Quick trip to Maine in late August? Are we crazy?
 

My husband and I are looking for a place to escape New York City for a few days in August, and we never been to Maine and would love to visit. Does anyone have any recommendations for a (coastal) town/place to stay. We're in our late 20s and on a budget, so I'd love to keep our lodging costs around $120 a night. Our only requirement is that it's clean. (Is this even possible since I don't yet have a reservation!??)

Boyce's Motel in Stonington looks like it would fit our bill, but I just wonder if the drive would be horrible for a three night trip? http://www.boycesmotel.com/boyces.html

Also, I know we're not exactly choosing off-season and I am a little nervous about the crowds (the whole point of leaving NYC is to escape crowds!, so if there are places that are less touristy please let me know). Also, the best time for me to go would be around Labor Day--Yikes, I know. I wonder if we can miss some of the crowds by arriving on a Thursday, and leaving on the Monday before Labor Day?

Thank you all!

Stonington is much too far for a 3 day weekend coming from NYC. It's probably a 4-5 hour drive just to get to Portsmouth NH. Thursday travel should be better esp if you can get thru Hartford or other big cities when it's not rush hour. Rt 495 is much less congested than 128/95. I think your fastest route is up thru Hartford to the Mass Turnpike to Rt 495 to 95. We have stayed at Glenmoorbythesea in Lincolnville just north of Camden, which has a big rate drop if you can go after 9/1. Some towns will be very crowded almost any weekend. Camden is still a long drive for you. Maybe look for something in the Portland area and do a day trip along the coast. Keep looking for motels like Boyce's. A lot of kids go back to school before Labor Day so reservations might not be too hard to get. You can also buy a Maine Atlas and Gazetteer at bookstores. It's overize but easy to carry and shows all the roads. You can find your own ways around high traffic areas such as downtown Camden. (Although we have an atlas now we just took some side streets and found a way to avoid the downtown area.) We have an atlas for NH and VT, too, and plot our own trips off the beaten path. Of course, sometimes we have to turn around!

Labor Day is a monday, so if you are talking about going a full week before Labor Day then, yes, you will have lots less traffic and hassles. Labor Day weekend is tourist-exit time up there, and also it's first weekend for tons of colleges and schools up there so I'd stay away.

Thanks for the responses. Maybe we can try to pick another weekend...possible earlier or later than Labor.

Glennmoor by the sea looks like a great place to stay. However, is there any chance of finding a place on a beach? We love taking walks on the sand...and I would miss that, if we were in a harbor town. But I'm completely ignorant of Maine coastal towns....

Any more advice?

The weekend AFTER labor day would probably be perfect. Rates drop after Labor day and you can probably find much nicer accomodations in your price range.

Billowhouse.com is a place in southern Maine (Ocean Park) where you would have a huge beach at your doorstep. It's on the very quiet end of the funky Old Orchard Beach area (think Coney Island)...and it's a lovely area in September after the crowds are gone. The only problem with this choice is that you'll have to drive to almost everything...including most dining options. However, there is some great dining within a 10 minute drive. And if you want real quiet, you probably won't find a smaller "community" than little Ocean Park, Maine.

York Harbor Inn would be a great place to stay with beach nearby, also the towns of Wells and Ogunquit have great beach areas. Other tourist stops including Camden,Boothbay and Bar Harbor are more rocky coast than beach. From Ocean Park, Wells or Ogunquit you can easily find some more rocky/coast places to visit for an afternoon....so that you'll get a taste of both the sand and the pounding surf sides of Maine.

Some places will call the weekend after Labor Day the beginning of "off-season" and you might find some great prices! I would just add that September usually brings the BEST weather to Maine, we always like to go in September....(but let's keep it a secret if we can!)

We spent the week after Labor Day in a share rental house in Boothbay Harbor a few years ago. The weather was sunny and crisp and there were people around but not the crowds I'd expect during the season. Boothbay is the quintessential NE coastal town - fairly touristy but that results in good restaurants and lots of little shops to wander around in. As another poster said, it's the rocky coastline, so no sand to stick your toes in - but remember, Maine waters are very cold even in August! (Alas, no gulf stream...)

However, Boothbay might be a little far for only three days. As another poster said, it's a good 4-5 hours to the NH-ME border. (The I-84 to I-495 to I-95 directions are the best way to go from here in NYC.) I think it was another hour and a half to Boothbay... but I can't be quite sure because we stopped at LL Bean and the other outlets in Freeport both coming and going! :-O

I have to jump in before I get too jealous of all you who can travel in Maine in the fall. I think my last post was a bit misleading...I was thinking of trying to squeeze a trip in just a couple of days after Labor Day. I would love to go much later in September, but I am starting a graduate school program (Master's in the History of Dec. Art and Design!) in the fall, so this will be our last trip before I hit the books.

I got a couple of "weekends from New York" books and one of them suggested spending one night in Kennebunkport and then maybe two nights in Stonington, then maybe one more night somewhere else before we drove back down to NYC. (this last part was my idea, they suggest driving all the way back in one day) How does this sound?...keeping in mind that this will be in August....

Eliza, I'm starting grad school this fall, too! Only Parsons starts the *day after* Labor Day and I have a 4-week summer course I have to take first... So now it's my turn to be jealous of you, getting away for even a few days at the end of August would be lovely!

What draws you to visit Maine? Could you be tempted by closer water views (CT) or non-shore rocky beauty (Catskills, Berkshires, southern VT)? I love visiting Maine, it just seems like a long drive and maybe not very reasonable prices in August? But I totally understand if that's where you want to be!

Oh - a new thought - what about northeastern Mass? Have you ever been to Rockport, Gloucester, Marblehead, Manchester-by-the-Sea? Boothbay Harbor reminded me of Rockport (and Provincetown minus the sand). These towns are on Cape Ann, about halfway between Boston and Portland, ME. Something of a Maine feel without quite the Maine distance/cost. Just a late-night thought... :)

ggreen-
My program is actually through Parsons though it's taught at Cooper-Hewitt.

Anyway, we've never been to Maine and always wanted to go (just a romantic notion!), but we're not native east-coasters and have hardly traveled around at all. (Only to the Berkshires and the Montuak) So, we haven't been to any of the Mass towns on your list....Hmmm definitely a thought. I don't know, if we'll be able to give up the idea of Maine, though....

Won't everything be crowded in August though? I have this perception that there is a mad rush from cities to all the coastal towns in the east coast...but I don't have any experience to back this up!

Crowded, yes, but nothing like Cape Cod (or Jones Beach!). Just try to avoid driving on the 1st, 15th and last day of the month because people are moving in and out of rentals. (Not that you'll be there, but I-95 in CT becomes a total parking lot.) And of course the regular weekend Friday-night-out and Sunday-night-back crowd (or Monday when it's Labor Day). But I think once you get somewhere and plunk down, you should be okay. Especially since you're doing research and so will likely avoid the busier locales... As you know from the Berkshires, the scale of everything in these towns is smaller and lower-key than NYC, so you can't help but be more relaxed!

Of course I have no idea what your tolerance for driving is, but I would suggest finding a place no more than six hours away - or if you're like me, the vacation will have evaporated by the time you get back!

I don't know Stonington, but off the top of my head, your Kennebunkport-Stonington-someplace else idea doesn't sound bad. Kennebunkport will probably be fairly crowded but fine for one night; it's a cute town. Or maybe even stay in Portland or Cape Elizabeth to keep costs down? (Portland's downtown area has some decent bars and restaurants.) I'd be concerned about how long it takes to get to Stonington, but it looks like a nice place. (I think on the coast it would be hard to go wrong!)

I hope this helps!

Yes if it's August you'd be crazy to go to Stonington. The traffic jams up Route 1 can be miserable. I'd stay as far south as possible, maybe York Beach, if it's August. Especially if you are looking for sand instead of rocks.

i'm jumping in a bit late here. as a former texan, transplanted to maine in 9th grade, grad school in boston, career in nyc, finally settled in newburyport on boston's north shore, i have some informed opinions about your nyc getaway.

while in nyc, we would make the six-hour drive every weekend from nyc to cape elizabeth, maine to get away to the beaches. a very easy drive, with a half-way pit stop at sturbridge. having had the opportunity to find every beach between boston and stonington over the last 20 years, i recommend southern maine for your trip. cape elizabeth has inn-by-the-sea on crescent beach, with a short drive to enjoy higgins, ferry, and atlantic beaches and pick up local harvest at roadside stands. or the black point inn on prout's neck with all of ram island to explore. it's all close enough to go out to dinner in portland and poke around the old port around exchange street or ferry out to one of the calendar islands in casco bay.

closer still is kennebunk and a little known, secluded area called parson's beach, just down the road from the rachel carson wildlife preserve. the water is a tolerable temp for maine, and it's the best boogie boarding beach i've found next to good harbor beach in gloucester. skim boards are allowed, too. from the northern end of parson's beach, you can walk up the river and ride a boogie board down to the ocean. boogie boards are under $10 in every CVS, but they'll be sold out by that time. walk to the south end of the beach, and it becomes private with stately old summer cottage-stlye mansions. there are more than a few good places to stay in kennebunk, wonderful theater and beaches in ogunquit, even better inns and beaches in york. i prefer york as it's charm is more typical new england compared to touristy-looking ogunquit. you'd be close enough to dine in portsmouth, a charming walking city with many, many good restaurants, like a slice of a nyc neighborhood, with cafes tucked into little alleyways and interesting shopping. no need to go further north to experience a quintessesntial maine getaway.

the water is a bit warmer in northeast mass. a delightful "wow" retreat is the new inn on plum island called blue, consisting of beautifully refurbished summer cottages and rooms in the main building. the inn was built by jeanne geiger, wife of aeropostale retail chain owner. she fell off an unrailed deck during the refurbishing and died, but her work was finished lovingly and the place is nothing short of the perfect getaway with an outstanding restaurant down the street called the plum island grill with a really happy bar scene. mad martha's is open for breakfast and it has great food. altho blue is right on the ocean, it's nice to slip off to a local secret down at the southern tip of plum island called sandy point. it's opposite crane's beach in ipswich, with the same beautiful sand, but a flatter expanse of beach with many tide pools. en route, because you're driving thru the parker river wildlife refuge, there are at least seven points of interest to detain you. with the exception of sandy point, plum island doesn't hold a candle to the inns and beaches in essex, gloucester and rockport on cape ann, but you're trying to get to maine, right? save the penobscot bay beaches and inns in maine for another time when you can go in july or august.

Via ferry from Thomaston, MONHEGAN ISLAND might prove a great escape as long as you pre-reserve accomodations.
Price would be right. Fly into Portland,
rent a car for the 1 hour drive to Thomaston.

For a Parsons student, Monhegan is the Wyeth family's retreat so you probably
know many of Jamie and Andrew Wyeth's
watercolors of the island already.

I also would recommend southern Maine - particularly if you want long stretches of white sand beach. Check out York, Ogunquit, Wells, and the Kennebunks. If you want a motel right on a long sandy beach, look at someplace like Lafayette in Wells, which is a large motel complex along the beach. The rooms not facing the water are not too expensive. There is lots to do in this area - just realize the water in Maine is a mite cool, but can be bearable at times.

bookmarking. Sounds fabulous.

Eliza - I think why people are confused about your trip is the following:

"squeeze in a trip just a couple of days after Labor Day", and "keeping in mind this will be August".

Labor Day is September 4th. August, obviously, is BEFORE this. So, do you want to go in August or AFTER Labor Day?

Karen
just trying to help...

Hi everyone! Thanks for all of your responses. I think people might be confused about our trip because I started out a bit confused. OK, looks like we will be traveling in August.

Before I read all of these posts, I thought I had my mind made up but corwin's advice sounds wonderful...OK, here is what I was thinking (if corwin could weigh in again, I would so appreciate it!).

Note: I just started reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, which is about trusting your gut. And how your gut feeling can be the right one. After two hours of looking at travel books last night, my gut is telling me that that we want to see "real" rugged Maine. I do like taking walks on the beach, but I can do without the sand on this trip as a trade for a quiet rugged coastal town.

So, what if we left on a Wednesday in August. Drove to Southern Maine spent the night in York (or somewhere close), then drove up to Castine or to Stonington for two nights, then back down to New York on a Saturday (hopefully travelling in opposite direction of everyone else). I might be able to talk my husband into staying a fourth night somewhere else--to make our drive back a little better.

I'm just afraid that we'll really regret it, if we don't see that beautiful Down East coast....comments?

Also, any preferences on Castine vs. Stonington?

I haven't spent much time in either but I think Stonington was my preference. But, our visit was in mid-June not busy August. According to Blink, gut reactions work well based on a person's knowledge and experience although the information isn't at their fingertips. I suspect you'd like to see rugged Maine and feel the local flavor but this doesn't usually happen if you're rushing thru. We visited Belfast in mid-June but I found one shop closed with a sign posted "gone fishing", my husband decided he needed a haircut and enjoyed conversation with the barber about places to see. We overhead a local complaining about a summer resident with a monologue that would have done Tim Samples proud. On our trip next week my husband wants to just sit and watch the ocean somewhere like Pemaquid Point where we've been before. We carry bag chairs and pack binnoculars and a snack. We've found pies and pastries for sale on the honor system on someone's front lawn. We also try to incorporate a boat ride so we can see the coast from another angle.
I still think Stonington is too far but maybe not as long as you don't whiz past some of those places like the used bookstore near Ellsworth that used to be a chicken coop or miss hearing the directions for the unique Victorian village that's not on Rt 1.
Best wishes, I'm sure you will find what kind of travel suits the two of you best.