Maine- Boston Road Trip - August 2024

Day 4

We wanted to get an early start as I had several possible stops for us today. We had breakfast at the hotel and then made a few shopping stops in town before leaving. We drove through Ellsworth, where I thought about stopping for Momo cheesecake, but because of the later start we skipped. We crossed the Penobscot Narrows Bridge which also could have been a stop, but we also skipped.

Driving over Penobscot Narrows Bridge

 We drove past Belfast that looked cute. 

Drove past Belfast - looks cute

We then stopped at Lincolnville Beach that looked cute. We went into a cute little shop and they also had a mini moose museum with stuffed moose.

We then stopped in Camden for lunch. The traffic leading up to Camden was bumper to bumper. The town is very cute. Lots of B&B’s had beautiful hydrangea bushes. We found a great parking spot quickly as someone was leaving and headed to Camden Deli. I had found this lunch spot on a YouTube video and liked the view. We mistakenly ordered at the counter and then realized to sit upstairs on the outdoor patio, you needed waiter service. We quickly canceled our counter order and ate upstairs. 

Camden

View from Camden Deli, waterfall coming down

View from Camden Deli

Cute waterfall in Camden

One of many beautiful hydrangea bushes in Maine

We thought about going up to Mt Battie for the views, but still had several more stops, so got on the road after lunch. We headed to Freeport to visit the LL Bean flagship store. We happened to time our visit just right on accident. When we arrived at LL Bean, they had fly fishing demonstrations and free s’mores! Freeport is a cute town.

Fly fishing demonstration

We then headed to Portland. We hit bad traffic in Portland and didn’t explore the city, but were able to visit Portland Head Light. This is the most photographed lighthouse and I can see why. It’s very pretty. I originally had us spending the night in Portland, but when I decided to do whale watch in Gloucester, I wanted to be a little closer, so chose Wells.

Portland Head Light

Schooner boat

Another pretty hydrangea bush

There is a food truck here that is supposed to be very good, but I wanted to get to Kennebunkport before dark, so we moved on. We were able to get a parking spot in Kennebunkport easily in a paid lot. This town and Kennebunk across the bridge are so cute! We decided to eat at Clam Shack as I had read about this place and seen it on YouTube videos. There is usually a long line apparently, but there was no line tonight. I had a haddock sandwich that was very good, but it was chunks, not a filet. Husband had a lobster roll with butter that was very good. Kids were able to get chicken fingers and a hot dog. There are lots of photos of the Bush family who have a summer house here. We didn’t get a chance to drive by their house. After dinner we ate at Big Daddy’s Ice Cream and it was delicious. I got a blueberry ice cream and it was so good!

We then headed to our hotel, Hampton Inn Wells and Ogunquit. It was clean and modern. We just slept and showered there. They did provide free breakfast that included waffles.

Day 5

We had breakfast at the hotel and then got on the road to Gloucester, Massachusetts where we had a whale watch with 7 Seas at 1:30pm. I had read that tours from Gloucester can go to 2 different spots giving them a better chance than Boston of seeing whales. Not sure if that’s true, but it was also a tiny bit cheaper from Gloucester. They give a guarantee of seeing whales. We arrived around lunchtime and had lunch at Blue Collar Lobster. I did not care for my haddock sandwich here - it was fishy. Husband had lobster and liked and kids had hot dog and chicken fingers. We all took Dramamine in case the whale watch was rocky.

This is the town where a Perfect Storm took place.

Beach at Gloucester

Lunch at Gloucester

We boarded around 1pm for the 1:30pm tour so I’m glad we came early. We picked spots on the top. I wanted to be able to quickly go from left to right. Also I think in the fresh air you are less likely to get sea sick. We actually had great weather. It had been a little rainy when we were in line, but the ride was mostly sunny and calm. We saw about 6 or 7 fin whales (2 being side by side), a minke whale in the distance, and a humpback called Satula at the end. We also saw a sunfish. We went out about an hour to see the whales and were gone 4 hours so spent a lot of time seeing whales. We had nice views of the coastline on the way, but no commentary on what we were seeing. The naturalist gave great commentary on the whales, though. The boat was not overcrowded and we had room to see. Most whales were between 10-1 o’clock as the boat moved to be able to find the whales.

Photo credit - 7 Seas- humpback, Satula

Photo credit - 7 seas - 2 fin whales together

Sunfish

Sunfish 

Sunfish

After the whale watch, we headed to Boston. Had wanted to see a little more of Gloucester and see the fisherman’s memorial and the bar, Crow’s Nest, from a Perfect Storm, but it was kind of late. We saw a deer in a small town looking for a gas station.

We dropped off our rental car at the airport and took an Uber to our hotel, Boston Marriott Copley Place. Will continue on next post about Boston.