New England (Part 2)

July 3, 2023 – Our Anniversary! / Acadia National Park / Mt. Desert Narrows

Because the weather had been so gross, we decided to sleep in. When I got up and checked the weather, it had no chance of rain! Whoo hoo! (This was both exciting and annoying; we had thought it was going to be rainy, so we didn’t prepare like we would have for a sunny day. Had we known it would be nice, we would’ve gotten up early to take more advantage of the day.) We got ourselves together and went to Jordan Pond. (One blessing throughout this whole trip was that we had fantastic parking spots. We got to the park before the crowds so we didn’t have a far walk once we got back to the parking lot.) We parked and Jeff came up with a conglomeration of trails and peaks we would hike. 

We started up Penobscot Mountain, and the views hiking up were very pretty. As we hiked, we found SO many wild blueberry bushes! (We found out that Maine is famous for their blueberries and a common drink is blueberry pop! Many restaurants use the blueberries in their dishes too.) When we reached the top and passed the tree line, our beautiful views became very foggy. We then hiked to Sargent Mountain. At the top of the peak, we met a guy who was hiking the mirror of our path. We looked at the weather again and it said there was a 100% chance of rain!! The guy asked if we had rain gear (which we did) and told us that the hike down (that he just hiked up) was basically a small waterfall. We fueled up on peanut butter rollups before putting our raincoats on and walking headfirst into the rain. 

By the time we started the second half of the trail down, it was POURING. And true enough, it was a waterfall hike back down. It was filled with boulders, some fashioned as steps, others as just a technical hiking point, and the water was rushing at our ankles. We were soaked very quickly, and as great as our jackets were, they weren’t torrential-downpour good. Between the sweat and the rain, they were basically useless. Finally, we reached the bottom and saw the waterfall from the bridge. We thought about hiking to Bubble Rock, however we decided to finish the hike around Jordan Pond and call it a day. We had just finished 6 miles of vertically hiking down in the rain, which was pretty hard on our knees, and we had completed 10 miles the previous day. With blisters starting and fatigue only increasing, the van was looking really good. We arrived back at the parking lot exhausted. After closing our curtains, we had baby wipe baths before changing into drier clothes and ravenously eating snacks. It was at this point that I decided an outdoor shower hookup would be a great addition to the van.

After taking a brief break, we made our way to the visitors center to get the national park stamp and regional sticker for our national park book. I also bought a tshirt, Jeff bought a patch, and we got a new sticker (that I turned into a magnet) for Charlotte. 

We drove back to Bar Harbor for ice cream at Jordan Pond’s Ice Cream and Fudge. Jeff got chocolate and I got raspberry chocolate chip. We quickly decided there wasn’t anything else we wanted to do in Bar Harbor- the amount of people to navigate around was frustrating- so we made our way back to camp and made Alfredo in the van. There was a beautiful sunset at our campground overlooking the water. We had intentions of having a fire and even bought wood, but we never made it that far. We hung out in the van, and Jeff made a makeshift clothesline in the front of the van to dry our most essential clothes (which smelled terrible from the sweat and rain).

July 4, 2023 – Exploring Maine / Cadillac Mountain / 4th of July / Mt. Desert Narrows

After the craziness that the previous day held, we decided to sleep in and enjoy the peaceful and slow morning. We explored South Harbor, and on our way there, we stopped in a small town at a restaurant called Cafe 2. It was DELICIOUS. All the ingredients were locally sourced. It was busy (which typically means it’s good), and it really was! Jeffrey enjoyed french toast, and I enjoyed a bagel sandwich with a smoothie.

At South Harbor, we found a firetower at Beech Mountain that had the prettiest views we had seen yet. Since it was so clear, we decided to spend the $6 to go up Cadillac again that evening to hopefully get better views and to enjoy the Fourth of July Fireworks. After spending many hours in Bar Harbor and navigating people and cars, the thought of enjoying fireworks far away from the city sounded lovely.

During our drive around South Harbor, we found a nice area to pull off and look at the harbor before going to another section of Acadia and parking the van in a wooded area. We went down to the shore for a view minutes before popping the top and taking a nice needed nap among the trees and enjoying rice krispie treats.

As we were driving back toward Cadillac Mountain for the evening, we changed our dinner plans to make one of our favorites- tortilla pizzas- at the top of the mountain while we waited for the fireworks. We loved having everything we needed with us in the van at all times for sporadic changes in plans such as this. While some don’t understand driving a camper van around everywhere, this trip only solidified why we love it. If any plans changed or we had an idea to do something, we had everything we needed to execute the idea wherever we were. Charlotte was proving herself again and again. And since Charlotte is so small, we never struggled parking in tight parking lots. We stopped at a Hannahford to get pizza sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni along with the famous blueberry pops to make tortilla pizzas on the top of Cadillac Mountain and headed that way! 

The drive to the peak was much more picturesque that it had been the previous try. We stopped a few times to take pictures on the way up as the views just got more and more beautiful. As we got to the top, we snagged a good parking spot and quickly discovered that everyone else also had the same idea. The parking lot filled up quickly. Many people who had gotten an early time spot to go up the mountain had just stayed to watch fireworks, leaving very little parking spots left for the later time slots. 

We made our pizzas and then played dominoes while we waited for it to get dark. After a while, we took our camp chairs and found a good rock to sit on that overlooked Bar Harbor. The clouds were threatening to roll in, but they never did. It was so neat to see all the little towns, each having their own firework displays. The fireworks were so small from the top, which was kind of surreal and surprising, but it was still fun to see them. Since light travels faster than sound, the “booms” were so delayed from the top. It was kind of weird and hard to detect which boom went with what light. There was also a lightning storm off in the distance so between the lightning and the fireworks, it was very entertaining. 

As the show came to an end, it started to rain…of course. We stuck it out to the end before booking it back to the van. We returned to our campsite to see that our 3 bundles of firewood we had bought earlier were gone. (In their defense, we took everything but the firewood, so it did look like we left, but still! Three bundles of wood! Lesson learned.) We also encountered our new neighbors who were…not the quietest bunch. Their 4-year-old would scream all night and was quite annoying. He woke us up at midnight, 4am, 7:30am, and 9am screaming. We were glad that was our last night in Maine, especially with these new neighbors.

July 5, 2023 – Travel Day / Portland / Kennebunkport / Cape Cod / Salisbury Beach State Reservation

After a horrible sleep due to little 4-year-old “Oliver Reed” waking us up repeatedly, we got the van ready (filling up our water tank, doing dishes, etc.) and left around 10:00 am to go to the Portland, Maine area. On our way, we drove past a VW bus repair shop with lots of other vanagons which was super cool (we saw over 30 vanagons driving throughout New England! A new record for us!). In PA, it’s rare to see them driving out and about regularly. We stopped in a small town and had McDonalds for lunch before going to the first ever LLBean store! It was MASSIVE. We could’ve spent so much on hiking and camping gear. We then visited Vermont Flannel Co. where Jeffrey bought a beautiful new flannel. This entire plaza was filled with so many stores and restaurants. We could’ve spent most of a day exploring it had we not had a schedule we wanted to keep.

We then made our way to Portland to stop in a small store called Soleil that carried this really cool vending machine with handmade prints that I had found on Instagram (Inciardi Prints). After my amazing husband fought traffic to get me to this inner-city store, we arrived. In the store, I went directly to the machine, where my heart sank to see that the machine was empty. Ugh. We then had to fight traffic, slow drivers, and left turners the whole way out of the city. It was a bust. 

To make the afternoon a little brighter, we visited Portland Head Light Lighthouse in Fort Williams Park. It was a beautiful lighthouse with a wooded walkway to an overlook of the water. There was a small gift shop as well. Leaving the lighthouse, we also saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!!

Our next stop was Kennebunkport, a historic fishing village. It was a small town with shopping and apparently had a lot of fishing history, but it was too crowded to really notice and we were ready to get to our campsite for the night and walk along the beach. I do wish we could’ve spent more time in this town, especially learning of the fishing history, but that will have to be saved for another trip.

We drove a few more hours to Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Massachusetts and booked it to Salisbury Beach after parking the van at our “campsite.” The beach itself was beautiful, and we arrived just in time for sunset. I just love beaches, so getting a little beach walk was the perfect way to end the day.

Once it became dark, we trekked back to our van, where we decided we were still so full from lunch that neither of us wanted dinner. It was also so hot. It was in the upper eighties all night making sleep quite uncomfortable. We called this campsite the “parking lot campground,” because it was an asphalt pad with little lots with hookups for RVs and campers. There were minimal trees, no sources of shade, and it was packed with fellow campers. There was a large bathhouse at the end of the campground too. It was basically my least ideal campsite, but it was for one night, thankfully, so I got by. It’s main redeeming factor was that it had beach access, so I forgave the campsite.

July 6, 2023 – Cape Cod National Seashore / Nickerson State Park

Waking up at the parking lot campground was beyond HOT. It was a high of 87 degrees but felt like 93, and being surrounded by asphalt made it feel even hotter. As soon as we woke up and showered, we immediately started sweating, and good ole Charlotte does not have AC, so we tried to use the windows and fans to the best of our ability. But it was still hot. Due to the heat, lack of quality sleep, and hunger, we were quite grumpy leaving Salisbury.

Our next stop was Cape Cod National Seashore. While Charlotte prefers to go about 60 mph (on flat ground) and we typically avoid highways, we decided to push her a little more to avoid driving directly through Boston, which saved us 2 hours. We stopped at a rest area to fill up the van and get BBQ chicken sandwiches at D’Angelo’s. They were so delicious and helped our moods greatly.

As we entered Cape Cod, we drove up the cape and visited a few more lighthouses, including Highland Lighthouse, Nauset Lighthouse, and the Three Sisters Lighthouses. We also stopped by the visitor’s center for a sticker and stamp for the national park books, since it’s a national seashore. 

By mid-afternoon, it was so hot that we had no desire to do any more exploring– we drove straight to Head of the Meadow Beach! After gathering everything and heading to the sand, we got about waist deep in the water to cool off. The waves were SO strong, and the undercurrents were ridiculous. I’ve never felt a stronger undercurrent (around my feet). I felt like I could be swept away easily, so I didn’t get too deep. At the entrance to the water, the sand was at a steep incline, and then the undercurrents would hit your ankles and almost knock you over. Beyond that, the water was absolutely frigid. Even on a 90 degree day, it was still ice cold. 

After cooling off, we set out our towels and relaxed for a bit and saw a seal swim by multiple times! It was so cute! I love wildlife, so this was a highlight of my entire trip! We then went back to the visitor’s center and found an observation deck where we saw whales coming up for air very far out. It was pretty cool to see the mist of water coming from their spouts!

For dinner, we found a nice parking spot at the entrance to Race Point Beach where we could see the water from our couch. My ideal dinner location. Jeff made us chicken and rice and we enjoyed looking at the sand dunes and water. A group of people around our age were gathering for a fire on the beach, and they really liked our van. We wished we could’ve stayed longer to befriend them, because they were definitely our kind of people with food, music, and what seemed like conversation around their fire. (Note: In the northeast, they call the wood for a fire “camp wood” instead of “firewood,” which is what we call it in PA. Just something interesting we noticed!)

We took one more walk on the beach and then headed to our campsite at Nickerson State Park. After the parking lot campsite, I was really hoping for one that would have some shade and trees, and thankfully, it did! This was definitely one of my favorite campgrounds from this trip. It felt so good pulling into an actual spot that had some privacy, even if it was only a couple trees. We took our showers (which felt amazing after sweating all day and putting on sunscreen at the beach). That night, I slept on the top bunk of the van and Jeff slept on the bottom bed so we could spread out and not be so hot– we hadn’t been sleeping the best since the bottom bed is a twin and a half and it had been so hot. 

July 7, 2023 – Chatham Lighthouse / Beach Walk

Oh my goodness, sleeping on the top bunk was such a great decision. We both had a great sleep, could spread out, and sleep in. It was warm, a high of 80, but since we were in the shade, it felt so comfortable. So much better than the 93 degrees in the parking lot. We made a makeshift breakfast of leftover popcorn and pancakes, dreamed about future van upgrades and trips, and enjoyed a slow morning together before deciding on what we’d do the rest of the day. We had thought about going to Nantucket, but the weather was so (unpredictably) foggy, and it was going to be expensive. It just wasn’t worth risking hundreds of dollars to probably look at fog. Around 1:00 we decided to visit Chatham Lighthouse, go to an estate sale (which allowed us to see a home in the area which was cool), and an old map store with hundreds of maps from all over the world. 

We then decided we were going to eat out for dinner, and only having popcorn and pancakes, and it being 5:00pm, we were hangry. Jeffrey wanted pasta, and after thinking we had found a good restaurant that allowed us to experience northeastern cuisine at an affordable price, we discovered it wasn’t what we were looking for and ended up leaving (something we never do!). We were overwhelmed with options, and our previous restaurant choice had been mediocre at best. Jeffrey was set on having alfredo, so we went to the nearest grocery store, set up camp in the parking lot, and made Bacon Alfredo with garlic bread, and it was probably the best meal we had the entire trip. Looking back, we only ate out twice the entire trip, and we weren’t impressed with either. We’re so grateful to have a van with a kitchenette where we can make our cravings as we travel!

We drove back to our campsite and took the small drive to Crosby Landing Beach for a final sunset walk before starting the drive back home the following day. It was very buggy walking to the sand, and the sand itself was filled with minerals. It was orange, pink, black, and tan, and it felt like a mix of mud and sand. It was kind of swampy, and there were lots of interesting critters. We saw little crabs in a variety of shells and a “sea slug” slowly moving along the sand. Jeff was kind of freaked out by the oddness of the beach, but I enjoyed our final walk along the coast, even if it was kind of weird. After completing our walk, we headed back to our campsite to round out our time in Cape Cod.

July 8, 2023 – Travel Day / Vanagons in the Valley

We woke up early to take showers, make coffee, and prep the van for our drive home. We really were hoping to try and make it home in one day to have Sunday at home before Jeff returned to work. We made really good time, and were set to make it home around 8:30 when we remembered a Vanagon event, Vanagons in the Valley near Harrisburg, PA. We decided to go make some new friends and check out some vans for the night!

We entered a riverside, valley campground to find 51 other vans set up for the event. There was a wide variety of types of people– we definitely didn’t feel “hippie” enough! And we were definitely the youngest! We made tortilla pizzas, had ice cream, listened to some music, and talked with some other like-minded van owners. It was fun!

And then we went to bed, and it felt like it was 100 degrees. Soooo sticky.

July 9, 2023 – Travel Day / Home!

We woke up at 5am to the sounds of vanagons leaving. I was still sweating upon opening my eyes and realized that it wasn’t worth trying to “put myself together” since we were headed home. I threw everything into the back of the van for the ride home- all of our dirty clothes, blankets, etc. We didn’t even change out of our pajamas- we were ready to go home and take a true shower. 

After 4.5 hours, we finally made it home. Jeff went in to take a shower, and I unpacked the van– I wanted to start laundry and didn’t want it to be something drawn out throughout the week. It only took about an hour to unpack the entire van, much different from other trips we’ve been on where we tented. So many things just live in the van which makes the whole packing/unpacking process so much easier.

It felt so good to be home and relax in our space, but we could feel that in a couple days we’d be ready to go again.

Overall, it was a super fun trip. We got to see parts of the country we haven’t been to yet, and we got to celebrate our anniversary! We are looking forward to our next trip!