I Drove From Portland to Bar Harbor and Loved Each Mile, Lighthouse, and Roadside Attraction of This Scenic Maine Road Trip

Maine's oldest and most treasured lighthouse, Portland Head Light is located at Fort Williams Park, a coastal retreat just minutes from the Portland International Jetport. The lighthouse attracts one million visitors each year and, on the bluebird-sky day we visited, Portland Head Light was a dazzling treasure, its white beacon and red-topped quarters impossibly charming against the churning, cobalt waters of the North Atlantic.

Need to Know: Fort Williams Park has lots of parking; bring a credit card to pay the meter. Tours are available if you're interested!

From Portland, we drove about 20 minutes north to Freeport, home of the L.L. Bean Flagship Store. Visiting the giant Bean Boot has long been on my to-do list, and I must say it was quite fetching in person! Mary and I wandered around the L.L. Bean campus and then grabbed coffee at Sip House in downtown Freeport.

From Freeport, Mary and I decided to head inland to visit the state capital of Maine: Augusta! The Maine State House is a beguiling building surrounded by beautiful gardens and greenspace. It's free and open to the public; Mary and I went on a self-guided tour and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about my favorite place on the planet.

Full disclosure: the Paul Bunyan statue in Bangor was my raison d'être for the detour through Augusta. I know there are many statues of this legendary lumberjack across the US; however, I'd venture to say that Mr. Bunyan is most at home in Maine (maybe he could borrow the Bean Boot sometime?). Standing 31 feet tall and viewable from all sides and angles, the Paul Bunyan Statue in Bangor, Maine, absolutely lived up to hype!

From Bangor, Mary and I set out on the last leg of our trip: Mount Desert Island. I'd booked an Airbnb in Southwest Harbor (the southernmost tip of the island) and would be driving right through Bar Harbor, necessitating a stop in my favorite beach town, obviously. We went into Sherman's (best bookstore ever!) and had a late lunch at Cafe This Way—their home fries hit after a day on the road.

En route to our rental, we passed the Wendell Gilley Museum and actually turned around because we were so intrigued. The Wendell Gilley Museum is a museum devoted to bird carvings and oh my goodness, was it delightful. My parents are big into birding and the house I grew up in had several bird carvings; my favorite was an artwork with a pileated woodpecker on a branch that was on the wall in our kitchen. Mary and I really enjoyed this little museum—it got us primed for birdwatching in Acadia!

The next day, we set out to drive Park Loop Road, a 27-mile route that encircles Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. When we visited Maine in January, portions of the road were closed due to snow and seasonal hours of operation. After driving into the park (and flashing our America The Beautiful Pass), we drove slowly and savored each and every mile and scenic pullout. Maine was giving on this particular morning: the clouds parted way to sun rays literally beaming into the sea at Thunder Hole, Sand Beach was shimmering and pristine, and Jordan Pond was an actual babbling brook. 10/10, no notes.

Maine has my heart, and I'm so glad I got to experience so much of the state on this road trip!

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Photo credits (from top to bottom):  John Baggaley/Moment Collection via Getty Images, bullcitydave/Flickr, Sarah McCosham for Only In Your State, Amy Meredith/Flickr, Peter Unger/Stone Collection via Getty Images, Sarah McCosham for Only In Your State, Anand Goteti/Cavan Collection via Getty Images