This tour lasts about 7 hours and is available year-round.

Maine was actually a part of Massachusetts until 1820, and it doesn’t involve a long ride from Boston at all to reach York, Maine, where you’ll get to ride onto Cape Neddick and see Nubble Light – one of America’s most photographed lighthouses.  We’ll follow the coastal route and see several other lighthouses before our next stop at Ogunquit, which is a tiny sheltered harbor for lobster fishing boats and tourist boat rides.

The harbor, Perkins Cove, has the smallest drawbridge in New England, and a half dozen oceanfront restaurants ranging from elegant to very casual.

Marginal Way is a spectacular, paved, winding path 15 feet above the ocean at low tide*, and the view out to sea is very dramatic, particularly if the sea is in turmoil, as the waves will beat at the base of the trail (don’t worry, you’ll be safe enough).  The trail is 1 ½ miles long, and we can walk all or just part of it.  At the far end, you’ll see one of the very few sandy beaches in the state, a place that caters to lots of Canadian vacationers who seek warmth and warmer ocean waters than Canada has during the summer.

For lunch, you may dine in Ogunquit at Perkins Cove, in a restaurant or at the Ogunquit Lobster Pound, where you can choose your own live lobster or live crabs and can watch as the staff tosses it into boiling water for your dining pleasure – or you can order steak, pasta, burgers, or even save your appetite until we reach Kennebunkport further north.

There is a notable Lobster/Clam shack in Kennebunkport that continually wins awards for their lobster rolls, annually beating out hundreds of other competitors for “Best Lobster Roll” in the state of Maine.  This is just a humble walk-up window place with a few picnic benches outside.  I once saw former President George H. W. Bush in line with a couple of his grandchildren here, and we can also show you to the nearby Bush Family compound, and visit the beautiful stone chapel where they worship.

Before heading back to Boston, you’ll have time for some shopping in Kennebunkport, where there are stores and souvenir stands to suit all tastes, and a half dozen very good art galleries and jewelry stores.  You can even shock your relatives back home by sending them a pair of unexpected live lobsters, with cooking instructions! (If the folks at home aren’t that daring, you could just purchase them a box of Salt-Water Taffy.)  If you have ever seen the marine paintings by Winslow Homer, this is his neighborhood and is close to his studio at Prout’s Neck.

*The further north you go, the higher the tide rises.  The tide in Boston typically rises and falls about 9 feet on average, while in southern Maine, it ranges to 12 feet.  The Atlantic Ocean is considerably saltier than the Pacific Ocean and has a wonderful salty tang.