Ok, the warning signs were there. We'd had lots of tips for Red's Eats and we've read online how all

Recap the last day of the last reader-led US road trip in our series. Vicky Baker started in Portland, Maine, playa del carmen mexico hotels trekked up the rocky coast to Bar Harbor. Follow the journey: day one , two , three , four
Sorry, just wiping the lobster off my hands. We just shared playa del carmen mexico hotels a whole one, with corn on the cob, melted butter and loaded potato skins (and a little bit of salad). I'm overjoyed about this because one tipper worried me early in the week saying they might be out of season. Not just yet, it seems. playa del carmen mexico hotels Another close shave.
We're about to sign off now (we actually need to get down to Rockland before bed, perhaps with time for a quick nightcap, following those added tips below). Monday, and our stating point in Baltimore, seems like a lifetime ago. We've certainly packed playa del carmen mexico hotels in a lot of places, a lot of miles, a lot of great meetings with people and a hell of a lot of food. From the oldest burger joint in America to the biggest globe in the world; from clam shacks to oyster bars; from goth dives to speakeasies; playa del carmen mexico hotels from the Boston T to hitching an impromptu ride on a boat in Baltimore harbour, it's been a fantastic trip.
Thanks so much to everyone who had spared us their time in person or here in the comments, on Twitter, on Instagram and on Guardian Witness. We only wish we'd had time to be able to follow each and every tip. Hopefully, other people will be able to use all the great advice you've shared. If you do, let us know.
This is the final road trip in the series. Over the past six months, we've blogged from Jacksonville playa del carmen mexico hotels to Key West , Seattle to San Francisco , Austin to Albuquerque , Las Vegas to Denver , Chicago to Memphis and Baltimore to Bar Harbor.
We've covered close to 10,000 miles, received thousands of tips and met hundreds of brilliant people all willing and proud to show us their corner of the vast landscape that is the USA. And we still haven't scratched the surface. We hope we come back again soon to cover a small fraction of the places playa del carmen mexico hotels we missed.
It's completely dark now, but Bar Harbor is buzzing. It's certainly a tourist hot spot. We drive past plenty of little souvenir shops and ice-cream parlours. There's an outdoor movie screening in the square, which has drawn a crowd.
Dear readers, Vicky's epic, five-day road trip up the east coast is about to come to an end. From the streets of Balitmore, up the steps of Philadelphia , through Boston's shores and ends and capped by the cliffs of Maine it's been one hell of a trip. It wouldn't have been possible with Greta, Kylie and every generous tipster who guided them and left comments along the way.
Phew. It's tough nigh impossible to beat Greta's photos from the top of Cadillac Mountain, but something's got to tide us over while the team descends through Wi-Fi-less national park. Thus, the work of Maine's adopted son, Winslow Homer .
The Met (of Art ), who ought to know says Homer's "regarded by many as the greatest American painter of the nineteenth century", and his work can be found in most of the nations' major art museums, including Portland's own .
The Boston-born artist playa del carmen mexico hotels made his name sketching the American Civil War for Harper's Magazine and eventually moved to Prout's Neck, Maine, where he spent the rest of his life. He also produced what's considered his greatest work there, which largely revolves around you guessed it the sea.
Wow. Actually, to our complete surprise, our timing is spot on. The sun is dropping more with every turn the car takes around the mountain. The sky is turning pink and mauve. We can see for miles. The islands dotting the sea look incredible.
In fact, it has the tallest mountain on the US Atlantic coast. It's literally all downhill from here on the American east coast. Plus there's a 'Night Sky Festival', hiking, biking, your pick of fishing along cliffs or beaches, playa del carmen mexico hotels as well as loons, falcons , bobcats and seals . This is exciting.
Below the line, lamericaine recommends heading to the top of Mount Battie in Camden, Maine. Vicky's committed to Acadia at this point especially now that she's caught sight of encourage signage playa del carmen mexico hotels so we can enjoy Mt Battie vicariously, with Christopher Setterlund 's video on YouTube.
Today has been another incredible day for weather. It started cloudy but soon cleared and the sky is now perfectly blue, with bright sunlight illuminating the multicoloured leaves in the trees. We just missed a thunderstorm the day before we got to Baltimore and since then it had been perfect, dry T-shirt weather - with just a little touch if autumn freshness all the way. Is the weather always like this at this time of year or have we been lucky?
It's a huge contrast from the interstate driving we've done earlier playa del carmen mexico hotels in the trip. The landscape has opened up. The forests are stretching further and further out in all directions. Occasionally there is a little inlet of water, or a lone wooden house.
A bit of fishing for Maine tuneage for Vicky's time on the road just led us to excellently named Gordon Bok. Wiki gives us an endearingly biased account of his work, and makes Bok sound rather like the mythical king of the world's sea-people:
Bok draws on his experience in and around the working boat culture of the Gulf of Maine. He spins into song the diverse voices of fishermen and other sea-folk At times, he reaches deep into the wealth of sea myth that haunts the North Atlantic. To animate these legends of Selkie-folk, sea fairies and boat spirits, he resorts to freer forms.
As much energy as Bok invests in making songs many of which have grown permanent roots in the rough shores playa del carmen mexico hotels of New England and have all but passed into tradition he is equally energetic as a folklorist and gatherer of songs. His repertoire overflows with contemporary songs written by his friends playa del carmen mexico hotels from all over North America, Australia, and the British Isles, but it only starts playa del carmen mexico hotels there: he sings, in the original languages, folksongs from Italy, Portugal, Mongolia, French Canada, Latin America, and the Gaelic Hebrides, among other places, not mentioning the huge body of old anglophone folklore over which he exercises mastery.
Except, like an idiot, I don't order pie. I order soup. Who gets soup to eat in the car? I mean it is acorn squash, apple cider and sage soup. But still. Not the greatest of car foods. I hope you don't have potholes in this part of Maine.
She's originally from New Jersey, but now lives in Maine. Her twin sister's playa del carmen mexico hotels still in New Jersey; they were born a few minutes apart but on separate sides of midnight, so they have different birthdays. She's exceptionally sweet and holds Greta's hand throughout our conversation.
They do lobster roll here too, but, in truth, we are still watching the clock. We want to get to Bar Harbor while it is still light. We're going to be decisive. We'll get drinks to go, and some takeout food from a spot Greta knows a little playa del carmen mexico hotels further up the hill. Our drinks order? It's got to be three of the house specialities, Sarahnade, a mix of homemade lemonade and pomegranate. That'll hit the spot.
One of our kind tipster s suggested Sarah's as an alternative. It's a traditional-looking restaurant directly opposite, with a big painting of a ship above the bar and wooden booths, with views over the water.
Painted white and red, it's tiny, like a little streetside food wagon, just at the bottom of the hill, before the Donald E Davey Bridge. There's a handful of a parasoled plastic tables behind it, but the set-up is fairly grab-it-and-go. If you can get anywhere near it, that is.
I still can't get over the queues. The lobster rolls are said to be legendary and something certainly smells good. Unfortunately, our schedule is just too tight to wait. Although, on the upside, playa del carmen mexico hotels it looks like we have plenty of other options nearby.
Ok, the warning signs were there. We'd had lots of tips for Red's Eats and we've read online how all its popularity causes "the longest 'traffic jams' in Maine". But still we weren't quite prepared for the length of the queues of people outside. They're huge! Not sure we have time to spare for this.
First the pro forma history lesson playa del carmen mexico hotels : Samuel de Champlain fetched up here in 1605. A couple of hundred years later, it was the busiest seaport north of Boston. Then came the trade embargo with England leading up to the second war of independence. Bye bye prosperity. Damn Brits! However, the good years did leave behind lots of pretty houses, so now Wiscasset does a nice line in tourism. Possibly with lots of Brits.
Now the interesting bit: In 2009, the town LOST a legal battle to reclaim an original copy of the Declaration of Independence that was ACCIDENTALLY SOLD by the estate of the daughter of a former town official, Sol Holbrook. (How do you ACCIDENTALLY sell a defining piece of your history?) The court ruled that the true owner was not the town of Wiscasset, but Richard L Adams Jr, who bought the document in 2001 for $475,000. Where did he buy it from? A London book dealer, of course. Damn Brits!
It's open to the public and there is a map shop. We've climbed the stairs to look at it from above. It's slowly spinning and we're pointing out countries excitedly as if we've never seen one of these things before.
Housed in a three-story glass atrium in the HQ of the DeLorme mapping corporation in Yarmouth, Maine, Eartha is a model (1:1,000,000, 1mm = 1km) of the earth with mountains and landforms in full 3D, that rotates and revolves, simulating the earth s real movements.
As Vicky, Greta and Kylie hit the road again, it's nice to be able to give you a sense of the landscape they're driving through. We've dug up this film - Neptune, which is still in production, by independent Portland filmmaker Derek Kimball . In part, it's a love letter to the wild and rugged landscape of Maine, and it's relying on donations to be finished.
She says: "It was a farming and fishing community, now it's a tourism community. Our house [a traditional "shack" handed down from her mother] is now stuck in the middle of of millionaires' row. But it's the