enlarge Press Herald file / 2004

Schoodic Peninsula is the section of Acadia National Park located on the mainland. A loop road takes in Schoodic Head, which you reach on a half-mile trail. The views from the trail and loop road are spectacular.

enlarge Press Herald file 2007

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay has 248 acres of landscaped and natural gardens running along the Back River. Walking trails travel through several gardens featuring different kinds of plants.

enlarge Press Herald file/2004

Silver Springs Campground and Cottages has cottages as well as camp sites. The resort is a great base for touring Saco.

A quick and easy getaway is within reach -- and within the limits of most pocketbooks pinched by inflation. This is a state with resources many residents know little about, but even so, every summer we think how great a trip up or down the coast could be. Maybe the time has come.

SACO

A vacation in Saco could start with a campground lobster bake and a rented cottage at Silver Springs Campground and Cottages (283-3880; silverspringsresort.net), with the ocean a 5-minute drive at Ferry Beach State Park. A walk through a bog on a floating boardwalk -- and if your children insist, a trip to an amusement park -- is minutes away once you arrive.

If a vacationer wants a little self-improvement, the Saco Museum (283-3861; sacomuseum.org), free on Thursdays from 4 to 8 p.m., is ready at hand with a folk-art exhibit featuring wood carvings of French Canadian Adelard Cote and other examples of irrepressible creativity.

The Saco Bay Trails organization has an excellent trail guide, available at the information center. Its Web site, SacoBayTrails.org, details a 90-minute hike through a bog at Saco Heath.

The bog was once mined for peat, and today the floating boardwalk sometimes lies above many feet of acidic water and the partially decayed matter below. The group warns visitors not to step off the boardwalk -- mentioning that those who did, according to legend, sank "out of sight forever."

Sinking out of sight from the top of a slide at Aquaboggan (282-3112; aquaboggan.com), a water amusement park at 980 Portland Road (Route 1), certainly isn't for everyone. The ride down is fast and curvy, and the splash at the bottom wonderfully big (open until Labor Day).

A drive to 240 Pine Point Road, a few miles north on Route 1, brings you to First and Last Tavern (883-8383), which serves excellent Italian dinners from stuffed shells and pizza to daily specials.

BOOTHBAY HARBOR

Boothbay Harbor is a favorite destination farther up the coast, but a stay seems like a real escape when you spend the night at Sprucewold Lodge (633-3600; sprucewoldlodge.com), an old log lodge a mile from the village and within a 10-minute walk to a small beach.

Consider driving back toward the village for seafood and lobster at the Lobster Dock, with its exceptional lobster rolls and seafood al diavolo. Past the village on Southport Island is Robinson's Wharf, where you can rip open the steamed lobster of your choice at a table on the pier.

The Kenneth Stoddard Shell Museum (633-4828) on Hardwick Road is a worthy diversion on a rainy day.

But when the sun is out, do not miss the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (633-4333; mainegardens.org) with 248 acres of new and old gardens, and in late August and September an exhibition of outdoor garden sculptures.

The Boothbay Region Land Trust (633-4818; bbrlt.org) cares for more than 1,700 acres of land and islands, and maintains many trails.

WAYNE AND LEEDS

Inland and near Augusta, the little town of Wayne holds a special charm. The Cary Memorial Library was built with money from Annie Louise Cary's family -- she was an opera star born in Wayne in 1841.

The Androscoggin and the Pocasset lakes are perfect for quiet canoeing. Seven miles from Wayne are eight cabins on Androscoggin Lake in Leeds, Angell Cove Cabins (524-5041; angellcovecottages.com), set near the sand beach and within earshot of the call of the loons.

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