Two weeks. Two people. A Ford Bronco Sport with a whole bunch of stuff in it, like a tent, air mattresses, snacks, clothes, and other stuff we probably didn’t need. Over those next two weeks we would eventually make it to Maine, home of the lobstah roll. But before that, we do a whole bunch of camping.
Part 1: Ohio
We left on a nice July morning to take the several-hour long drive to Hocking Hills State Park near Logan, Ohio. The drive wasn’t really that interesting, although we did pass through some cities like Indianapolis and Columbus. After a while, we arrived at the KOA in Hocking Hills. However, as we set up the tent we would be sleeping in… the rain came. We already experienced some heavy rain in Columbus, but at least we were inside a car. This time, we were out in the open, which made putting up our tent pretty hard. The rain did eventually stop though, and we had our tent up by then.
The next day at Hocking Hills State Park, we were hoping to go on a nice hiking trip. After walking down for a bit, we made our way to a sign. The sign said that the trail to the right was 3 miles long. My mom and I thought it was a 3 mile loop, so we decided to walk down it. Little did we know it was 3 miles BOTH WAYS. So we ended up accidentally hiking 6 miles. At least the views were nice there.
After that, we decided to hang out at the KOA’s pool, which was surprisingly empty. Also there was a long walk to the bathrooms at the KOA, which wasn’t very fun. The rest of Ohio wasn’t too eventful, to be honest. We did go to a good barbecue restaurant though but that’s about it.
Part 2: New York (and New Jersey too I guess)
More driving and stress later and we made it to New York. Not New York, New York, but Upstate New York, specifically Delta Lake State Park in Rome, New York. The campground was nice, the bathrooms were not too far away, and there was a beach nearby that my mom, my sister-in-law, and I swam at. Oh yeah, this is where my sister-in-law Holly comes in. She lives in a small town nearby, and she took us around all these different places.
She first took us to the Utica Zoo, which was not too eventful but had some fake dinosaurs around. The next day though, we drove another few hours to Lake George. It had a wax museum full of spooky things, and I have to say that I got startled by some of them. Lake George also had a lot of souvenir shops, almost as many of them as tolls on the New York State Thruway. So yeah, New York was fun and cool.
We went to New Jersey after that, but nothing was really eventful there so we can just skip it. Also, why is New Jersey called the “Garden State” when I see no gardens anywhere?! Unless you count the “gardens” of retail sprawl. (this is a joke, don’t kill me New Jerseyans).
Part 3: Massachusetts
Driving to this part of the trip actually took us through New York City. That was kinda crazy.
Anyway, we drove through Connecticut and made our way to the next campground in Massachusetts. This one was called Quinebaug Cove, located in Brimfield, Massachusetts. Our tent site was near a lake, which was pretty nice.
Near the campground, there was an ice cream shop named “Wicked Licks”. If you didn’t know, “wicked” is New England slang meaning “very” or “extremely”, which does mean the store is technically called “Very Licks” but whatever. The ice cream was wicked good there.
One night, a storm came by and we could hear it inside of the tent. It sounded cool. Nothing much else to add about Massachusetts though.
Part 4: The Maine Part Of The Trip
Even more driving through the rest of Massachusetts and New Hampshire later and we made it to Mount Desert Island in Maine, home of Acadia National Park. We stayed at the Smuggler’s Den campground in the southwest part of the island. We could also walk to a nearby beach by Echo Lake. To bring us to other parts of Acadia, we could take this shuttle around the island called the Island Explorer. It was very busy, but it got the job done.
Our first stop off the bus was in Bar Harbor, a tourist town. We were planning to take a bus to see some of the landmarks, but for some reason that bus left early. So we waited a bit more for another bus to come. One of the landmarks I remember was Thunder Hole, where you can see water coming out of the rocks sometimes. Other landmarks include Otter Cliff, which was a big cliff (obviously), a lighthouse that we weren’t able to see because of the car traffic, and Sand Beach, which sounds like it can be the name for many beaches. Walking around the area was very nice, as you can see the blue skies and the abundance of trees while going through the island. So yeah, Maine was great. We bought a ton of souvenirs too.
Part 5: Driving Back Home
You know, when you drive over 1,000 miles one-way, you eventually have to drive back that same amount. And that’s what we did for the next 3 days. Just driving back, with hotel stops in Albany, New York and somewhere near Cincinnati, Ohio. On the final stretch back in Illinois, we went through traffic hell in Chicago. It took like 10 minutes to travel a few miles. And after that, my mom took a wrong turn that led us into a random Chicago neighborhood, but we eventually got back home. In short: driving in Chicago sucks.
And that’s it! I got home and did absolutely nothing for the rest of the summer. The end.
