New England Fall Colours and Acadia for three generations

1. Jour 1 : Boston to North Conway

   Boston Logan airport to North Conway, New Hampshire, about 2 hours 45 minutes

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : North Conway
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Boston Logan (BOS) by about 11 am, where your See Sight Tours guide meets the family at arrivals and the driver loads the bags into our van, with child seats or boosters ready for the ages you have booked. We leave the city on Interstate 95, cross the short New Hampshire coast near Portsmouth and turn north on Route 16 through the lakes and woods around Ossipee, stopping halfway for lunch on your own and a stretch. As the road climbs, the maples on the hillsides turn from green to orange and red. By mid-afternoon we reach North Conway, a small town in the Mount Washington Valley, and check in to the hotel for two nights. There is time for a swim if the hotel has a pool, or a walk along the main street to the old railway station of 1874. The welcome dinner starts at about 5:30 pm, so the youngest guests are in bed on time.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Boston Logan airport (BOS)
   • Welcome dinner at about 5:30 pm

   Option plus facile : Rest at the hotel after the drive.

   Option plus active : Walk the length of North Conway's main street to the railway station.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free at the hotel

   Activité : Land at Boston Logan by about 11 am. Lunch is on your own at the halfway stop.

2. Jour 2 : The Cog Railway up Mount Washington

   North Conway through Crawford Notch to the Cog Railway base station and back, about 1 hour 15 minutes each way

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : North Conway
   Détail du jour 2

   After breakfast we drive about 1 hour 15 minutes through Crawford Notch, a steep pass where the road runs below granite cliffs and the colour is often at its brightest in early October, to the base station of the Mount Washington Cog Railway. It has carried passengers to the summit since 1869. The train climbs three miles of track, with grades as steep as 37 percent, over the curved trestle called Jacob's Ladder and above the tree line onto bare rock. At 6,288 feet (1,917 m), Mount Washington is the highest peak in the northeastern United States, and on a clear day the view reaches into four states and Quebec. The round trip takes about three hours, with about an hour at the top, all of it seated except the summit. Summit trips run only when the weather allows. Lunch is near the base. On the way back we stop at Silver Cascade and Flume Cascade, two waterfalls a few steps from the road, and are back in North Conway by about 4 pm.

   Compris

   • Mount Washington Cog Railway round trip to the summit, weather permitting
   • Lunch near the base station
   • Crawford Notch with stops at Silver Cascade and Flume Cascade

   Activités en option

   • The Conway Scenic Railroad Valley train from North Conway, about an hour in vintage coaches, in the late afternoon if the timetable allows (price shown at booking)

   Option plus facile : Stay in the warm summit building at the top, and view the waterfalls from the van-side pull-offs.

   Option plus active : A short scramble on the rocks around the summit with the guide, weather permitting.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free from about 4 pm for the pool or the optional train

   Activité : Warm layers, hats and gloves for the summit, even for children who say they are not cold.

   

3. Jour 3 : Freeport, Camden and on to Bar Harbor

   North Conway to Freeport, about 1 hour 45 minutes, Freeport to Camden, about 1 hour 20 minutes, then Camden to Bar Harbor, about 1 hour 50 minutes

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Bar Harbor
   Détail du jour 3

   Today crosses Maine from the mountains to the sea. It is the longest day of the trip, about 5 hours of driving in all. It means three hotels instead of four, and we break it into three legs of under 2 hours each. We leave North Conway at about 8 am and drive about 1 hour 45 minutes by Route 302 and Interstate 295 to Freeport, for toilets, a snack and a photo with the giant boot outside the L.L.Bean flagship store. From there the coast road, US Route 1, takes about 1 hour 20 minutes to Camden. A short road climbs Mount Battie in Camden Hills State Park to a stone tower and a view over the harbour, the schooners and the islands of Penobscot Bay; the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote about this view, and a plaque at the top quotes her. Lunch is in the town by the harbour, with time to watch the boats. After lunch we follow the coast through Belfast and Bucksport onto Mount Desert Island, about 1 hour 50 minutes, reaching Bar Harbor by about 4:30 pm. Dinner is on your own tonight.

   Compris

   • A stop in Freeport at the L.L.Bean flagship store
   • Mount Battie summit and tower, Camden Hills State Park
   • Lunch in Camden
   • A walk along Camden harbour

   Option plus facile : The Mount Battie road goes to the top, so the view needs only a few steps from the van.

   Option plus active : Climb the stone tower on Mount Battie for the higher view.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Bar Harbor

   Activité : The longest drive of the trip, about 5 hours, in three legs of under 2 hours each, broken by Freeport and by lunch and Mount Battie in Camden.

4. Jour 4 : Lobster boat, popovers and carriage roads

   Bar Harbor, Jordan Pond and Acadia's carriage roads, about an hour of driving

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Bar Harbor
   Détail du jour 4

   The morning starts on the water. A working lobster boat takes the group out of Bar Harbor for a little under two hours on Frenchman Bay, and the captain hauls a few traps, measures each lobster with a brass gauge and explains why the small ones and the egg-carrying females go back. Children can usually hold one. Harbour seals often rest on the ledges. Lunch is at Jordan Pond House inside Acadia National Park, where hot popovers with strawberry jam have been served since the late 1800s, on the lawn above the pond with the two rounded hills called the Bubbles at the far end. Then a horse-drawn carriage takes everyone for an hour along the broken-stone carriage roads that John D. Rockefeller Jr. built across the island, over stone bridges and through the woods. We are back in town by about 3 pm: time for the pool, a nap or ice cream on the waterfront. The lobster dinner is at about 5:30 pm.

   Compris

   • Lobster boat trip on Frenchman Bay, about 1 hour 45 minutes
   • Acadia National Park entry
   • Junior Ranger booklets for the children, to work on over two days
   • Lunch with popovers at Jordan Pond House
   • A 1-hour horse-drawn carriage ride on the carriage roads
   • Lobster dinner at about 5:30 pm

   Option plus facile : Sit in the boat's cabin out of the wind, and stay on the Jordan Pond House lawn instead of walking to the shore.

   Option plus active : Walk part of the level path around Jordan Pond after lunch, about 1.5 km out and back.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free from about 3 pm

   Activité : Warm, windproof layers for the boat.

   

5. Jour 5 : Acadia's coast and on to Portland

   Bar Harbor to Cadillac Mountain, Sand Beach and Thunder Hole, then Portland, about 4 hours with a break halfway

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Portland
   Détail du jour 5

   We enter the Park Loop Road early, at about 8 am, on our timed vehicle reservation and drive up Cadillac Mountain, at 1,530 feet the highest point on the Atlantic coast of the United States, for the view over Bar Harbor and the islands. Children finish the Junior Ranger booklets they started yesterday, and the guide swears them in. Next is Sand Beach, where the children can run on the sand and paddle in the cold water, and the level Ocean Path to Thunder Hole, where waves boom into a slot in the rock when the tide is right. Lunch is back in Bar Harbor at about 11:30. This is the second long day: we leave at about 12:30 and drive about 3 hours 15 minutes to Portland by Interstate 95, with a 20-minute break at a service plaza about two hours in. We check in at about 4 pm, with an hour for the pool or a rest, and the farewell dinner is in the Old Port at about 5:30 pm, with a short walk along the wharves afterwards.

   Compris

   • Cadillac Mountain summit with the vehicle reservation
   • Junior Ranger swearing-in for the children
   • Sand Beach, the Ocean Path and Thunder Hole
   • Lunch in Bar Harbor
   • Farewell dinner in the Old Port at about 5:30 pm, and a short walk along the wharves

   Option plus facile : Ride the van between Sand Beach and Thunder Hole instead of walking the Ocean Path.

   Option plus active : Walk the whole Ocean Path from Sand Beach to Otter Point, about 3 km one way, and meet the van there.

   Temps libre : About an hour at the Portland hotel before dinner

   Activité : Thunder Hole is loudest about one to two hours before high tide, so the order of the morning may follow the tide table.

   

6. Jour 6 : Portland Head Light and Boston

   Portland to Portland Head Light, then Boston Logan airport, about 2 hours

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 6

   The last morning is short and easy. After breakfast we drive about 15 minutes to Cape Elizabeth and Fort Williams Park, where Portland Head Light, first lit in 1791, stands above the surf. There are level paths along the cliff top, cannon and old fort walls for the children to explore, and a small museum in the keeper's house, open in the fall on days we confirm when we book. Grandparents can watch the waves from a bench by the van. We leave at about 11 am and drive south on Interstate 95, past the beaches of southern Maine and Portsmouth in New Hampshire, to Boston Logan, about two hours. We plan to reach the terminals at about 1 pm, so book a flight leaving after 3 pm, or later for an international flight. If you want more time, ask us about extra nights in Portland or Boston before or after the trip; Boston's science museum and aquarium suit all three generations.

   Compris

   • Portland Head Light and Fort Williams Park, and the lighthouse museum when it is open
   • Drop-off at Boston Logan airport (BOS)

   Option plus facile : Watch the lighthouse and the waves from a bench a few steps from the van.

   Option plus active : Walk the cliff path through Fort Williams Park to the old fort and back, about 2 km.

   Temps libre : An unhurried morning at the lighthouse

   Activité : Book flights leaving after 3 pm, later for international flights.

   

Faune et météo : Late September and early October bring crisp days, with afternoon highs of roughly 13 to 18°C (55 to 65°F) in the valleys and on the coast, cold nights in the mountains, and ice or even snow possible on the summit of Mount Washington. The sea is too cold for most people to swim, so beach time is for paddling and running on the sand. Harbour seals and seabirds are likely from the lobster boat. Moose live in the White Mountains but are not often seen from the road.

• North Conway2 nuits
• Bar Harbor2 nuits
• Portland1 nuit