Short east coast road trip and whale watching - need suggestions

[greenjelly]

We are planning an 8 day road trip in mid August, around the east coast, starting from and returning to Baltimore MD, along these four legs:
1. Baltimore - Burlington, VT (spend 2 nights in VT)
2. Burlington, VT - Acadia National Park, ME (spend 3-4 nights)
3. Acadia - Cape Cod shoreline (spend 1-2 nights)
4. Cape Cod - Baltimore, back home.
The tentative plan is to take the google map path here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Ba...IBA&mra=ls&z=7

I would like some suggestions on the following:
1. We plan to drive during the day time and cover each leg in one day (8-12 hrs). I would like to know about alternate routes and attractions along the routes (that can be seen in 1-2 hours). We like nature stuff, hiking, parks and wildlife. Not keen on big cities or historic sites.
2. Suggestions on how to spend time in Acadia National Park. We will not be camping, so ideas on where to stay nearby would be nice.
3. While at Acadia, we would also like to do some whale watching. How much time would it take? Any recommendation on which tour to take?

General suggestions on good eats and types of local food and produce along the way are also welcome. Thanks for looking!

[Southwest Dave]

A slightly belated Hello and welcome to the RTA forums ! [sorry for the delay].

I'm also sorry, as I have no first hand knowledge of the area you are travelling, but what I would suggest [if you haven't already] is to make good use of the RTA resources. You can use the search function with keywords to get around the forums and simply scroll to the bottom of each page where you will find 'Similar threads' as many times as you want. You also have the 'Maps' option 'upstairs' in the green tool bar where you can find a number of attractions along a given route or just by searching an area. Looking through the other links such as 'Routes and sights' will offer more ideas.

Hopefully that will help get you started, until we get someone come along who has knowledge of the area.

Enjoy the planning !

[AZBuck]

It may seem a little counterintuitive, but I'm going to suggest that you take a slightly longer route from Baltimore to Burlington and take I-83 up to Harrisburg and then I-81/I-80 to East Stroudsburg to hook up with US-209 through the Delaware Water Gap, followed by I-84/I-87 up the Hudson River valley and Adirondack Park to Port Kent, NY. That is a much more relaxing and scenic drive than fighting your way up the MD/DE/NJ Turnpikes and through New York City, and if you time it right, you'll end the day with a sunset cruise across Lake Champlain on the ferry into Burlington.

US-2 is a great road across northern New England, but try to make time for either the Kancamagus Highway or the Patte Brooke Auto Tour. Hiking opportunities abound as you cross the Green, White and Longfellow Mountains. For some more sites worth considering check out the places mentioned or linked to here. Accommodations on Mount Desert Island (where Acadia National Park is located) can get a bit pricey, so consider staying in nearby Ellsworth instead. there are tons of lobster houses along the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire, and since seafood is a relatively simple food to prepare, almost any of them will provide a great experience - just watch (or ask) for where the locals eat.

Another place where you can avoid some urban areas and crowds is to substitute Cape Ann for Cape Cod. Cape Ann is north of Boston and includes the old (and current) fishing town of Gloucester as well as the 'quaint' town of Rockport. Combined with a visit to Plum Island along the northern coast of Massachusetts this would make a great alternative to the more popular Cape south of Boston, and you could avoid driving through Boston as well. Whale watching tours are available from Gloucester.

AZBuck

[greenjelly]

Thanks for the tips and links AZBuck! Will go through all the options and get back if I have questions. Cheers!