Seeking 2 weeks Vermont, NH, Maine must do ideas

Do a Google search for `_______ tourism' and put the city, state, or area in the blank space and read what the specialists recommend and let the kids review the info also.

jkwilson wrote:
For mainland Acadia, parking is a mess and getting there early is very important.

also plan your visit to Bar Harbor/Acadia around the cruise ship schedules (choose non-ship dates). Some of them dump a few thousand tourists into the area when they dock and it can overwhelm the area.

Bar Harbor Cruise Ship impact

jayco304 wrote:
Thinking of about 2 weeks in Northeast during summer of 2019. Will have two girls ages 7 and 9 along for the trip. They want to do Acadia NP.

How much time should we allow for Acadia?
With any remaining time what are other must see items in Maine, VT, or NH? Thanks

If I remember, about 5 days was enough for us on our Acadia trip that we did 15 yrs ago. On your way back west might I suggest a few days at Old Orchard Beach ME, Water parks, amusement parks, board walks, beaches and loads of family campgrounds in the area. Your kids will love it! Bayley's, Powder horn, hid'n pines, Paradise park all get great Reviews

Mike

We spend 5-6 weeks for the last 10 years in and around Acadia... but we like to hike,bike,kayak and hand out in Bar Harbor. With your girls, I'd think 3-4 days would be a good introduction, hitting the high points. As other mentioned, Old Orchard Beach is more touristy and will probably be more to the liking of the kids. Nice beach, amusement park on the beach and waterparks and other activities over on US1

Make allowancesi n your plans for extremely slow traffic jams if you are driving the Maine highway 1. Also, on the weekends the traffic is horrific in all directions from Boston outward.

I agree with previous posts. One that hasn't been mentioned is the Maine Transportation Museum. All types of transportation. cars, planes, motorcycles, bikes, steam, engine display and more.

Don't know how interesting you would think it is, but the "Old Sow" is one of the biggest whirl pools. Its north east of bar harbor clear at the top of the coast line. Every 6 hours the tide raises and falls about 20ft.


https://www.google.com/search?q=old+sow+whirlpool+map&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS602US602&oq=ols+sow+ma&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l4.7373j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

The Old Sow is in Eastport, about 117 miles northeast of Bar Harbor. It's affected by the same tides as the Bay of Fundy.

If the campgrounds at Acadia are full, check out Lamoine State Park. About a 20 minute drive from Acadia National Park. Dry camping, but bathrooms with showers. You can get a lobster dinner (cooked or raw) delivered to your campsite:

DrewE wrote:
These are somewhat in order of decreasing levels of recommendation.

The cog railway up Mt Washington (or the auto road, but I'd prefer the railway myself) is a good option too. Be prepared for chilly and windy conditions at the top...sometimes very, very windy.

The Shelburne Museum is worth a (full) day. The collection is large and very eclectic, including impressionist and american art, a steamboat, historic buildings and interiors, duck decoys, a carousel, hat boxes, and a whole lot more. This is not far at all from the Vermont Teddy Bear factory. Also not too far away is Mt Philo state park, which has a carriage road and pretty easy hiking trails to the top with very nice views over Lake Champlain. (You really do not want to attempt to take your RV on the carriage road!) Also somewhat in the vicinity is the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, which I haven't seen myself but I understand is a decent museum, though no Mystic Seaport.

If you like hiking, there are heaps of options throughout northern New England, ranging from easy to quite challenging.

The Fairbanks Museum in St Johnsbury, VT is a fun little natural history (mostly) museum, and sort of a museum that time forgot. Some of the taxidermy specimens are usually popular with kids, as are the pictures made from insects.

Canobie Lake Park in Salem, NH is a fine medium-sized traditional amusement park.

The Montshire Museum a little north of White River Junction is a decent science museum geared towards children. (The name comes from verMONT and new hampSHIRE.) It's not really much different from many other fine little museums scattered around the country, so I would skip it before some other things.

If you're interested in tools, there are a couple of museums in Vermont that are good stops. The American Precision Museum in Windsor has a lot of machine tools. Kitty-corner across the state, there's the (free, but only open on Saturdays) Arnold Zlotoff Tool Museum at the Apple Island Resort in South Hero, which has an impressive collection of antique hand tools.

While in Shelburne stop in Folino's pizza then step next door and grab a Fiddlehead beer to go along with it. Then right across the street is Shelburne Vineyard.
I'll second Mt. Philo easy hike with a great view.
Apple Island is one of my favorite places to stay.

vermilye wrote:
If the campgrounds at Acadia are full, check out Lamoine State Park. About a 20 minute drive from Acadia National Park. Dry camping, but bathrooms with showers. You can get a lobster dinner (cooked or raw) delivered to your campsite:

Looks good. I bet that Scamp gets as cold as a meat locker with that a/c