2024 has come and gone and it was a wild ride here! Our family tried really hard to make Maine adventures a priority this year and it was easily one of our best years yet. I have a motto that anything that’s within 4-4.5 hours (one way) from our home can be visited in a day trip. Because of this, most weekends were spent adventuring somewhere and while we were left very tired some weeks/months, we saw so much. It was worth every single second we spent in the car this year.
So let’s break down our year and see where we’ve been!
Lighthouses Viewed: 11
This included Owl’s Head Light, Squirrel Point, Cape Neddick (Nubble Light), Pemaquid Point, West Quoddy Head, Fort Point, Portland Breakwater (Bug Light), Spring Point Ledge, Cape Elizabeth Light, Lubec Channel Light, and Marshall Point. We also caught a glimpse of Hendricks Head but we want to view it from the water before we cross this one off our list.
This brings our lighthouse bucket list grand total to 12.5 (0.5 because Allie and I have been to Rockland Breakwater, but Hailey hasn’t yet. So we’ll cross this one off fully in 2025). We plan to do some boat tours this summer so we can begin crossing some of the off-shore lighthouses off our list!
Furthest Day Trip: 4.5 hours one way (to Lubec, Maine).
We visited West Quoddy Head on this trip and it was worth every single minute spent in the car. The views were stunning and we can’t wait to share more of West Quoddy Head here on the blog and on our social media in the coming weeks! We visited in the off season so we really enjoyed that it wasn’t crowded, however, it was pretty chilly and windy and being that Maine is such a seasonal state, there was absolutely nothing open in the surrounding area. Which was fine (and still so worth those views!) but we definitely want to visit again in the summer months so we can see the area at a time of year when it’s thriving.
Furthest Day Trip (out of state): 3 hours one way (to Mystic, CT)
After Thanksgiving, the girls and I road tripped down to Mystic to spend a day at the Mystic Aquarium. Mystic was a well loved outing for all three of us and we definitely want to go back in the summer months when it’s a bit warmer out. But we really loved the smaller crowds and it’s a super fun aquarium to visit regardless of the time of year.
Hours Spent Outside: A lot
We spent a lot of time outside in 2024 which felt so amazing. The kids love being outside but it’s honestly so tough for me sometimes to be outside for extended periods of time. So this year we plan to try the 1,000 hours outdoors challenge.
Ice Cream Shops Visited: 8 different shops; ~19 total visits
We’re hoping to pump these numbers up in 2025! Our favorite this season was probably Scoop Deck in Wells, Maine (you can check out some of our other favorites here). We had so many shops we wanted to check out and once we developed some favorites, we tended to do repeat visits as opposed to trying something new. So if you have any recommendations for us, drop them in the comments!
State Parks Visited: 10+ (we lost count)
This year we visited Echo Lake (twice), Bradbury Mountain (twice), Two Lights, Owl’s Head, Fort Point, West Quoddy Head, Sebago Lake, Fort Knox, and so many others. We’ll be getting a state parks pass this year to help with our goal of 1,000 hours outside so we’ll see how many we can see in 2025!
Local Events Attended: 15+ (again, we lost count)
This includes weekly family movie nights and tent tales at L.L. Bean, Pride Portland, Saco Main Street Arts Festival, Summerfest in Stratham, NH, concerts, multiple grand openings for local businesses (Maine State Aquarium and Swell Nitro Coffee being two of our favorites), the Camp Sunshine Pumpkin Festival, fall festivals, Freeport arts festival, and so much more!
My Favorite Outing: Beach days at Echo Lake and swimming off the Kancamagus Highway
I grew up in Bridgton, which is two towns over from North Conway, NH so I grew up driving through the Kancamagus Highway and always loved it. They’re some of my favorite childhood memories and I’ve always been so excited to bring my own kids there someday as well. It’s only an hour from home so we spent quite a bit of time in North Conway through the summer months and Allie’s completely in love with it. She wants a second home in the mountains so bad so fingers crossed we can convince Zack of this plan in the future!
Allie’s Favorite Outing: Water Country!Â
We had some great collaborations this year and Water Country was a great kick off to our summer vacation. We were super fortunate to have been offered free admission for the day and while I was hesitant at first (the girls weren’t swimming at the time and weren’t super daring), I’m so glad I accepted it. We all had so much fun and the girls already have their fingers crossed to go back next summer.
Hailey’s Favorite Outing: Day trip to Mystic Aquarium and seeing Santa at L.L. Bean
This kid adores L.L. Bean. If you tell her we’re going to Freeport, she acts like she’s about to see Mickey Mouse at Disney World. It’s the happiest place on earth for her. So we attended a lot of events at L.L. Bean this year including (but not limited to) the L.L. Bean summer concert series, tent tales, family movie nights, the Camp Sunshine Pumpkin Festival, and the Northern Lights Celebration. We’re in Freeport a lot.
Mystic was a well loved outing for all three of us and we definitely want to go back in the summer months when it’s a bit warmer out (we went in November so it was quite chilly but we did love the slower crowds).
Our Favorite Partnership: Goldfish Swim School
We had so many great partnerships in 2024, but Goldfish Swim School was by far our favorite. We accepted this partnership in August and the girls have come so insanely far with their swimming since then. Last weekend, Allie even swam independently for the first time. Her confidence, especially, is soaring and most swim classes having me tearing up watching how well they’re doing. Their instructors are phenomenal and we recommend it to anyone in the Portland area looking for swim classes!
To learn more about Goldfish Swim and follow along with their swim journeys, be sure to follow along on Instagram!
