I've been trying to write this travelogue for quite some time and each time I sat down to write, there was always something else to be done. I started writing this on a 6 hour flight to SFO and after that today is the second time I have opened it, to hopefully complete it
![Big Grin](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.png)
. The trip started as a weekend trip (with a day or two off) and slowly got converted into a work trip during the week and leisure during the weekend. Visiting Maine was the main intention of this trip with the below plan
Sat - Pick up rental
Sunday - Leave in the morning for Portland from NJ, travelling via NY, CT,MA,NH. Plan was to reach by night and see some fall foliage on the way.
Monday - Fri - Work and spend evenings going around Portland and nearby areas
Fri evening - Start for Acadia national park. Camp in the park
Sat - Sight seeing in Acadia
Sunday - Cover the areas missed on Sat and leave Acadia by evening. Reach NH, stay at a friend's place
Monday - Most of us were on leave, so see some more foliage in NH and return home by night.
Our original plan was to leave on Saturday, but one of the person in our group was travelling and hence had to postpone the plan to Sunday.
After looking through multiple rental options we narrowed down to a rental from Philadelphia airport (local rentals were looking expensive and didn't have lot of options on the cars). We booked a full sized premium SUV, hoping for a Ford Expedition or Chevy Suburban. A friend dropped us to the airport and out of the expedition and the GMC Yukon XL, the enterprise guy suggested to take the GMC. I had driven a Tahoe earlier, so this was not a big difference except for size (GMC and Chevrolet both belong to GM and that could be the reason for their similarities in features and interiors). the Yukon XL is a big SUV and it takes time to get used to it as its almost double the size of your regular car. Being a premium model, it had all the bells and whistles that you can ask for, and this one seemed a new one with not a lot of miles on it. We were 6 people and even though its a 7 seater SUV, the numbers of bags we were carrying were more than enough to pack the vehicle completely. From camping gear to cookers, snacks, food, vegetables - we had packed almost everything as we were going to out for more than a week.
Day 1
We hoped to start by 7:30 - 8:00 AM, but as is the case with all trips, we were still trying to fit everything into the boot even at 9:00. After lot of trial and error we managed to fit everything and started around 9:30 AM. Being a Sunday, traffic was less on the NJ turnpike, but slowly started to increase as we reached NY and crossing George Washington bridge always takes time, unless you are travelling at midnight. Post NY we were left with 3 choices of crossing CT - CT 15, I95 or I84 (or 684). CT15 is a narrow road with only two lanes and with slower speeds but other two have the drawback of getting caught in traffic or road work. So dreading the worst we decided to take CT15 and luckily did not have a long delay. Slower speeds limits did reduce our speed, but we had anyway stopped at a rest area for snacks and facilities. We were hungry as it was past 1 and eventually we found a restaurant and had food before moving on. It was getting late and we eventually decided the plan of seeing any foliage and decided to reach portland without anything else on hand. We stopped for gas fill up and then reached Portland by 7:30. We had a booked a entire house through Airbnb with a full kitchen and rooms spread over 2 floors and a big garage enough for 2 cars. Everyone was tired so we just ordered food from a restaurant and called it a night. No pictures as such as most of the day went in driving itself.
Day 2-5
We didn't do a lot of sightseeing around Portland except going to Portland Headlight (one of the famous lighthouse there). We explored the downtown area, mostly for food. Two of the famous local pizza joints are Otto's, who serve very unique toppings and flatbread (downtown). We also went to the LL Bean outlet, which was spread across a big area (its like a LL Bean village). LL Bean is one of the famous clothing, and outdoor gear manufacturer. They have shoe stores, bikes, hiking gear, camping gear and what not. Prices are high but they come with lifetime warranty. I know people who have exchanged their purchase even after 2-3 yrs since it had developed some scratches and lost waterproofing quality. Their products are supposed to last a lifetime literally (and hence the high prices)
A set in the LL Bean outlet
Our SUV from the house
View from the restaurant at Downtown
View at Portland waterfront
Portland Head light shots below
![Driving 1800 miles across the US East Coast-img_0099.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/travelogues/1720324d1689886892t-driving-1800-miles-across-us-east-coast-img_0099.jpg)