Road Trip round New England in the Spring, not the Fall! Day 5 - Acadia to North Conway, White Mntns

[anji]

Day 5 – Acadia NP to North Conway, White Mountains

No ghosts woke us from our slumber and we had another lovely breakfast at 9am before checking out of the Castlemaine Inn. Today we were heading to North Conway in the White Mountains, via Bangor, Maine.

Bangor is the home of my favourite author, Stephen King. He does have another house on Casey Key in Florida right at the very end of the Key on a dead end road, which I guess is his winter hideout. I’ve read his books for years and wanted to visit and see the iconic gates he’d had built.

Unfortunately the sun of yesterday had vanished and it was actually raining quite hard when we left. The house was very straightforward to get to and we parked up outside. The gloom made it quite atmospheric actually!

The house goes back a very long way from the road and there were several cars parked up outside, including a Jeep with a Boston Red Sox wheel cover. I know he’s a huge fan. I guess all the cars meant he was probably at home 😊 We took some photos and another car pulled up as we were leaving to do exactly the same.

We’d decided to do this journey on the Freeway for a considerable part of the journey. I’d downloaded the daily Google maps offline and they agreed with my plan. I was driving and the rain just got harder and harder. The Freeway was quite busy with lots of huge trucks. We pulled into a services and had coffee and Dunkin’ Donuts. When we came out the rain had eased off a lot so the rest of the journey was ok.

We stopped for lunch at another services and had a Popeyes meal. We’d never had one of these before and were impressed by the quality.

After a while we were directed off the Freeway and onto more restful roads to North Conway. Here we were staying at the Spruce Moose Lodge and Cottages, in a room in the main house. We checked in just after 3 and were greeter by Leon and Nellie and their friendly 3 dogs. Leon kindly carried our cases upstairs for us.

There was a huge lounge and dining area for communal breakfasts and a tv, but no tv in our rooms. This was where we would be for the final episode of Game of Thrones so we knew we would have to watch it on our tablet, courtesy of NowTV and ExpressVPN.

We decided to have a drive out to Cathedral Ledge lookout point and the Diana’s Baths waterfalls. Driving through North Conway main street I could see that it was a lovely place. There was a station with steam trains for tours, a park, wide street and lots of interesting shops!

Cathedral Ledge is a huge cliff with fantastic views. Not the best day but we could see a long way. There were only a couple of other cars there. We made sure to keep to the paths as it was a long way down!

Diana’s Baths had a big car park but, again, only a few cars. It also had an honesty box for $5 fee. We saw the next day that it was really full, so they obviously need it! We walked the trail to the waterfalls and around the rocks and trees. I love how the water had smoothed the rocks over the years.

Leon had suggested the Red Parka restaurant as the best around for steaks, which Will fancied. We drove straight there from Diana’s Baths as it was more or less on the way back. He was right! The steaks were amazing. It was a sports bar and was also going to have live music that night but not until 9pm and we didn’t stay. Would recommend it!

We drove back to the Spruce Moose and decided to walk into North Conway for some drinks. This was only about 5 minutes down the road to Main Street and we found a bar called Horsefeathers. We ordered our drinks and sat looking out at the road. About 15 minutes later the heavens opened and it rained – very, very hard! So we had to have another drink! Luckily it had stopped by the time we walked back home to the Lodge.

We slept extremely well – these beds were SO comfortable and, in fact, the best of the whole trip. Tomorrow the forecast was good!

Index - https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...8#post13903548

[Melbatb]

What a shame about the weather but you packed a lot in! Some stunning scenery!

[anji]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a shame about the weather but you packed a lot in! Some stunning scenery!

See more...

It was but gets better from now onwards

[WileyCoyote]

Boo to no sun. That house and those gates totally fitting for Stephen King. Do you think Duma Key was based on his Florida home ? I loved his books but not read many of his more recent ones . More spectacular scenery . Sounds a perfect stopover. This rain is quite pesky for you !

[anji]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

Boo to no sun. That house and those gates totally fitting for Stephen King. Do you think Duma Key was based on his Florida home ? I loved his books but not read many of his more recent ones . More spectacular scenery . Sounds a perfect stopover. This rain is quite pesky for you !

See more...

Yes I do think Duma Key is based round Casey Key (or I like to think it is!). I've read most of his books now but, like you, have lagged behind on some of the recent ones.

The rain ends soon-ish!

[jocat]

Sorry it rained for you today, but you still had some great views.

Loving Stephen King’s gates!