A ROAD TRIP TO ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Where did my labor day weekend go? It definitely flies by so quickly when you’re having fun. I went on a 4-day road trip to Acadia National Park, Maine from NYC with a group of friends. We spent most of the time taking pictures of our food and thinking about what to eat for our next meal. I also spent a considerable amount of my time recording videos and taking pictures of my friend Ivan for his Instagram Story. Let me know if you ever need a social media manager, I think I would be a fantastic fit.

If you’re planning a trip to Acadia soon, I hope you find this day-to-day guide helpful. I know it was an extremely ambitious trip. A 4-day road trip to Acadia from NYC is pretty short considering the number of hours spent on the road. If time permits, I definitely recommend at least 2 days in Acadia. Nevertheless, I think we all had an amazing time and would not have our labor day weekend any other way.

We started the trip Friday morning and drove up to Boston. We arrived at about 2PM and went to Hokkaido Ramen Santouka at Harvard Square. If you’ve been an 11AMCLUB reader for a while, you probably know that I love my ramen, but I am PASSIONATE about tsukemen. Sadly, however, when I tried to order the tsukemen the waitress said they only serve tsukemen on the weekend and my heart was crushed. So I went for the Miso ramen which was good and made my heart content as I left the restaurant. After our lunch, we went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It was a pretty tiny museum but it was breathtaking. We went an hour before it closed and we were able to get a good look of all the art presented there. The highlights of the museum for me, the plant lady, were of course the garden courtyard and the greenhouse. After our museum stint, we were hungry, again, and trekked to Blackbird Doughnuts for their donuts and ice cream sandwich. We went for classic flavors for our ice cream sandwich with vanilla glazed yeast donut with vanilla ice cream. In addition, we bought the lemon berry swirl and peach jam Bismarck donuts. I eat ice cream about once a week so my favorite was the ice cream sandwich but I have to say their donuts are really good and on-par with NYC donuts. After our donut stop, we went to Newbury Street to shop as Milla (Ivan’s younger sister) and I were in the market for raincoats. For dinner we went to S&I Thai and it was so delicious. I definitely overate but it was worth it. My favorite is their papaya salad which brought me to tears, literally (it was SO spicy).

We opened the day with dimsum early in the morning at 10AM at Hei La Moon in Chinatown. It was a pretty average tasting dimsum but the restaurant could accommodate our group of 10 which was a winner. Post dimsum, we went to Tatte Bakery and Café in Harvard Square when I fell in love with the ambiance of the café. I imagine that this café would do really well if it got transplanted to Williamsburg. We bought their Matcha latte, pistachio croissant and chocolate croissant which all I loved and had nothing to complain about. We then started our drive to Bar Harbor and stopped at Augusta, Maine for a foot-long lobster roll at The Red Barn. I have not had seafood in about half a year so the surge of seafood intake was shocking to my body. However, at $50 per foot-long lobster roll, I would say it’s a good deal as they were extremely generous with the lobster pieces. The dish that really was the homerun for me was however the fried scallops. It was very fresh and light. I am pretty sure I popped about 10 of them in my mouth.

We arrived in Bar Harbor about 30 minutes before sunset. Here’s a pro-tip we learnt from experience: always come two hours in advance of sunsets or sunrises if you want to experience them at Cadillac Mountain. At about 11PM, we all ventured out of our motel and went to Sand Beach to try and catch the Milky Way. We did not succeed unfortunately because the moon was too bright and it was slightly cloudy. We, however, had a lot of fun attempting it and losing some sleep was definitely worth it.

The third day was the day I finally put my not-so-athletic body to test. We took hiked the Cadillac North Ridge Trail in Acadia. It was a 4.1 miles hike with 1184 feet elevation gain. The hike was pretty steep the first 10 minutes, but after it was a rather flat trail. It took us about 1.5 hours to hike up and back with about 3 stops for snacks and Instagram pictures cause if it’s not on Instagram, you NEVER hiked. After the hike, we feasted at Side Street Café as we were lured by their lobster mac and cheese. Our lunch did not disappoint and we left with full hearts and stomachs. Post lunch and copious snacks later (kale smoothies, popcorn and lobster crepes), we made an improvised trip to Thunder Hole, a picturesque cliff in Acadia. The view there was breathtaking. The cliff is named Thunder Hole to allude to the loud sound the waves make when it hits the rock formations. Post picture taking at Thunder Hole, we started driving to Portland so that we only have five hours left to get back to NYC from Portland instead of the original eight hours. We arrived pretty late and had takeout from The Honey Paw, an Asian fusion restaurant.

A weekend would not be perfect without brunch. We started the last day of our long weekend with brunch at The Front Room. The food was delicious although they can work on presentation a little bit better. Our French toast looked burnt and sad. After, we went to Old Port, Portland, which is a small shopping district. There we had MORE food. We had mango sticky rice, popcorn, hot chocolate and more than enough scoops of ice cream. Personally, going to Mount Desert Island Ice Cream was a dream as Obama went there. I probably stepped on the same tile he did in the store. What an honor!
The drive back to NYC started in the afternoon and we arrived back in the city at about 11:30PM. On our way back, we made a stop at Boston to drop our friend Michelle and refueled with a gorgeous and delicious pink pitaya bowl. The pitaya bowl solidified my belief that I should only eat pink foods for the rest of my life.

I hope the day-to-day guide I provided proves helpful when you are planning a trip to Acadia. Below I have provided a detailed list of places we went to or would’ve gone to if we had more time. Let me know in the comments below which trail I should hike the next time I go.

Note: The places we did not go to but was recommended through a friend or was thoroughly researched are italicized.

STAY
Crowne Plaza Boston – Woburn
White Birches Motel – Hancock
Candlewood Suites Portland – Scarborough

EAT
Boston
Blackbird Doughnuts
S&I Thai
Coco Beets
Tatte Bakery and Cafe

Portland
The Honey Paw
The Front Room
Sticky Sweet
Coastal Maine Popcorn Co.
Mount Desert Island Ice Cream
Bard Coffee
The HighRoller Lobster Co
Duckfat
Hot Suppa
Gilbert’s Chowder House
Moe’s Original BBQ
Cheevit Dee

Bar Harbor
Side Street Cafe
Thrive Juice Bar & Kitchen
Bar Harbor Popcorn
Project Social
Havana
Galyn’s
Jordan’s Bfast and Restaurant – Lobster Roll

TO DO
Trails
Cadillac North Ridge Trail
The Beehive Loop Trail
Jordan Pond Full Loop Trail
Ocean Path (Sand Beach to Otter Point)
South Bubble Mountain (and Bubble Rock)
Cadillac Summit Loop

Museum
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum