I let my wife decide where she wanted to go (limited to the U.S.) and she decided she wanted to see whales and lighthouses so we did a 8 day Connecticut to (Bar Harbor/Acadia) Maine trip. I copied and pasted from the trip report I did a while back. I left in all of it. Hope it is not too much to read. Hope you enjoy. I apologize for the length.
Day 1 - Flew from DFW to BDL (Connecticut), drove some of the most unbelievably beautiful scenery you will ever see. We cut over to Route 169 and took it through what is one of the 13 scenic byways in the US. We then visited the Gillette Castle on the Connecticut River (all these places are just gorgeous) and the Goodspeed Opera House and ate dinner at Abbot's Lobster in the Rough in Noank (supposedly the top place for lobster rolls in Conecticut). We stayed at the Fitch Claremont Bed and Breakfast in Fitchville, Ct, great place with its on vineyard right outside your window and a California king bed that is the biggest bed you've ever seen.
Day 2 - We headed to Mystic and stopped at Foxwoods Casino which is the biggest casino in the world. In Mystic, we visited the Mystic Seaport which is absolutely amazing. They have a great website as do most of these places you can check out. We ate lunch at Mystic Pizza of movie fame, and then down to Stonington to the lighthouse and little beach. We then drove to Newport, Rhode Island and did the 3.5 mile Cliff Walk hike which was also amazing. This is one day we definitely planned too much as we then drove to Plymouth and saw Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II and then on to Boston where we stayed at the Buckminster, across the street from Fenway.
Day 3 - Started the day with my favorite part of the trip, a Fenway Park tour. We then took the subway down to Public Garden and rode the Swan boats and then followed the Freedom Trail (a must do) for the next few hours (capitol, lots of other famous places), went to the Cheers bar, ate at the oldest restaurant in the US (Durgin Park). We finished the Freedom Trail by touring Old Ironsides and climbing the Bunker Hill Monument. We then took the subway to Harvard and ate at a famous burger joint called Bartleys (if you go, make sure to get sweet potato fries and a lime rickey to go with your burger).
Day 4 - Got up super early and drove about 45 minutes to Concord to see Walden Pond and then the North Bridge where the revolution started. Both were very cool. ***One note, driving in Boston is horrific. Prepare for the worst and it will be worse than that. Drove through New Hampshire to Maine. This was the "lighthouse" day. We stopped for wild blueberries on the way and then went to the most famous lighthouse in the US. the Cape Neddick Lighthouse in York, Me. We then made our way up the scenic route (Hwy 1, amazingly beautiful) north in Maine, stopping at the Clam Shack, President Bush's favorite place for clams in Kennebunkport, Me. We then headed up to Portland Head Lighthouse and then on to the Marshall Point Lighthouse (featured in Forest Gump when he runs across the US). We stayed at a little mom and pop hotel just outside Acadia National Park.
Day 4 - Got up and watched the sunrise where the sun hits the US for the first time each day on Cadilac Mountain in Acadia National Park, drove the loop road, did some hiking, sand beach, etc. before taking horse drawn carriage to Rockefeller's Bridges. We had lunch at the famous Jordan Pond House and then more hiking in Acadia, and on to Bass Harbor Lighthouse. We had great lobster at Thurston's Lobster pound (lobster is much cheaper there and so good it is hard to put into words, we have lobster/lobster rolls 6-7 times. We also had some great blueberry beer.
Day 5 - We were supposed to do whale watching out of Bar Harbor which is the best whale watching in the lower 48, but the swells were too high so it was cancelled. That was very important to my wife so I plotted to still get to do it somwhere (more on that later). We drove back toward Boston (where we would fly out the next day), stopping to see the Capitol in Maine and the massive LL Bean Flagship store in Freeport Maine (this is really something worth seeing). We made it back to Boston and got the last two tickets out of a boat that held 350 to do whale watching! The whale watching was absolutely amazing (18 miles off the coast). You think it is bogus until they start jumping out of the water. It was an experience of a lifetime. Stayed the night in Boston.
Day 6 - Flew back to DFW.
