Maine Travel Forum

Planning on traveling to Rockland for the annual lobster festival in 2009.
Since this is our first trip to Maine my wife and I want to be able to experience the best the mid coast area has to offer. We like antiquing,casual shopping, and historical settings and museums. I especially want to see small fishing ports and any thing maritime. So my questions: Is this a good time to come to the mid-coast area or is there a better time that won't be PACKED with tourist like us. Also, would like some recommendations from seasoned travelers to this area for accommodations and quaint dining experiences,especially lobster! Ok... lobsta!
Thank you for your replies.
Ken

I took a 5-day vacation a few years ago and based myself in Rockport, just up the road from Rockland. If you are into small fishing ports, I highly recommend a day or overnight trip to Vinalhaven, which is a short ferry ride from Rockland. We went out there and rented bikes for the day, rode around and had a great time. Rockport itself is very small and non-touristy--very few services, but pretty, and the small-but-interesting Maine Museum of Contemporary Art is located there. You may also enjoy the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, especially if it's raining!

Hit Young's lobster pound in Belfast--super casual, very tasty. There are other great lobster places around too--it's kind of hard to get this very wrong.

I love Maine, and although live in Massachusetts, prefer Maine to the Cape. All seasons are delightful in Maine. It does get a bit congested (traffic-wise) in the summer but once you travel past Portland the cars thin out.
LLBean (the flagship store) is in Freeport as well as a collection of other outlets. Actually if you are into fishing you should try to stop at LLBean. It is open 24/7 and is a fun visit. You could probably pick up some suggestions on where to go fishing in the area.

I like Boothbay Harbor (the movie Carousel was filmed here). There is a small free Marine Aquarium located outside of town toward Southport. Near it is a great lobster shack. To get to Boothbay you would pass through Bath, Maine. The Maine Maritime Museum is located here. The Bath Iron Works built wooden and steel ships at the turn of the century as well as navy vessels during the war. There used to be a barn in Bath filled with antiques. Also along this route is Damariscotta (sp?), ME. There was a small outside eatery off to the left before the bridge with picnic tables that had the best lobster rolls. There is also a fly fishing lake located in the town. Antiquing, everywhere. I used to stop in barns and old houses along Route 1 between York to Ogunquit. About an hour past Machias is Campabello, the Roosevelt summer home. But that is pretty far up toward the Canadian border.

Hello...Just wanted to let you know my family and I visited Maine last year mid to late August and it seemed like the perfect time. It did not seem to busy and the weather was perfect the whole time! This was a Wonderful Vacation!!

Wiscasset is the town I was trying to remember for the best lobster rolls, thank you for correcting me. There's just something about Maine. Haven't been there in years, time to go back for a visit. Thank you ex-Mainer for your suggestions.