If you only had 2 days... (Portland, Bangor: to rent, hotel, house)

[NJ2ME]

If you only had 2 days in Maine, what would you do?!

I have mentioned my fiance and I are coming to Maine for our honeymoon (1st week of Nov 2008) to enjoy half of it at a nice place and explore the other half in search for where we'd like to "call home". Well.... he just told me to plan a short trip for summer once I am out of school for this year. We'd drive up, its 9 hours from here to Bangor area, we'd drive one day, have 2 full days there, and drive home one day. We MAY be able to sqeeze in one extra day depending on his work schedule but won't know till right before it. He told me to just plan it. We'd want to stay in cheaper places (so 3 nights in places... maybe 4) and deffinetly explore areas, probably just by driving around most the day! Look at views and stop in places just as driving by. See if we just find a small town that we'd fall in love with!

We want Bangor suburbs or more north and we are NOT against northern Maine AS long as we could find work.

If there is certain things we could visit as passing by that don't take up the whole day but are neat to see, that would be nice to include in the trip, just to do something on our weekend getaway. He loves ATV's. Is that an option? I'm just trying to make a short trip into research plus a little bit of fun. Any opinions?! What would you guys do?! Is there small motel (but clean) type places that you can just drive by and stop at so we can just find one when ready to stop for the day?!

(For living.....So far we are saying within 30 min from Bangor, OR within 30 min drive of any town we could have work in AS long as within 1 hour from a town we could drive to weekly for all the "needs" we want in our lives!.....for example, he is a comic book collector and would want to be able to get to a comic store)

[Maineah]

I'd go to Sea Dog Brewing in Bangor and drink beer for two days! You asked!

[Acadianlion]

Try Ellsworth. You will be 30 miles from Bangor, and about the same distance from Bar Harbor. One day can be spent on Mt. Desert Island, and while you might not want or be able to afford to live there, on your honeymoon you will need to do something fun and interesting. Seeing Acadia National Park is something that you will remember all your life when you have been there on your honeymoon.

What do you do for work? In the end, that will make a big difference to where you go, at least according to your description of your trip.

[Mainer61]

Originally Posted by Acadianlion

Try Ellsworth. You will be 30 miles from Bangor, and about the same distance from Bar Harbor. One day can be spent on Mt. Desert Island, and while you might not want or be able to afford to live there, on your honeymoon you will need to do something fun and interesting. Seeing Acadia National Park is something that you will remember all your life when you have been there on your honeymoon.

What do you do for work? In the end, that will make a big difference to where you go, at least according to your description of your trip.

Plus, you can eat at Geddy's in Bar Harbor...great food.

[Kenowheregirl]

My hubby and I spent a week of our honeymoon in Maine(mostly Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Island). We absolutely loved it! It was so beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing, but we still had plenty to do. We stayed at the Quimby House Inn right in "downtown" Bar Harbor, and would highly recommend it. We also spent a day at Acadia national park-one day is definitely not enough time for such a beautiful place. Unfortunately, I can't give you any feedback about the Bangor area;we didn't quite make it there. But if you do decide to hit the Bar Harbor area, allow me to recommend the Rose Garden Restaurant (located in the Bluenose Inn hotel) for an amazing lobster dinner. Lovely restaurant,too, and top-notch service. The Rose Garden is just minutes outside of Bar Harbor. Good luck, and congratulations!!! We have such great memories of our honeymoon in Maine!

[GoBangor]

...for example, he is a comic book collector and would want to be able to get to a comic store)[/quote]

Downtown Bangor has an awesome comic book store as well as rare coins.

Good luck!!

[Nancy-NJ-NY-ME?]

NJ2ME - I'd like to offer an alternative to driving for your short summer trip. Since your time will be limited, perhaps you could consider flying to Bangor. This would cut considerable time off of your journey and give you more time in Maine.

Continental (Continental Airlines - Airline Tickets, Vacations Packages, Travel Deals, and Company Information on continental.com) has a non-stop flight from Newark {EWR} to Bangor {BGR} seemingly daily. Since you're coming from So. Jersey, you'll be EWR is on your route. Bearing in mind that airfares are crazy now, but I did a quick check:

On 5/30 Lv EWR 12:30p Ar BGR 1:58p non-stop
On 6/7 Lv BGR 2:35 Ar EWR 4:32p non-stop
$218 +$19.50 taxes & fees = $237.50 r/t per person

Hint: On the search, check the box for +/- 3 days. When the search results appear, there will be a box with the lowest available fare in the date range. Just click this and you'll get a matrix of dates with the fares (which ranged from $218 to over $500 with the May-June dates I used).

I know the journey by car can be half the fun. And, obviously, you'll have to do the math of the expense of using your car vs. flying and renting a car in Bangor. But, if your time is short, this may be a viable alternative.

By the way, USAir travels between LGA and BGR and Portland. JetBlue also has flights between LGA and Portland.

Good luck!

[AliceT]

In the spring, I would walk through meadows looking for wild strawberries and crawl around on my hands and knees picking as many as I could find.

In summer, I would spend it walking through the woods and picking as many raspberries and blackberries as I could find.

In autumn, I would spend it picking apples and probably rent a trailer to haul them all home with me.

Once at home with the bounty, I would then spend the next several weeks making jams or preserves or jellies, pie filling, dehydrating some and freezing others.

You betcha!

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by AliceT

In the spring, I would walk through meadows looking for wild strawberries and crawl around on my hands and knees picking as many as I could find.

In summer, I would spend it walking through the woods and picking as many raspberries and blackberries as I could find.

In autumn, I would spend it picking apples and probably rent a trailer to haul them all home with me.

Once at home with the bounty, I would then spend the next several weeks making jams or preserves or jellies, pie filling, dehydrating some and freezing others.

You betcha!

If you did that around here you'd be picking ticks off yourself for weeks!

[NJ2ME]

While flying would cut alot of time out..... Per person @ $237.00... EVEN if for only 200.00..... then we'd have to rent a car if we wanted to explore. Driving is deffintely half the fun in a road trip, especially somewhere with such beautiful things to look at in passing, and approx gas for us round trip would be less than 200.00 (not including however much we drive around once in Maine!) We'll enjoy the drive as well. The only time I'd consider flying is once we lived in Maine, if just one person had to come back quickly for an emergency or something. By the time your at the airport early and all that, baggage, getting your rent a car etc..., 9 hours from here to Bangor really insn't that bad.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions! I have a Maine atlas (that a few on here suggested) on order on its way to me! I can't wait to get it!