overworked and sleep deprived

It works for you.

I was born and raised on Cape Cod. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I love Nantucket and MV. Nantucket is the smaller of the two islands and can be seen in a day. MV, IMO I would visit if you have more than one day. In addition, the Cape & Islands are pretty busy during the summer.

If you are flying into Bangor, head straight east and keep driving (about 2 and a half hours on scenic roads) to a town called Lubec. In Lubec is West Quoddy Head, which is a lighthouse on the easternmost point of land in the U.S. A beautiful spot for hiking and scenic views. After seeing the lighthouse, drive down into the town of Lubec. There are many restaurants and places to stay (although in August, I wouldn't go there without a reservation). If you bring your passports, you can drive across the International Bridge to Campobello Island, New Brunswick. Campobello is a beautiful little Island with many whale watching tours. If you decide to stay the night, check out Pollock Cove Cottages. They are right on the water and you can see whales and dolphins from the shore. I actually go there and stay 2 weeks every August. It is so much fun to sit in the window of the cottage or on the porch and see the whales; in fact, you know they are out there because you can here them "blow"!

So much to do and see.

Bar Harbor, as already said, is awesome.
Portsmouth NH-great city to spend the day wandering around.
Kittery ME outlets (just over the border from NH) if you like shopping;
Drive down Rt. 1 in NH towards MA-gorgeous route along the coast.
Newburyport, MA-another great town to walk around-can hit Plum Island while you are there.

As Jenny said, all of these spots will be very busy and crowded during the summer.

Not to mention very (and I mean very) heavy traffic on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Great point renniks..stay away from the Cape on weekends.

My husband was hoping to go there this year. We usually go to Outerbanks, I like the beach, but hubby and boys want to change things up a bit. We just might see you there Skittles.

Agreed. The traffic trying to get over the two bridges is rediculous on Friday's...

I thought you were supposed to come to Boston in the springtime...

HMMMmmmmmmm......What's Maine like in April or the 1st of June?

I'm sure it's gorgeous; however our 10th anniversary is August 29th - the week before Labor Day.

April = Mud Season; June can be really nice (or not!)

Skittles, If you are going to be in Maine in late August you will hit "whale season" at its peak!

That is not nice to post

Don't worry - I didn't take it personally.

LOL

when is whale tail season?

year 'round...isn't it?

Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island are great places. I live in Southwest NH. I know that NE looks cozy, but remember Bar harbor is still about 5-6 hours from Boston. While all of VT and (most) of NH is beautiful, I'd spend a lot of time in Bar harbor and work my way south to Boston, Route 95 is the fastest but route 1 is the prettiest drive down the Maine coast. Plan on speading time at the southern Maine beaches, there are plenty to choose from. My favorite is York beach Maine. It's just over the border of NH. Very close to York is Portsmouth NH. This is a fun town witha lot of good seafood restaraunt. Then go to Boston and see the sites and the Sox, they should be wrapping up the division by then. (Pymouth rock is BELOW Boston.) Have fun.

Definitely save some time for Boston if you've never been.

JFK Library
Freedom Trail
Old North church
Paul Revere's house

And there are some great Italian restaurants in the North end.

I love walking the freedom trail. This past fall my wife and I were in Boston and paid for one of the guided tours of the freedom trail. It was well worth the money because you find out so many interesting things, like the fact that there actually was a Mother Goose.

Other lies told included Boston has a pro baseball team and brady is a underated QB.

There are some great walking "food tours" in the North End.