Coast of Maine in September 2012 – Boston to Brunswick, Maine

A business trip to Boston provided an excellent opportunity to drive the Coast of Maine to Acadia National Park.

But first, a Friday night Red Sox game, made more special for the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. After a one-hour rain delay, we enjoyed the game, even though the Sox lost. The special treat on the way back to Cambridge was standing next to the conductor at the front window of the train, seeing the tunnels and stations as they approached.

Highway 1

We could have taken the fast route and reached our destination in the first full day, but true to our style, decided to crawl our way up Route 1, the local route that passes through every village and town along the way.

Just over the Maine border, we made our first stop at Captain Hook’s Lobster Bake in Wells. We agreed to eat as much lobster as we could on this trip, given its freshness and price, but we had a couple of ground rules…it had to be a lobster ‘shack’ with picnic tables…and corn on the cob on the side, if possible. Captain Hook didn’t disappoint as we had the lobster roll with fries, sitting out on the lawn.

We knew we wanted to stop in Bath at the Bath Iron Works shipyard, and made it there just before dark. For Jeanne, it was a taste of home on the other side of the Atlantic, right down to the dockworkers pouring out of the facility at 6pm, lunch pails in hand.

We all identify with the things we grew up with and for Jeanne, it is the shipyard. Even though it was American, the look, feel and even the workers were almost exactly the same.

America’s Worst Value

If you’ve followed our travels, you know we take the most positive experiences away. Rarely do we complain, but on this trip we had one of our worst experiences while trying something new…staying at low-cost lodging. To date, our only truly bad experience was the Motel 6 in Salinas, California where even our dog didn’t want to step on the carpet and leaped from the doorway to the bed to avoid it.

This time, we stayed at Americas Best Value Inn in Brunswick, Maine, booked on Orbitz. We paid extra for a bigger bed that we didn’t get. We’ll spare you the long story, but it involved the smell of cat pee and sweat, no internet, and an air conditioner that sounded like a train. We’ll be more careful in the future and balance price and reviews a little better.

Up next, the charming coast from Brunswick to Acadia.