Travel
Meander Through Maine This Summer
Whale watching is a popular attraction for Maine visitors.
E ach year, thousands of people turn their RVs south and hit the road in search of scenic getaways and sandy beaches. Here’s a pro tip on avoiding the crowds: Go north. Specifically, head as far up the East Coast as you can go until you find yourself in Maine. The state in the summertime is as beautiful as it gets, with deep greens and blues filling the landscape, and lobsters and lighthouses filling the agenda. Want more? Here are a few Maine ideas:
Whale Watching: These gentle giants like to frolic in the cooler waters up and down the Maine coast during the summer, and some businesses have been leading whale-watching tours for more than 80 years. Sightings of puffins, dolphins, seals, and even sharks may be tossed in as a bonus.
Lighthouses: With 228 miles of Atlantic Ocean coastline, nothing is more emblematic of Maine than its 60-plus lighthouses, which have protected ships from the rugged and rocky shores for decades. If you want to get out of your RV, boat tours offer a seaside glimpse of the historic structures.
With almost 200 campgrounds, opportunities for RV fun and relaxation abound in Maine.
Camping: More than 725,000 acres fall within 43 state parks, although RV camping is limited to just 11, and only six of those offer hookups. Acadia National Park includes three additional camping sites in the beauty of the Maine woods. Almost 200 licensed campgrounds operate throughout the state as well.
No trip to Maine would be complete without at least one lobster dinner.
Dining: No trip to Maine is complete without eating lobster at least once. (They even serve lobster ice cream.) For a really fresh meal, lobstermen offer tours, so you can pull a pot and pick your own.
Hiking is a popular pastime in Maine.
Hiking: Maine has so many trails for hiking, walking, or mountain biking, it created an online interactive map to make it easy to find one nearby: www.mainetrailfinder.com. The Pine Tree State also has more than 2,500 lakes and ponds, as well as 5,000 rivers and streams for those who prefer paddling to pedaling.
Explore maritime history in Maine.
Museums: The Maine Maritime Museum in Bath offers a glimpse of the state’s maritime history, including a collection of historic boats, a restored schooner that may have once been a rum runner, as well as an exhibit honoring a nearby Naval shipyard. The state also has three museums devoted to children: The Children’s Museum and Theatre in Portland; the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor; and the Coastal Children’s Museum in Rockland.
Learn more at www.visitmaine.com.
App File
Peak Season
Summer is the best time to head to the mountains. These apps let you discover the names, elevations, and detailed information about the mountains you’re viewing.
PeakVisor: Just point your camera at a mountain and this app tells you its name and elevation, all based on GPS and compass information. The app can identify more than 850,000 peaks worldwide, in addition to the castles, huts, and waterfalls on the mountains. All the data is built into the app, so there’s no need for an internet connection. Free on iOS and Android. https://peakvisor.com.
PeakFinder AR: This app has a panoramic view that shows the range in front of you; or, turn on your camera and it overlays a drawing of the range with information on various peaks. You can zoom in to identify smaller peaks, or touch a peak and have additional information about it pop up on your screen. You can even take a photo of the mountains with information displayed. $4.99 on iOS and Android. www.peakfinder.org.
PeakLens: The app overlays the names of the peaks atop the image on your phone, and lets you take photos. It also uses augmented reality and virtual reality to compare what you are seeing through your phone with a digital 3D landscape model of the Earth to eliminate any errors. And it tells you the distance between you and the peak. Android only. www.peaklens.com.
Bookshelf
Outdoor Fun
It happens. Even while enjoying a long-awaited camping trip, young travelers may still have their moments: “I’m bored. . . .” For that reason, you may want to pack a copy of 101 Things To Do Outside ($12.95, Walter Foster Jr. publisher) in your RV.
The book’s subtitle describes it best: “Loads of fantastically fun reasons to get up, get out, and get active!”
Colorfully illustrated pages are secured by a wire coil inside a coated cover, which helps the book remain open to a particular page. Each activity is outlined on one or two pages in easy-to-read steps. When kids finish one activity, they can check the box marked “Done!” at the bottom of the page and record the date.
Many activities are great to try at a campground. For example, attract butterflies with a feeder made using a paper plate, scissors, string, and pieces of overripe fruit. Play Pooh sticks, a simple water race with sticks, made famous by Winnie the Pooh. Calculate the age of a tree. Build a “spudzooka,” or potato cannon.
Tried-and-true traditions are included, too: hill rolling, stone skimming, hopscotch, even a water balloon “dodge” — although it might be more fun to get wet on a hot day.
101 Things To Do Outside is geared to readers in grades 3 through 8. But others may want to look through the book, too. Who wants to build a bug hotel?