Maine Vacation: The Trip Up

Having already put a solid couple hundred miles on our car in the name of vacation, it was time to let the real fun begin.  Our destination in Maine is way way way past anything you may think of when you think of Maine.  From our house it is generally understood that Maine is about a 12 hour drive. That would be about right if you were going to any of the assorted tourist attractions in Maine. Clearly we didn't want to do anything touristy. 

Our destination claimed to be 16 hours, or 800+ miles from our house. Aka "Middle of Nowhere Maine" where the moose abound and you can easily go 20 miles between exits on the highway.  And remember, we decided to start the trip up to Maine 2-3 hours south of where we live.  18 hours in the car with two kids? sure! 

Off we go! 

I must confess, I was a little skeptical that this adventure would be enjoyable. Both kiddos are at an age that enjoys movement, which is obviously highly restricted on a 18 hour road trip.  But, I must say, they did AMAZING!   We took 2 days to go up and 2 days to come back.  Each day we needed to accomplish 8-9 hours of driving time, and I we averaged just 2 stops each day.  And in between (with the exception of 1 segment that was mildly painful in terms of weeping) they did fantastic!  Papillon read her books and doodled in her notebook.  Hibou chewed on toys and slept, and slept and slept.  We didn't even have to pull out the ipad which we had loaded up with some emergency-entertainment options. 

Our girls are such laid back kiddos. 

Despite being great travelers, it still felt really good to get to our stopping point each day and be able to get out and stretch. 

Chillin with dad and ordering some pizza

Making funny faces.

More funny faces.

Burning off some energy by running laps around the hotel

Learning how to "balance" on the curb.

A little side note for all of you who may be looking to road trip to Maine:  Rest stops in Maine are fantastic! They were all clean, convenient, and a great place to stretch for a bit before moving on.  

Many of them also come with moose statues! Bonus!

Grandma, Grandad, Hibou, Papillon and The Moose.

As the cherry on top of our smooth trip up, when we got close to our destination (45 mins close...its all relative) we saw a rainbow!