too touristy for our taste, but we did absolutely love our hotel there -- the Lawnmeer Inn located just outside of town, in a picturesque setting on the water -- see their website at
www.lawnmeerinn.com if you're interested -- they have a great dining room too), and Bar Harbor (beautiful, especially Acadia National Park!). Bar Harbor has lots of very good restaurants; I can't remember any names offhand but I can't forget the fabulous blueberry pancakes I had for breakfast one morning. Do the loop where you drive all the way around Acadia National Park; it doesn't take that long, and you can stop often along the way to take pictures. Make sure you drive to the top of Mt. Cadillac at sunset when you are in Acadia; the view in all directions is breathtaking. There is plenty of good hiking in Acadia and you can get maps in the park. There is a good website on Maine at
www.visitmaine.com for info on various towns, accommodations, etc., and we also found the Frommer's New <BR>England book very helpful in planning our trip -- its recommendations on hotels and restaurants were always dead-on accurate and we never went wrong when we followed their advice. The one comment I would have about eating in Maine is that if you want the best, freshest lobster, the best way to get it is at the little roadside lobster pounds where the locals bring in their catches. They will boil a lobster for you and serve it with chips or corn, for very little money! The settings are casual -- often just picnic tables -- but many times in very scenic surroundings. The best one we found in terms of food and price was a few miles north of Camden, and the only reason we found it was because it was mentioned in Frommer's so look there for directions and the name of it because I can't remember offhand. Compared to a pricey lobster dinner we stopped for in Ogunquit at a tourist trap, the lobster pound was fantastically inexpensive and far more delicious! <BR> <BR>From Bar Harbor we took the ferry over to Nova Scotia. Again, the Frommer's Nova Scotia book was very helpful in planning this part of our trip. We stayed two nights in Halifax at a wonderful hotel called the Waverley Inn (check out their website at
www.waverleyinn.com if you're interested). I highly recommend this hotel. It has a fantastic location a couple of blocks from the waterfront, and walking distance to everything. The rooms are furnished with antiques, parking is free and ample, and there is a little "hospitality room" where you eat breakfast and can have snacks of tea and cookies, etc. Make sure you see the public gardens in Halifax; they're glorious. There is an excellent restaurant on the water in Halifax that I think is called Salty's; the folks at the Waverley Inn recommended it to us, and they were right. Fabulous seafood pie and garlic mashed potatoes. If you want a table with a view you should probably make a reservation if you can. From Halifax we drove through Truro where there is a short, easy hike available at Truro Falls. The falls aren't huge or anything, but they are pretty and I thought that was worth doing and made a good leg-stretcher. <BR> <BR>After Truro we took the ferry over to PEI which I don't think is relevant to your plans, so I'll stop there. But I will add that if you're looking for scenic settings in Nova Scotia, you will probably want to go to Peggy's Cove and also try to make it up to Cape Breton, although we didn't have enough time to make it up that far. <BR> <BR>I would expect mild daytime weather in September and a bit chilly at night so definitely bring some long pants and sweaters, and I would also bring a raincoat (we had one or two days of heavy fog and mist, which was chilly). Maybe lows in the low 50s, highs in upper 60s or low 70s if you're lucky, but if it's dampish it will feel cooler. We had mostly sun and were only cold at night. <BR> <BR>Weather has been weird this year so I am hearing the leaves may turn at a different time than they usually do and the colors may not be as great; still I would think you will see some pretty foliage. Certainly at the beginning of your trip there should still be some. <BR> <BR>One more tip: if you don't get many responses to your posting, you may want to repost it with a different title such as "Need Maine-Nova Scotia Recommendations for 9/21-9/28." The reason is that when you bring up this forum, it doesn't search by state unless you ask it to, and some people looking at general U.S. info may have recommendations for you. In my experience you will get many more responses if you put the destination in the title. Also, I don't know if you posted this request on the Canada forum as well, but you may get more information on Nova Scotia that way (althought the Canada forum seems a lot less active than the U.S. one). <BR> <BR>Good luck and I hope you have a terrific trip. Please post a trip report when you get back and let us know how it was and anything you would recommend for other travellers.
