Isaiah’s Travel Log

Old Orchard Beach 

Mom and Dad told us that we needed to get some sleep because there was a surprise at the next campground.  Driving into the campground, we saw three kids who recognized us immediately.  The surprise was that we were spending the week with our friends from Boston that we met camping last summer!!!!  They also have a camper and were going to camp with us for the week and they were parked close by.

We spent a lot of the time riding our bikes, playing basketball, swimming in the pool and hot tub.  The campground even had an arcade with a claw machine that you won a ducky at every time.  Two different nights we did family wiffle ball games. 

The other big highlight of this week was that Gran came to visit! She took a flight to Boston and then a train that took her all the way to Old Orchard Beach where Eli and Dad picked her up.  We did lots of stuff with Gran such as our beach day, checking out the LL Bean Flagship store and eating lobster.  

On the third day we had a beach day. We went swimming, the water was freezing cold which was refreshing at the start but once you got in you were freezing. We also got to play with sand toys and make a grave for a dead lobster we found 💀🪦.The highlight of the beach was the shaved ice 🍧, it was delightful to have on such a hot day . I got tigers blood with blue raspberry and the honest review is a 10/10 . The coconut (a part of the tiger’s blood) was the best part . Then we took a trolley back to the camper.

We traveled one day to the most photographed lighthouse in Maine that is part of Fort Williams. It was awesome to see this lighthouse up close and it was by far the best lighthouse yet.  There was a lot of history behind it such as; a shipwreck where the ship drove straight into the rocks right next to the lit light house. Our guide said there are rumors that it might have been on purpose but that might be local legend.  We also got to see these big cannons that there ammo was as heavy as a cow! They could launch almost 14 miles out from shore which at the time of world war 1-2 was impressive tech but now we have much more crazy tech then back then.

We got custom hats at the pier where they airbrush designs onto hats that you want I got a sea turtle with my name on the side on a teal hat 🧢 My friend Nick got a matching hat and Eli got his favorite, Bluey!

Next is the Famcamp at Hanscom AFB.  

Current leg: 189 Miles 

Total miles : 606 Miles

First big national park!

We are in Mount Desert Island, ME the home to Acadia NP and staying at Smugglers Den campground for an 11 night stay. It is the longest stay on the trip so far. There’s so many things to do in Acadia, so we had to capitalize including: a 10 mile bike ride, multiple hiking trails, fishing trips, lobster eating and catching, and daily pool visits.

On the first day in Acadia, we did a bike ride called the carriage trails . Everybody goes there for popovers at the Jordan Pond house. The popovers were served with ice cream in a dish it was a 9/10, the flavor combo tastes great.  It was only the aftertaste that doesn’t make it a 10/10. The bike ride was 10.9 miles total. With hilly terrain and dirt roads, it was long and tiring but I’m so glad we did it. Eli was on the back of dad’s electric bike and I was on a mountain bike the whole way through. John D. Rockefeller made the roads to preserve the park once motor cars got introduced, on all the sides of the trails there are big granite boulders that people call “Rockefeller’s Teeth.“

We went to Bar Harbor, pronounced Ba Ha Bah to the locals. We went there and we had ice cream at Mount Desert Island which was 20/10. I got fresh mint in a waffle cone,  instead of the green artificial mint you’ll find in most ice cream shops this one tasted like real mint. It wasn’t too overpowering but it was just enough to be perfectly balanced. It tasted like the shop in NH but I think this one was better. We also walked across sand bar. It is normal ocean at high tide but at low tide it becomes a sand bridge to get to another island with hiking trails and good views of the ocean , sadly we didn’t get to do ANYTHING on the island because we were there right when the tide was about to go back up again. Ba Ha Bah was fun!

I did a famous hike with Dad called the Beehive. Eli couldn’t do the hike so mom stayed behind with him. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day so we didn’t get a great view. ItI was a hike up the mountain ⛰️ with iron rungs and bridges to get across. We did it on a rainy day so it was a little slippery but it wasn’t as hard as I anticipated but not as easy as any other trail we did in Acadia. Another hike that we did was called Beech mountain. It was a beautifully clear day and very hot 🥵. But we pushed through to the top where there was a fire tower with a beautiful view. Sadly, we were not able to go to the top of the tower.  The hike down was so much easier than the way up, and unlike the beehive there was actually payoff with a view at the top.

Some other things we did was walks with the Acadia Park Rangers to learn about wetlands and we saw a baby porcupine in a tree! I did a morning fishing program for kids in the park where I caught a bunch of little fish and saw the biggest snapping turtles. Eli and I completed our Junior Ranger books for Acadia, got our National park passport stamped, and saw the famous Thunder Hole.  We also checked out a place called the Carroll homestead, an old home from before Acadia was a national park.  

My favorite thing we did was when we went out on a boat and caught lobster!  While on the boat we also got to see lots of seals and puffins!!!  We learned that puffins have their signature orange beaks until they have a baby, then their beaks turn gray.  A lot like my mom’s hair after Eli 🤪. After we caught our lobsters and learned the process of banding their claws, measuring them and making sure they did not have eggs; we went back to the dock and learn the process of how they cooked the lobster 🦞. We then got to break off the legs and the tail to get the meat out. This was my first time having lobster but honestly my review is 6/10 I prefer steak 😭😂. The flavor was way different than any meat I have ever tried. I’m glad I tried it but I don’ t think that it’s for me!

Off to Old Orchard beach next 

Current leg : 102

Total miles : 497

Easternmost Town in USA

We are in Lubec ME for a 4 night stay, on the way here we had our first hiccup on the road😬. We blew a tire which was not very fun and we spent 30 minutes fixing it. Luckily, we had a spare tire under the camper.  We were in the best spot for a tire emergency.  We were just pulling into a rest spot because Eli had to pee, and just  when we were pulling over, it blew, we were really lucky. Thankfully the rest of the ride was smooth. 

Lubec is a small town known for there fish cause in the late 1800s they had a smoke shop and a canning sop so they mass produced herring and sardines. There was a cool museum but it was sadly not open the only days we were there 😭. The other things Lubec is known for is there crazy tide changes up to 30 feet in the Bay of Fundy. 

At the campground, we had a waterfront view of the ocean but the campground is not where we spent all of our time in Lubec, we went to the famous candy-cane lighthouse, we did hiking trails following the coast. On one of the trails led to beach area where we could see seals, we named one Jeff. We also took a bike ride to downtown Lubec! We got food at the fishermen’s wharf on a pier. Somehow they were out of fish and only had enough for my fish tacos.  The food was great other than the fact that they were out of fish. Overall rating 5/10, the only good part was my fish tacos. Then we rode to a different pier and took a boat out to go whale watching, and yes, we did see a rare species of whale called a finback, we saw seals and porpoises,  the water had many species of jellyfish and barnacles 🪼. After the whales we rode down to love at first light ice cream and gift shop, I got moose tracks which was delicious 🤤. Finally we rode home and rode bikes for the rest of the day. Our next adventure at Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in ME for 11 nights!

Current Leg: 92 miles

Total Miles: 395 miles

Massive pond!

We are at Great Pond, ME for 4 nights.  It is naval recreation center for military families.  On the second morning, I got to go on a pontoon boat to go fishing with 3 other people.  I caught a smallmouth bass that was the biggest catch of the day. 🐠 We also went on kayaks and played at the beach. We also had Independence Day this week so happy Independence Day. 

It was a beautiful camp site and just on the other side of the road was a small beach area.

No cell phone service and our internet didn’t work because of the tree cover! 

Next stop Lubec ME!

Current leg: 103 miles 

Total miles: 303 miles 

Alpaca Farm

We are at an alpaca farm, the alpacas are so cute they have three babies and multiple adults. We are staying one night, we don’t have power and water, that is called boondocking. We will be doing a little boondocking this year but not much. As soon as we arrived we got to feed alpacas. Next we got to go in there pen. Red is the owners name and he was so friendly and told us all about the alpacas.  They were scared of us at first but got used to us by the morning. The alpacas were really sweet and they were fluffy and my mom got some alpaca wool and yarn from the store and she was going to crochet a blanket of alpaca wool. The next stop is Great Pond in Maine for 4 nights. 

Current leg: 118 miles

Total: 200 miles 

We are at the first location!!!! 

We are at a KOA in Carroll New Hampshire (https://koa.com/campgrounds/twin-mountain/ )for a one night stay.

Amenities include; a visitor center, pool, playground,bounce pad, gem mine,great biking conditions, and much more. We are staying in Bob (our camper and yes our campers name is bob I will be referring to him a lot ). We are going up Mount Washington on the cog railway (https://www.thecog.com ). Cool things from the cog railroad: 1. You take a train all the way up mount Washington to the summit its about a hour ride down and up, and you stay at the summit for 1 hour ( total trip 3 and a half hours ). 2. Every train car was built by the people who run the place, each engine weighed over 11 tons! 3. The steepest grade is 37.41% the steepest railroad in America. The cog railroad had breathtaking views, crazy climate change, really nice people, cool trains and much, much more. 

We are going to reckless brewing in Bethlehem, New Hampshire for dinner on the first night and super secret ice cream to celebrate the first stop on the trip, literally that’s what it is called. The food at the reckless brewery was delicious I got a smash burger and my overall rating as the five star chef I am was 8/10. Oh and for the ice cream I got slopeside mint chip instead of the green mint chip that you get normally like at the common cone or legen-dairy ( Vermont ice cream staples).  No, it was white and it tasted like a real mint plant which was a good change of pace it was way better than normal mint chip. 

We are off tomorrow to stay one night at Misty Acres an Alpaca farm on our way to Great Pond, ME

Total Miles: 82

Current log: 82