Like I said in my last Maine post, see Acadia. Go for a day or three and say you did it. Then boogie north as fast as you can. (Or maybe go slowly and stop at the farmstands and every scenic lookout like we do.) Because the state parks up here in the most easterly reaches of the US are every bit as gorgeous and dramatic and breathtaking as Acadia—and far less crowded. We stayed in Lubec, at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. (Fun fact: highest tide variance in the world here. The high-water marks regularly stand 15-20 feet above us and entire beaches disappear and reappear in half-day intervals.) We stood in the most eastern part of the US, ironically called West Quoddy Head, and hiked the coastal trail where granite cliffs jut 120 feet out of the sea. We hiked through a peat bog so green and spongey that all noise damped into nothing. We clattered across beaches with rocks tumbled round like fossilized eggs and watched seals bob across the water. This is the Maine you’ve been looking for.