A few weeks ago I walked outside into the sweltering Florida heat and decided we needed a short break to a cooler climate.  One of the few places we hadn't been to was Maine so I started setting up a trip.  I was going to rent an RV, but Yvonne said she wanted to camp using our tent ( I'll never understand that woman).  I arranged reservations for three days at Acadia National Park, set up a car with Avis, and started checking availability on United.  We packed up the minimum gear that would fit in the UAL baggage allowance and off we went via D.C. and on to Portland, Me.  Smooth trip on both flights.
    Upon arrival in Portland, we immediately headed up to Freeport, home of LLBean, and toured our catalog favorite.  Behind the main store they have a Factory store where you can get some real bargains. There were hordes of tourists in Freeport.  On the coast there we got a campsite for the night at Recompense Bay Campground located right on the water.  The manager recommended a lobster shack at Harraseekeett and we started our week of gorging on lobster.  I asked a couple if we could share their picnic table and they were Maine veterans and gave us lots of hints, the best one of which was to buy a big pot and boil our own lobsters.
    Our reservations at Acadia began the next day so we broke camp and headed North for the four hour drive up US1 to the park which is located on Desert Island (pronounced Dessert) just beyond Bar Harbor.  We stopped at a Walmart to pick up a few things and I panicked when I saw I didn't have my Visa Card.  After a fruitless search, I called the campsite and the manager said he had neglected to give it back to me.  We were fifty miles up the road so I told him to cut it up, which he apparently did since I haven't seen any big purchases on my account.  At Acadia we camped in the national park atBlackwoods Campground at $18 per night for three nights.  The sites are in deep woods but the shore is only about one hundred meters away.  This is the Maine you think about.  Grand rocky granite cliffs tumbling about seventy-five feet down to a beautiful sea.  The rocks were a orange color and great for climbing on.  At low tide we could work our way down to the tidal pools and look for goodies in the shallow water.  The bay was full of lobster buoys and you could sit for hours watching the sun, the waves, the rocks, the lobster boats, sailboats , kayaks, and million dollar yachts.  We nicknamed this stretch of cliffs Lindemann Rocks because we would bring our bottle of Lindemann wine down to the shore and enjoy wine time while gazing out to sea. There is a must drive loop that takes you fifty-six miles around the park with many more beautiful views including Thunder Hole and Sand Beach which is always listed in the top most beautiful beaches.  The Visitors Center rents or sells an audio tape for $9 or $13 that describes all the features along the drive.  Well worth while.  Each evening we ate lobster and corn and salad that we prepared at camp.  Also in the park is Cadilac Mountain which is the tallest mountain on the East Coast shore at about 1500 feet.  We drove to the peak to view magnificent sunsets. Acadia N.P. by the way is the only national park which was donated from private lands.  Back in the twenties, J. Rockefeller created a maze of carriage roads and stone bridges in what is now the park.  They are still used for carriage rides and we saw more bikes there than anywhere else.  Also every car seemed to have kayaks or canoes on it.  Most of the Park is on the east side of the island, but we drove over to the west side primarily to see the Bass Harbor lighthouse.  Along the way is the natural seawall, a low jumble of rocks which held fascinating tidal pools.  Maine blueberries were in season and these tiny berries are to die for. Great alone or on cereal.    I took two major hikes.  the first was part way up the 1000 foot Precipice trail which is a combination of hike and rock climb.  They have installed a few rungs in the rocks and chains where the chances of falling are too high or the boulders too big to climb.  The trail is marked by blue paint slashes but in my usual way I lost the trail and ended up at a death fall.  I reversed my course down totally unfamiliar territory and luckily eventually rejoined the main trail instead of getting into an impossible position.  I only climbed about 700 vertical feet because of my misdirection.  The temperature that day was the hottest of the season nearing 90F.  I was soaked with sweat and filthy afterwards.  That reminds me there are no showers in the park, but just outside there is a twenty-four hour shower with four minutes for seventy-five cents.  The best money I ever spent. The other hike was part way up Cadilac Mountain to a fantastic lookout called Eagles Krag, where you could see the whole coast and all of the offshore islands.  That one was a lot easier and I climbed about 690 feet in one hour.  Yvonne sat on the shore enjoying the cliffs trying to read while I was hiking.  She couldn't get much read because of all the natural things to watch. One night at about 0300 I awoke to a racket outside the tent. We had forgotten to remove all of our food stuffs from the table and two humongous racoons were raising hell. I rushed outside with my flashlight to scare them away and was about two feet away from one when the light went out. There I was with a possibly rabid bandit that I couldn't see. Fortunately it also decided that I might be rabid and scurried away.
    Reluctantly we left after our three days at Acadia and headed up to Cobscook Bay State Park located as far North as you can go on the U.S. coast and the most Eastern point in the States.  There our campsite was located right on the edge of the shore cliffs with a marvelous view out to sea.  This was about the prettiest campsite we've ever had.  The rocks here are more volcanic gray so were not quite as beautiful as lower on the coast, but still marvelous.   We were surprised at the lack of wildlife on the whole trip.  No moose or deer.  Saw one bald eagle, a rabbit and a few chipmunks and that was about it.  We had a great day at Cobscook and even snoozed in the hammock a little.  The next morning we awoke to 50F and rain, which can ruin a camping trip in a heartbeat.  Instead of being miserable at camp we drove over to Campobello, Franklin Roosevelt's childhood cottage at a mere thirty-four rooms.  It is located across a short bridge on an island which weirdly is part of New Brunswick, Canada complete with border guards and customs.  The park is a U.S. park located on Canadian soil and is well worth the short drive to tour.  Then we went to the Quoddy Point light houses which are located near the Bay of Fundy where the world's highest tides occur.  To get to one of the lighthouses we had to climb down a ladder to the shore and then back up another to the light.  Warning signs say the tide rises five feet per hours and you could be drowned or stranded at the light for eight hours.  Total tides in the area are over twenty feet. It is strange to see the piers which at low tide stand about thirty feet above the water.  Back at camp things were pretty well soaked but the rain stopped for awhile and we managed to at least get the tent dried out.  Our only two towels were soaked for the rest of the trip.  After four straight days of lobster we opted for a thick t-bone steak that I grilled over an oak fire.  It rained again that night so we decided to break camp and see what the inland mountains looked like.  Drove in the rain to Peaks-Kenny State Park about fifty miles NW of Bangor.  As we drove into the park the sun came out.  It is located on a picturesque lake with a mountain rising at the far end.  We actually got sunburned down by the lake.  Again that evening it rained and rained and rained all night until seven the following morning.  Somehow we stayed pretty dry, but decided to head back to Acadia.  This was Sept. 4, Labor Day and as we drove toward the park all of the Labor Day crowd was streaming out in lines of traffic.  We had decided we would give the weather until "wine time" to clear up or else we would get a motel.  Out came the sun at 1600 and we set up camp again. in clearing skies.  With the clear sky came cool temperatures and the next two mornings were about 40F with afternoon highs around 60F.  Perfect weather.  As much as I detest shopping, I took Yvonne into Bar Harbor and we browsed the thousands upon thousands of gift shops.  We did have a great lunch in town at the Parkside Grill, a sidewalk cafe in the middle of Bar Harbor.  Also enjoyed our wine at Lindemanns Rocks that evening. We saw those cliffs in most every type of weather from deep fog to rain to brilliant sun and in morning, noon and evening light.  Totally different everytime we went there.  I failed to mention that most nights there was a nature show given by the park rangers that entertained us from 0730 until bedtime.  And there was the sunset viewing from Cadilac Mountain.
    Alas the vacation was drawing to a close and we were two hundred miles from Portland.  We had a leisurely drive down US1 stopping for lunch at a nice lakeside park.  We shopped again in Freeport and got some fantastic buys at LLBean and Timberland.  A pair of deck shoes I had bought in Florida on sale for $60 was $22 at Timberland.  In Portland we went to the waterfront to buy some lobsters to carry home to Yvette.  It is really scenic, but looks like it hasn't been refurbished since 1775.  Adds to the allure, but they really need some urban renewal.  We figured that there would be no problem getting a room post Labor Day, but were turned away at Doubletree,  Embassy, and Marriott before Comfort Inn took pity on us.  Couldn't have been the way we looked and smelled after ten days of camping could it?  The flight home via Chicago went very smoothly.
    Our overall impression of the parts of Maine that we saw was wonderful.  It doesn't reach out and slam you in the gut like the Rockies.  Rather it is more muted and slowly draws you in.  It is a great place for solitude and for gazing out to sea. We didn't do any biking or sea kayaking but it is a great place for those activities.  The coastal harbors with the fishing fleets, lobster pots and colorful buoys are really just like the postcards you see from Maine.  Go there you'll enjoy it whether you rough it like us or go for the shopping.  We missed the glorious fall foliage colors, but were teased by a few trees that were changing early.
    One footnote.  Yvonne went to the local supermarket this morning here in Florida and found live Maine lobster for the same price we paid all over Maine, $5.95 per pound.  Ain't America wonderful!