2nd big trip in the Prime

Charleston is kinda-sorta on your way and perhaps a good first stop.
Lots of history there, although your CFO's desire to visit SSI might bump it off the stopover list!

 

to avoid Washington are you going up the Virginia/Maryland/Delaware coast?

 

Get an annual national parks pass; if you don't already have one. It'll get you into a lot of national parks free or at a steep discount.

 

Have a great and safe trip!!

 

[QUOTE="Several years ago, we got the Senior Lifetime Pass for $10 just months before Congress generously changed the price to $80. Free admission to all National Parks for the rest of our lives. Now we're gonna use the heck out of it. LOL![/QUOTE]

LoL, That's less than 1/3 the admission price to get into Yosemite!!!!
Newly retired friends of mine was telling me about this, just before Congress raised the prices. Sadly I didn't meet the minimum qualifications (too young), but when I do - I'll gladly shell out the $80. I bought a lifetime fishing license for my state, about 18 years ago. I was besides myself, coughing-up such a large chunk of cash and calculated the breakeven point at 20 years. Well, annual fishing licenses has since tripled and I broke even 6 years ago.

Have fun on your trip.....

 

It had been $10 since, like, 1994?

 

We weren't 'old' back then.
$80 is the new $10.....besides:
Inflation.

 

Sounds fun!! We are originally Mainiacs from northern Maine and drove the Prius from Colorado to Maine and back a few years ago and only spent $200 for gas total. Our hometown is about an hour north of Bangor and we found some great restaurants and even visited the author Steven Kings' spooky house in Bangor. (Our niece lives a few blocks away.)
Acadia is a beautiful park but, if you can, avoid it on a weekend....crazy busy in the summertime and hard to even find a parking spot.
Be sure to stop at get a FOB lobster on the way out..."Fresh Off the Boat".... Wicked good!

 

I guess according to cpicalc, $10 in 1994 should have been about $17 in 2017 when they bumped the rate. More like $18 this year.

But they might have been making larger decisions about how to fund different stuff, not just keeping up with inflation....

 

I'm sure you'll get more recommendations than you want for places to visit and to see. Portland, Maine is a nice small city with an old waterfront area with many restaurants and shops. The old downtown area has a lot of art studios and galleries which have taken advantage of lower rents and the traditional downtown retail moved toward the old waterfront. Portland also has a craft brewing scene and many good places to eat. For a reasonable charge you can take a 20-minute ferry trip to Peaks Island as a passenger -- or for a little more, you can take your Prime to give it a nice ocean cruise and a drive around the island.

We're fond of a fried seafood place at Pine Point in Scarboro, just north of Old Orchard Beach. But there are lots of places of fish, clams and lobsters.

Let me know if you want some info on stuff in Boston. I just played "concierge" for Mrs. Bear's cousin who was visiting from Missouri, so I've got a list ready to go. (This Covid thing is still a problem because many businesses, museums, etc. have odd hours which they've adopted in response to changing demand during the pandemic. I learned that it's really a good idea to phone rather than believe what you read online.)

 

Wow, you are really coming to my neck of woods. My very first ever visit to Maine was when I was still in college. I drove all day and night to get to MA from Ohio. I wanted to watch a sunrise from the Atlantic Ocean, so I drove from outside of Boston on I495 to Cape Cod. Then drove all the way to the end of the Rt6 to Provincetown. Got there just before dawn. I had my car parked on a beachfront looking directly to the ocean in front of me and was waiting for the sun to rise... Well, I waited, dawn came, then bright light then saw my shadow. Yep, I was looking due West. The Sun was behind me already high above the horizon. LOL



For that trip, I drove from there to Acadia NP all the way on Rt 1. If you have a lot of time to stop and shop, do it... Both Kittery, Maine, and Freeport, Maine are known for the tourist traps with a lot of factory outlets. But in general, I find most of the stuff sold in those stores are sold cheaper online. lol. It will take 2x or maybe 3x longer time compared to taking the super boring I295-I95 route. On the map, it looks like Rt 1 is right along the coast with the view of the ocean, but the truth is you are too far away from the ocean to see it, except a few spots where the cove and bay come close enough to the road around Rockland, Camden, and Searsport. but if you get that far on Rt1, all the small coastal DownEast Towns start to look alike.

I often make the trip down to Boston on I-95 only (no I-295 between Agusta and Portland) to avoid congestion on I-295 around Portland even though it takes a little longer and costs more.

But, if you are heading all the way up to Mt. Washinton in NH, then you are really off from the DownEast coastal route. It would be much easier to drive Rt2 from there to Bangor or can get back on I95 at any point by going south. You will see more rustic Maine that is not so swamped with tourists from the South, like yourselves. Then of course, on your way to Bar Harbor, in between tiny Maine farming towns, you can stop at various international places like Sweden, Denmark, Paris, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Rome, Moscow, Athens, China, and more.

 

Where's Derry?