It all started one day in January during a conversation between my husband and a friend at work. FOTH (friend of the hubs) and his family had just spent the previous summer in Maine. He raved about the fun they’d had and talked about the many outdoor activities they experienced. So the hubs came home from work that night and suggested that we target Maine as our summer vacation destination. Anywhere north of Florida seemed like a good idea to me. We’ve never been to Maine, but thanks to a plethora of apps, websites, and recommendations from friends, we felt equipped to begin travel planning with our teens.

Disneyworld doesn’t feel so “magical” in the stifling heat of summer

We live in central Florida with two teenage boys, just a short drive from Walt Disney World. We moved to Florida from Wisconsin about nine years ago, and while we don’t miss the frigid cold or blizzard-like conditions of winter, we certainly do miss the temperate summer days and cool summer nights. So every year, to gain some respite from the blistering heat, we plan a summer trip to a cooler climate. Hence our enthusiasm to visit Maine.

Let the vacation planning begin

First things first, we needed to decide the length of our trip, the dates we would travel and specifically where and how we would spend our time. And then, of course, there’s that small matter of… <insert dramatic organ music here>…the budget. Once we fought about decided on our budget, we were off and running. Or in this case, we were off and Googling.

Plane, Train or Automobile

Maine is literally as far north as you can get from Florida when traveling the US Eastern seaboard. We often enjoy road trips as a family, and we have driven north on many other vacations, but Maine just seems a little, actually a LOT, too far to drive. Hopping a train would be fun, but it would also consume too much of our time, so our obvious first choice was to book our flights.

Off we went…and when I say “we”, I actually mean “me”… to the computer. When travel planning with teens, the reality is that most of the actual planning is done without the teens. They are interested in the “fun stuff” but our mode of travel wasn’t of much interest to them. We had locked in our travel dates and decided we would fly into and out of Portland, so I immediately started looking for flights.

Summer fares from Florida to anywhere else in the US aren’t cheap. We finally landed (pun intended) on flights with Jet Blue. They don’t offer the cheapest flight in town but are definitely one of our preferred airlines. Sadly they don’t fly direct to most locations when flying from Orlando. Case in point, there is no such thing as a non-stop flight from Orlando to Portland, Maine when flying Jet Blue. We can’t wait (she says with sarcasm) for that stopover at JFK airport!

Let’s get to the fun stuff already

Once our flights were booked, it was time to dig into the details. This is when the actual travel planning with teens began. Our boys became so much more engaged once we began plotting out our daily excursions and activities.

Thankfully, we had more than a few helpful suggestions from others, including FOTH. Taking all of those recommendations into consideration, we sat down with our boys to talk about the trip. It is always important to us that our entire family is invested in the decisions we make related to our vacations. We all agreed that we definitely wanted to visit Acadia National Park and it was unanimous that we should spend the bulk of our time being active and outdoors to make the most of the cooler weather. (Reminder, this isn’t much of an option during the summer in Florida.)

Taking the teens out of their comfort zone

I’m fairly certain that most people who have teenage boys struggle with the dreaded “but screen time is my lifeline!” mentality. It’s an ongoing battle to pry their game-playing-snapchat-posting smartphones from their hands. We get it, but as their parents, we are painfully aware that we only have a few short summers with our boys before they head off to college. And for us, that means trying to spend as much “quality time” with them as possible.

Travel planning with teens isn’t always easy, especially when looking for opportunities to engage, but we were up for the challenge! I think the word “captive” might be a bit too strong, but we knew we needed options that would allow us to disconnect from technology and reconnect as a family.

On the recommendation of FOTH, we booked three nights at Attean Lake Lodge in Jackman, Maine. Warning: one visit to the website and you’ll likely be booking your stay, as well. It’s the type of vacation destination most people only dream about where you can go off the grid and truly unwind. Breaking the news to our boys that our cottage by the lake would not have electricity or Wi-Fi didn’t end up being as devastating to them as we feared. In fact, they both agreed that it sounded like fun. PS – the main lodge, just a short walk down the path, has all the comforts of home, including electricity and Wi-Fi. So, technically, they will still have a lifeline to the rest of the world.

Coasting our way through Maine

After our three glorious days and nights at Attean, we will head over to the scenic coast and spend three nights at the Bar Harbor Motel. Our plan is to rent bicycles and ride the carriage roads through Acadia National Park. Stay tuned for a post-trip update where I promise to include plenty of spectacular coastline photos!

So much to see and do in the Pine Tree State

In addition to admiring the beauty of the pine trees, there is so much to do in Maine. Just check out the interactive tour book offered by Maine Tourism or browse The Maine Thing online newsletter from Visit Maine and you will see what I mean. After Bar Harbor, we will work our way down the coast toward Portland for the last few days of our trip where we will experience a mix of just about everything. We will spend time fishing, hiking and biking, seeing the sights, whale watching, sampling the local fare (can you say “lobstah”?) and most of all kicking back and relaxing. We have so many exciting things to enjoy on our trip but I can say without a doubt that the thing I’m most looking forward to is enjoying the natural scenic beauty of Maine while spending time with my three favorite people on the planet. And, and of course, getting out of the Florida heat!