Help me plan a New England road trip for this summer

[SnuggleBuggles]

Only dh has been to New England with the exception of a fabulous long weekend in Rhode Island our family took together complete with a day in a 1920s old school yacht. Thinking of a mix of city (Boston) and nature (Acadia National Park) plus any other must dos. Will probably do 8-10 days but can be flexible. The kids aren't really into historical sightseeing nor long hikes. They'll go along to museums and will go on long walks but they won't be excited. Ds1 likes activities and seeing cool things (he'd like caves, whale watching, biking, zip lining, rock climbing...). Everyone likes the ocean. Ds2 really only likes beach vacations so he'll just have to roll with things.
Boston to Portland to Acadia as stops- does that sound good? Open to lots of other ideas though.
I would love any suggestions for places to stay, routes, things to see/ do, even just little favorites like ice cream stores (I can usually keep ds2 happy with ice cream!). If Airbnb is legal I would probably choose that so we have space. We will have a car but are more than happy to rely on public transportation in Boston.
Thanks!

[ahisma]

We've done all of those spots, although in different trips (we combined Acadia with Nova Scotia). There are a few sandy beaches in Acadia that your son may like, although it's obviously cooler. They may also really like the some of the hikes with tidepools. We spent a week there and didn't do everything we wanted to do. Lots of the hikes there are somewhat short-ish and are more interesting to kids because there is some bouldering, etc. You can also do the boat trips - lobster boats, and Diver Ed is a hit with younger kids (mine were 10 and 12 and did like it).

We did whale watching out of Newburyport years ago and really enjoyed it. We used Newburyport Whale Watch - they were excellent and I'd use them again.

Here's my notes from the relevant section of our other trip - we did the bulk of the coast, but stopped south of Acadia that time:

Days 3-6: Maine

• Stopped on the way to Maine at Odiorne Point State Park in NH. Amazing. Time your visit with low tide for tidepools. They had a great museum / nature center. We could have spent MUCH longer here - spent about 3 hours.
• Overnights: Airbnb in Auburn, ME
• Activities: Checking out Maine coastal towns, hiking, lighthouses, tide pools, otter watch boat tour, ice cream, meeting up with Maine friends

Days 6-8: Boston

• Stopped on the way to Boston to do a whale watch tour. Amazing. Newburyport Whale Watch - highly recommend, very well done.
• Overnights: Airbnb in Boston
• Activities: Freedom trail walking Tour (free tours by foot - highly recommended), Faneuil Hall, Harvard, Boston Ducks Tour, waterfront, Boston Common, Cheers

Days 8

• Overnight in Milford, CT
• Activity: Plimoth Plantation. Big hit.

[KrisM]

We go to NH often, which is obviously in the area and not too far from either Boston or Acadia. We go to Attitash Mountain in Bartlett NH most summers for the alpine slide and mountain coaster. There are other spots with those as well. We like Loon Mountain's high ropes courses as they are in the trees. That's in Lincoln NH. Also in that area is Lost River, Polar Caves (maybe too young for your kids) and the Flume. All have some neat things to see in a short-ish nature walk. We like Diana's bath, which is near Attitash - walk and also play in the river. We've been to Wallis Sands Beach in NH. I don't have much to compare it to, but we enjoy it.

We went to Acadia this summer. Plan to stay where you can use the park bus to get around. They worked well and some of the parking lots looked pretty full when we were there. We did the Stars over Sand Beach program and we all really liked that. We did have to drive, but it was late and no issue with parking for that. We enjoyed a margarita at Kimball Terrace Inn in Northeast Harbor. Nothing fancy at all, but the pizza was decent too. It overlooks the harbor and we were there in 2003 so it was a memory lane type of thing this past summer. Everyone enjoyed walking out on the bar to Bar Island. You can walk out during low tide, so check those times.

As close as we are, we haven't been in Boston much.

[jgenie]

If you do the Stars over Beach program at Acadia, dress in layers and bring a blanket if you can. We loved the program but we were freezing! We all loved Diver Ed’s program. We still laugh about it.

[SnuggleBuggles]

This is all really helpful, everyone! Thank you!