Maine is always a great place to visit. It is rural, of course, so you do not have to worry too much about things like traffic jams, or neighborhoods with shoulder to shoulder housing, let alone high-rise apartments stacked one atop the other.
No, Maine is more peaceful than all of that.
This state has a lot to offer. From pristine, albeit rugged beaches, often without private houses and properties blocking access, as is the case in my home state of New Jersey. There are mountains in Maine, and most of the state is, in fact wilderness. To be precise, 85 percent of it is wilderness. And it has many typically charming old New England villages.
So yes, it has a lot to offer. It can make for a great vacation getaway.
We were not in Maine for terribly long. Yet, during our visit, we got to see quite a lot, given the time constraints. And at the end of our trip, I asked my son what his favorite place that we visited was.
He thought about it, and after a few moments, he said that he enjoyed the beach at Owl's Head Lighthouse, which was, in fact, the first major tourist destination that we visited in the state.
We only had one full, 24-hour day when we would be in Maine the entire time. It came on August 31, 2020. I was determined to visit as much as possible, topping off the visit at Bar Harbor in the late afternoon and evening.
But before that, we wanted to see lighthouses. After a particularly stressful morning, with the bathroom in our hotel acting up and overflowing, and then with us - already running late - needing to switch rooms, we late quite a bit later than we had originally wanted to. Still, I was determined to visit at least one lighthouse on this day, before heading up to Bar Harbor. And so we did.
The one we chose was one recommended by the lady at the tourist office. She had told us that Owl's Head was the most beautiful one, at least that was the way that she felt. Deciding to trust that and go with it, that is where we headed.
When we got there, we were both surprised at the small size of the lighthouse itself. It was much smaller than expected, and I wondered a little bit, admittedly, if that woman had been putting us on.
Then, we visited the nearby beach, right next to the parking area (I would call it a parking lot, but it is more just a field of dirt set in the woods, off an unpaved track).
Ah, so this must be what she meant!
Here was a rugged, pristine, unspoiled beach. It was rocky, and you could hear the stones rattling together with the waves. The scenery was spectacular, and it was all so incredibly peaceful and pristine. This wound up being my son's favorite spot during this trip up to Maine.
Indeed, the natural setting is spectacular, truly gorgeous. It is both rugged and pristine, somehow.
It is what often comes to mind with popular perceptions of Maine.
And here, of course, are some pictures of this place, which both my son and I in fact really, really enjoyed!
We only had one full, 24-hour day when we would be in Maine the entire time. It came on August 31, 2020. I was determined to visit as much as possible, topping off the visit at Bar Harbor in the late afternoon and evening.
But before that, we wanted to see lighthouses. After a particularly stressful morning, with the bathroom in our hotel acting up and overflowing, and then with us - already running late - needing to switch rooms, we late quite a bit later than we had originally wanted to. Still, I was determined to visit at least one lighthouse on this day, before heading up to Bar Harbor. And so we did.
The one we chose was one recommended by the lady at the tourist office. She had told us that Owl's Head was the most beautiful one, at least that was the way that she felt. Deciding to trust that and go with it, that is where we headed.
When we got there, we were both surprised at the small size of the lighthouse itself. It was much smaller than expected, and I wondered a little bit, admittedly, if that woman had been putting us on.
Then, we visited the nearby beach, right next to the parking area (I would call it a parking lot, but it is more just a field of dirt set in the woods, off an unpaved track).
Ah, so this must be what she meant!
Here was a rugged, pristine, unspoiled beach. It was rocky, and you could hear the stones rattling together with the waves. The scenery was spectacular, and it was all so incredibly peaceful and pristine. This wound up being my son's favorite spot during this trip up to Maine.
Indeed, the natural setting is spectacular, truly gorgeous. It is both rugged and pristine, somehow.
It is what often comes to mind with popular perceptions of Maine.
And here, of course, are some pictures of this place, which both my son and I in fact really, really enjoyed!
We ate at this place, Carrier's Mainely Lobster, after our visit to Owl's Head Lighthouse and on our way to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. We each got lobster rolls, and these proved quite pricey. But admittedly, they were also damn good!
Beautiful. If it weren't for the relative scarcity of jobs and the 355-day winters I would seriously consider relocating to Maine myself.
ReplyDeleteI went to that very lighthouse back in 2011 – in fact I believe I had put a refrigerator magnet of it on the fridge back in WM. And I stayed at Oakland Seashore Cabins in Rockport, which apparently closed permanently. (Oakland Seashore Cabins, not the town of Rockport itself...) According to Google Maps it's a 9.6 minute drive which takes 22 minutes.
You were right to splurge on lobster rolls. Along with lobster itself, they're a must-have when vacationing in Maine.
*a 9.6 MILE drive...
ReplyDelete