Maine

4th of July is real busy up here.
Tons of people along the beaches and inland waters.
I would suggest some research online.
They have the eastern trail for bike riding. Never done it but they say its pretty cool if u like that. Some charter fishing.
Local Race tracks for cars and horses.
Lots of sea food places.

 

Not into people...in Vacationland" on the weekend of the 4th....

That'll be kind of a challenge to get away from people that weekend, honestly. The nice scenic places will likely be crowded, and the places like OOB will be packed like sardines in a can.
You can still get remote campsites that weekend, but you'll want to book them now. How far are you going to be willing to travel to get away from Portland?

 

Fishing would be cool. We didnt get to when we were in Alaska.
I do love seafood.

Yeah... We want to see the ocean, but not necessarily hang out on the beach for hours. I swim kind of like a rock, I am pasty white, and my wife is a ginger. We're not really stuck on that weekend, we just thought of then because we get an extra paid day off with the holiday. Probably not going to camp, but we would definitely be willing to travel a few hours from Portland. I like lighthouses, and would love to get some pictures of a few.

I appreciate your guys' input.

 

Light houses we have.
Ask away.
We can steer you down some road... Lol
I would suggest you get a agenda with wifey and search like hell.
So many hidden things to do up here.
You going to drive or fly ??? Never mind your flying heheh

 

Yeah, flying. We won the tickets through my work, so they're free!

 

You can get one day fishing licenses or 3 day...
Guides would have all info you needed for a package.

Big ass scallops and haddock strips .mmmmmmmmm
Clams.
I love fried seafood.

 

Look up the Appalachian trail. Then prepare to hike the 100 mile wilderness. It's on my wife and I's bucket list.

 

If you want ocean and light houses, I suggest Owls Head and the Rockland breakwater. You can also head down towards Camden and Rockport area, lots of great restaurants, and you have Mt. Battie and Mcgunticook in that area for hiking. You could just travel coastal rt1 and just stop whenever you feel. It may be busy that weekend but you could make Bar Harbor your destination and see a lot of fun stuff along the way. There are a lot of camp grounds on that route to stay at as well.

 

This^^ Yep route 1 right up the coast.

 

Ugh.
That can be hit or miss. It's a nice drive, but a lot of times in July Rt 1 turns into a parking lot, haha!
Of course, you can always turn the blinker on and go exploring.

 

Brunswick/Bath area can be a quieter place unless they are using the "College" for an event...

http://jrmaxwells.com/ in downtown Bath.. ,walking along the back side of Mariners history and then using some of the smaller "Local Guides" can give you a "Better look" at natures best via a boat..

http://www.acadiamagic.com/CadillacMountain.html I will leave this here for ......

We went here last summer and

 

If you want an awesome hike look up baxter state park/ Mt Katahdin. Just make sure to go prepared, not exactly on easy hike but totally worth it. Arguably one of the toughest portions of the Appalachian trail. Like others have said most places get pretty busy around July 4th up there since a lot of massholes such as myself like to escape up there for the holidays.

Like snoope mentioned, Acadia national park is awesome place to visit too. You can hike Cadillac mountain (first place the sun rises in the continental US), and then do the more touristy things over in bar harbor.

Whatever you plan to do, if it's going to need reservations book them now.

 

That's a haul from Portland, though. They could camp around Acadia and then climb Cadillac to greet the sun. But getting to BSP from Portland is what, 4 hours? And that's mostly highway, too. I think it's something like 200 miles one way...

Edit: If you DO want to climb Baxter, or even if you're interested in Acadia, you should definitely fly into Bangor instead. It'll cut about 2 hours off of your travel time, haha!

 

Good point, BSP and Acadia areboth not exactly close. Flying into Bangor would be smart. Might be a significant cost increase though since its a smaller airport. Acadia is probably the top place to go to kind of check all the boxes off so to speak. It has camping, hiking, lighthouse, seafood, etc.

 

Thanks for the responses guys! My wife told me last night this is going to be more of a relaxing vacation, than a hiking, lets go do stuff vacation. That drive up the coast and explore as we go sounds fun, we have done that on the west coast up Highway 1 in CA and OR and it was a good time.

 

Lots of opportunity for that on the midcoast. Portland has some great bars and restaurants too. If the wife wants to get her shopping fix in Freeport and Kittery are both close, I prefer Freeport.

 

^^ same.
Plus, if you shop in Freeport you can eat at Buck's Naked BBQ!

 

Does anyone have any recommendations on guides for fishing?
Also, if we decide not to come over the 4th, when is the best time of year to visit, weather wise?

 

Not sure about guides, but fall is awesome

 

I thought someone would say fall. My fall is busy, wolf hunt in September, elk hunt in October, shooting school in November...