by Benjamin Minch, Staff Writer
Many people don’t think of Maine as a vacation spot; neither did I. It is sorta in the middle of nowhere, and I didn’t even get cell service from our house. Overall however, this was an action packed trip filled with exploring new areas and doing new things as I ate good food.
Newry, Maine was where we stayed and had a gigantic house, three stories high. This house had a pool gaming area, an actual pool, five decks, a loft and even two kitchens. My 15 cousins, aunts/uncles and I stayed in this cabin for a full week. To pass time, we played lots of board games such as Pandemic, Machi Koro, Exploding Kittens and Hearts.
Our first trip was up Mount Washington, the highest mountain on the east coast. We didn’t hike it however, because we aren’t that extreme. Instead, we took a cog train up the mountain. At some points, it was at a 45 degree incline and you were able to stand up and lean forward without falling down. At the top it was super cold and I was able to send a postcard from the top to my Grandpa.
After Mount Washington, we traveled to Step Falls, a really cool rock structure and waterfall area. Here, we slid down parts of the natural waterslide and went rock hopping all the way downstream. After this, it started to rain… so we decided to do two more hikes! We traveled to this place called Moose Cave, which was super disappointing because there wasn’t a Moose or a cave at the end, just a crack. We also traveled to another waterfall called Screw Auger falls, which was very pretty.
The food we ate in Maine was fantastic! The first night we had this flatbread pizza that was made right in front of our table. We also went out for dinner and I got Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese, which is amazing if you’ve never had it. We were in Maine, so of course we had lobster one night as well.
A few days into the trip is when the intensity level started to rise. On Wednesday, we went to Attitash mountain to go mountain biking. If any of you is considering doing the same, I will warn you, it is very difficult. I felt like I was going to die at every turn. It was fun at some parts, but the steep bumpy and unpredictable slopes made it super dangerous. I flipped off my bike at least three times and ran into various rocks and trees on the path. The best part though, was seeing a wild turkey while going downhill.
After three rounds down the mountain, we had had enough. Our hands were heavily blistered and we were exhausted because of how much energy it takes. We decided to go on the Alpine slide, which was a giant slide down the 1,000 foot elevation mountain. That was amazingly fun and much less dangerous than mountain biking.
The next day we took a trip to Portland, Maine, the capital city. There we saw the famous Portland Head Lighthouse and also saw fort Williams, which was used during WW2. After hiking around these landmarks, we went rock-hopping on the Atlantic shores and explored the very unique city of downtown Portland. There they have a piece of the Berlin Wall and a lot of seagulls.
The second from the last day in Maine, we went river rapids kayaking down the Umbagog river. It was fantastic because you didn’t even have to paddle in order to move forward and there were many huge waves to go over. On top of this, we went to a secret swimming hole called Frenchman’s Hole. Here, there is a 20-foot waterfall that you can slide off of and also jump off of into a very deep pool of water. To get back up, you have to climb a rope ladder. We had a blast jumping off the rocks, sliding down the waterfall head first and watching people doing backflips off the high jump.
That was pretty much all we did in Maine/New Hampshire and it was a very full week of constant entertainment. Hanging out with my cousins who are mostly all in college was very fun and listening to all their terrible jokes made the trip even better. If you ever travel to Maine however, I would suggest not going to Newry because it is kinda in the middle of nowhere and you get no service.
