Family Road Trip: New York to Maine

Last week we took our annual family road trip!  We started this tradition last year with our 2 boys. We have been avid travelers as a couple and decided that it was a good time to start traveling around the U.S. with our children to see parts we have not yet visited.  Hubby and I have always loved travel and we made a decision not to let children impact our love of visiting and learning about new places!  However, traveling with kids is NOT easy and rather than having "relaxing vacations" as we used to we now have "trips" filled with lots of activity!

I'll be posting more specifics about each place we visited but I wanted to give an overall idea of our route planning.  There are so many routes you can take but we opted for the scenic Route U.S. 1. This definitely took us longer than taking the usual highways but it was well worth the scenery of the picturesque towns and water views as we drove North.

Portland, ME

Our first stop was Portland!  We made this our hub for Southern Maine. It was such a great city with a really fun vibe.  We stayed at The Westin Portland Harborview Hotel which was located toward the center of the city about a 10 minute walk to the harbor.  For us, this was a great hub since we were easily able to walk to the many restaurants near the hotel and they also had a free shuttle that dropped off and picked up guests within a 3 mile radius.

Crescent Beach State Park, Maine

While we were in Portland we took side trips to visit Crescent Beach State Park and Old Orchard Beach. Both places were perfect for children!  The beaches at Crescent State Park were beautiful and the waters calm. Great for the littles!  Old Orchard Beach had a family amusement park feel with rides and a pier.  The boys were in heaven!

You can also easily visit Kennebunkport and Ogonquit while staying in Portland but we saved that for another trip!

U.S. 1 from Portland to Bar Harbor

The drive on U.S. 1 was stunning.  We stopped at the LL Bean Flagship stores in Freeport which is only about 20 min North of Portland.  We could have easily made a day of roaming around Freeport.

The towns surrounding U.S. 1 on the water were picturesque.  We would have liked to stop at more of them however, we were also focused on getting the kids to our destination!

Bucksport, Maine

We took a little break at Fort Knox to let the kids run around while we learned a little history.  The views from Fort Knox were beautiful and the kids had fun playing with the old cannons!

Bar Harbor, ME

Bar Harbor was our next hub.  There was so much to do, see, and eat!  We had an amazing time and spent most of our time here.  We stayed at the Bar Harbor Motel.  The price point, location, and facility itself fit our needs perfectly.  They have an outdoor pool, playground, and breakfast is included. There is also a direct entrance to Acadia National Park at the back of the property.

Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park

Hiking Acadia National Park was on our to do list and it did not disappoint!  There are so many options in Acadia and it does not all involve hiking.  We spent a majority of our days in and around Acadia.

Portsmouth, NH

Our last stop was Portsmouth, New Hampshire!  This cute historic town was a perfect ending to our trip!  We spent some time on land and on sea!  Portsmouth is also so close to beaches and to the Maine boarder so there are so many options for day trips as well.

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn Portsmouth Seacoast. This was a little outside the center of the city but it was very easy to get into Portsmouth.  We drove in and parked at a structure close to the water but there is also a shuttle from the hotel as well.

I'll be posting more specifics about each place we visited over the course of the next few weeks!  Be sure to stop back and join us on our adventures!