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The details
Distance from Portland: 3.5 Hours Adventures: Moosehead Lake, Lily Bay State Park, Lazy Tom Bog, Mount Kineo, Echo Lake Eats & Drinks: The Farm at Moosehead, Spotted Cat Winery, Atlantic Brewing, Salt & Steel Sitting down and looking at our summer calendar had me feeling a little down. Normally, our summer calendar would be filled with friends visiting us to get in some quality Maine summer time, family trips, etc. Obviously, this summer is pretty different and our (obvious) focus is staying safe and healthy, and doing the same for our family and friends. We've always tossed around the idea of renting an Airstream and taking our daughter on a massive adventure. And we figured this summer was the perfect time to do it. However, we condensed our adventure to a long weekend and made sure to stay in state. We rented a 2015 Airstream Interstate from Outdoorsy and did a pickup in York, Maine from the awesome owner, Gregory. Booking through Outdoorsy was almost too easy and the pickup from Gregory was equally seamless. The Airstream was spotless and he made sure to help these newbies understand the ins and outs of the vehicle. The bed is a Queen size bed (tight, but was totally fine for the three of us) and there is a bathroom on board - an antsy 4 year old kid's dream. So, he handed over the keys....and we were off.  Our site at the Moosehead Family Campground. We made the drive from York to Moosehead Lake. We rented a camping site from Moosehead Family Campground, a no-frills, simple campground that is family run that had hook-ups for the RV. It was about a 5 minute drive from the bottom of the lake. The thing that is so incredible about this place - and really all campgrounds I looked at in this area - is how affordable they are. I really had no idea what to expect. The sites range from $20-$40/night. There were people camping, RVing and a mix of both - and it was more than worth the price, in my opinion. We were greeted by rabbit friends every morning and it was totally quiet at night. We arrived around dinner time so immediately plugged our RV in and made the walk over to The Farm at Moosehead. That is the other awesome thing about this campground - they are only about a 1 minute walk to this particular restaurant and then about a 5 minute drive to the rest of downtown. I had read about their wood fired pizzas, BBQ and their beautiful little farm. We ordered a pizza from the sweet couple/owners who greeted us and made our way to an outside picnic table overlooking the farm. They encouraged our daughter to greet all of the animals before dinner came and she happily took them up on this. We met baby pigs, baby rabbits, many chickens and more. If you ask Harper what her favorite part of the entire Airstream adventure was, she will tell you it was meeting the animals our first night. And the food was delicious (get the cheesecake if they have it, trust me.)
After our bellies were full and Harper pretty much kissed every animal goodbye, we raced to Lily Bay State Park to catch the sunset. And man, I was so glad we did. Lily Bay is a gem of a state park that sits on Moosehead Lake with plenty of trails to explore, campsites, playgrounds, a beach - it goes on and on.
The next day I had one major thing on my mind: Moose. Here's the thing I've learned about Moose. Unless you are on, like, a "Moose Safari" with one of those companies - you'll never see them when you want to see them. If you actively go searching for them, at least for me, they decide it's a good day to stay to themselves. One day, I'll learn this lesson and be more carefree in my moose searches. However, we'll save that lesson for another day. I had searched and searched to find a bog that would almost guarantee a Moose sighting. The Lazy Tom Bog, located just past the town of Kokadijo (where their welcome sign proudly boasts: "Population: Not Many") is a Moose hotspot. So, after stuffing some breakfast in our face we made the drive from the campground. It's a beautiful drive, but once you pass Kokadijo, the road turns to rough dirt/rocks, so make sure you have a car that can handle it.  Lazy Tom Bog When we arrived, we parked just to the right of the bridge and walked down to the water. Pretty, but we didn't see a Moose. So, we walked back up to the top of the bridge where we found two other people on the search as well. Once they saw us, they said "Wow! You were so close to him!" WHAT?! Apparently, a Moose had been watching us directly across the bog but scurried off before we could see him. Oooooooof. After waiting (im)patiently in the hopes to see another moose (alas) we carried on for our next adventure. After having lunch in the RV (I mean, the convenience of it all is insane!) we headed to hike Mount Kineo. To access Mount Kineo, you have to take the Golf Course Shuttle across Moosehead Lake which carries, of course, golfers but hikers as well. I know, you are probably thinking: why would I want to hike a mountain that is located at a golf course? But Mount Kineo is a special place. The glorious mountain has incredibly beautiful, family-friendly hikes all while hosting an impeccable golf course. It's sounds strange on paper, but trust me on this one. The hike to the summit is easy, and one that our four year old really had no trouble completing. The rewards of views at the top were enough to keep her motivated.
After this, we decided we deserved an adult beverage. We made our way to the Spotted Cat Winery. It is, indeed, as cute as it looks. We were greeted by the owners, a couple who live on the property and were treated to a wine tasting before making our purchases. They make the wine on their property and sell fun tshirts, candles and other goodies to accompany your wine purchase. PS: Get the Strawberry wine!  Spotted Cat Winery After a cozy night's sleep (read: Harper's arms and legs hitting me all night), we woke up and were on the road early to head to our next stop: Bar Harbor! After a stop and start 3 hour drive, we made our way to Echo Lake. It's a gorgeous lake situated on the western side of Mount Desert Island with stunning cliffs (part of Beech Mountain) that have a couple trails that lead to an impressive lookout. We spent a better part of the morning swimming and building sand castles. Bonus Points at Echo Lake (and much of Bar Harbor/MDI at that): they have parking specifically designated to RV's - score! Made parking totally painless with an oversized vehicle.  Not one cloud in the sky at Echo Lake. Once again we thought: you know what we deserve, an adult beverage. That's what. We ventured to Atlantic Brewing and sat outside on their patio while Harper happily snacked. A perfect pint on a beautiful day.  Atlantic Brewing We then made our way to our campsite for the night at KOA Bar Harbor. So, I'm obviously an RV rookie - but this is a spot I would recommend to everyone, all ages. Our site was directly on the ocean, with a private beach. I literally couldn't believe it when we pulled in. Harper was a busy bee all afternoon playing at the beach, and we had to literally bribe her to make her go to dinner. We didn't partake in the many offerings at the campsite (activities for kids, bonfires, etc.) but next trip when the world is in better shape, we certainly will. Highly recommend this spot.  Our spot for the night! After our bribes were complete, we made our way into Bar Harbor for dinner. We had reservations outside on the patio at Salt & Steel. They followed all safety protocols to a tee, and the food was top notch. We'll be back here for sure.
To finish our awesome long weekend, we raced back to our site to drink the wine we purchased from The Spotted Cat Winery, roasted Marshmellows at our private site and watched the sunset. And felt really, really grateful.  Comments are closed.
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