Hi Friends!! I hope you all are having a wonderful day!!

My last travel post about Key West went over pretty well, so here I am, sitting down to type up another travel post.  I think this is not only for you, my friends and followers, but for me as well.  What an awesome (and pretty permanent) way to document a trip.  I hope that as I grow older and add more places to my travels I will be able to look back and read these blog posts.  I want to remember all the details that the ravages of time sometimes take from us.  So here it is friends. Our Ah-MAINE-zing trip to…..(you guessed it)….Maine 🙂

the beginning

As we began the process of creating this trip, we had to narrow it down from three destinations: Seattle, San Francisco and Portland, ME.  We liked each for many different reasons, but Portland kept coming up.  We were told that traveling there in the month of September was a must (what a coincidence that our trip was set for September).  So we did it.  Booked flights, booked a rental car and booked an AirBnB. Check, check and check.

Boston

We were set to meet up in Boston for a drive up to Portland. (Much cheaper for those wishing to fly).  Ben and I were flying from Indy and arrived a tad earlier than Nick and Megan (Dallas) were set to.  We took an uber to Boston and meandered around for a bit.  As you look through the next few blocks of images, I want you to take note of the beautiful mixture of new and old that Boston is home to.

Yes this says: “Jameson chilled colder than your ex girlfriend’s heart. Come in & meet your future ex wife.” Lol…had to grab a photo of that.

Above and below you’ll see Boston Common {and DO NOT call it Boston Common(s)!}. Ben and I sat on a bench and watched people on their lunch breaks, lunch meetings, family outings and teen hangouts.  I often forget how wonderful it is to just sit and watch the world.  (You should do that today. Just sit and watch.  Be with the world as it is.  I promise you’ll find some peace within that experience.)
Of course while we were in Boston we stopped for a pub lunch of Clam Chowdah and Lahbstah Roll.  The pub claimed to be the oldest in the U.S., but my fact-checking husband proved that to be wrong (love you honey!).

Portland

When Nick and Megan landed we were safely deposited back at the Boston airport by our Uberpool (if you don’t know what that is…. think uber but carpool, very handy and quite a bit cheaper).  Nick is my brother-in-law and Megan is his…well, girlfriend, at this point in our story.  We picked up our rental car and headed north!

That Friday evening, after we had dropped off our bags at the house, we headed into town for dinner.  This was an ordeal, see, we had made a gigantic list (or maybe three lists) of places to eat and we only had 72 hours in the city.  We chose to eat at Scales.  We arrived and had to wait for a bit (maybe more than a bit) for our table.  As we waited, we grabbed some drinks from the bar and stood by the stunning display of seafood on ice.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the ice dispenser there.  If you can picture it: there is a wooden table/trough to the left of the hostess stand.  In-between the two is a large ice dispenser coming from the ceiling.  It is slowly but continuously dropping soft ice pellets into a large basin.  The basin has a metal shovel in it.  As the ice melts off of the displayed seafood on the wooden table (octopus, haddock, tuna,…) someone comes to shovel ice pellets on top of it to keep it refrigerated. 

Because our wait was longer than expected, the staff generously brought us an appetizer of steamed mussels and bread (which was fabulous!!).  We shared meals between the two couples and left with fully, happy bellies.

Higgins Beach

Saturday morning we decided to drive around the coast on our way into Portland.  Our first stop was Higgins Beach.  (On the car ride up to Portland we had been discussing the water temperature and whether or not people surfed here.  I had decided that, yes, of course people surfed here with wetsuits. And I believe one or two people had opposed that decision.)  As we were driving by the beach, guess what we saw??? People surfing!! I win!!

We took a stroll along the beach and I was able to try out a rental lens that I had brought with me.  (The 14-24mm was such a treat!) We watched as people played fetch with golden retrievers and surfers tried to catch waves.  On our way back to the car we witnessed a thrill seeking surfer shed his wetsuit and sprint into the water. Brrrrrrrrr!!! (We were in jeans and jackets).

Because we were there at high tide we didn’t get to see the Higgins Beach shipwreck. Something to consider in the future I guess…

Lobster Shack

After Higgins Beach we drove to stop at the first light house, Two Lights. This lighthouse is one of two twins on the coast and has not been in operation since 1924.  It is now a private residence.  However, across the street from it is the Lobster Shack at Two Lights.  Of course we wanted to eat as much lobster as we could get our claws on (I know, I’m hilarious), but we had just eaten a huge breakfast of donuts at Holy Donut.  (Holy Donut is home to the famous mashed potato donuts, must try!) So, we decided to split one delicious lobster between the four of us.  It was fabulous!!

The next lighthouse was the Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park. This was quite a tourist spot so we took a few photos and then hopped back in the car. 

Saturday Afternoon: Foodie Fest

This evening, after our beach and lighthouse stops, we drove to the other side of Portland to see Allagash Brewing Company.  Allagash sits on Industrial Way, northwest of the city.  This street is home to four other breweries and a distillery.  To say we were pleased to find that out is an understatement.  So much fun! After the boys lost to us in cornhole and we had our fill of samples we headed back into town.

In order to check off many foodie spots from our list, we decided to do a progressive dinner.  We started it off with oysters on the patio at Eventide, then walked over a block to Duckfat (home of infamous Belgian fries and milkshakes). As we waited for our table at Duckfat, we grabbed some cocktails upstairs at East Ender.  After we ate sooo many fries, we headed down to the Gilbert’s Chowder House to top off the night.  Needless to say, we were STUFFED! But it was wonderful. (I kind of feel exhausted just typing all of those restaurants.) 

Sunday: Acadia National Park

Fun story with this next place.  Before our trip we hadn’t quite decided if we would make the trek up to Acadia National Park.  But as we considered it more, we decided, YES, duh! When else will we be up here and have the chance to see the park.  At 5am on Sunday morning Megan and I settled into the back seat of the car with pillows and blankets while the boys made the 3+ hour trip north.  We stopped for bagels and coffee at Bagel Central in Bangor, ME.  It was probably the most popular spot for breakfast in town, so yummy!  We made it to Acadia and were reminded that is it not aRcadia.  So don’t make that mistake friends, you’re welcome!

The awesome thing about this park is that it’s surrounded by ocean and there’s a road all along the shoreline.  It’s perfect to drive, hop out, hike and then keep moving.  We made many stops to see some of the “must see” spots.

Sand Beach

Otter Cove

Little Hunters Beach

This beach was one of my favorite spots at the park.  If you can imagine it: the waves rush onto the shore and sound quite like any beach you might visit, but as the water travels back to the sea, the rocky beach makes a sound so similar to a rain stick.  It was like music.  Absolute perfection.

So many beautiful tide pools that each had their own little ecosystem.

South Bubble

Our next stop was up to the top of South Bubble. This hike to the top wasn’t super difficult and the view was breathtaking!

If you take a look at the photo above and right, you will see my brother-in-law texting on his phone.  Take note…

As we were about to head back down to grab lunch at the Jordan Pond House (must eat the popovers and jam), Nick looked at me and pointed to his ring finger.  Being quick on my feet, I was able to put it together quickly, OH EMM GEE he is going to propose!!!  Yikes!  So I asked my hubby to take a photo with me (above) and then asked if Nick and Megan wanted one (below).  They said yes and I swear, he fiddled in his backpack for what felt like a century trying to get the ring situated.  I was the only one who knew this was happening, but was internally freaking out that Megan would notice.  She didn’t 🙂

So, he got down on one knee and told her he loved her!  I didn’t hear this part, but from what I was told I think he forgot to actually ask (such pressure) so Megan had to prompt him.  Needless to say, she said YES!  I’m so happy to get another sister!!  After the proposal he mentioned that on his hike up to the top he was texting her parents and his parents to let them know that this might be the day.  Remember that photo of him texting?

Before leaving the park we decided that the perfect ending for our day would be to watch the sunset from the top of Cadillac Mountain.  It was, well, I don’t think I have words for it.

People gathered on top of the mountain in their warm jackets and snuggled together to watch the sun sink below the horizon line.  From this point you can see the ocean and all the little lakes stippling this park.  It was such a beautiful experience.  I always say photos just can’t do it justice.  So imagine. On the drive back home we were talking about waking up to watch the sunrise for our last day in Portland.  Mind you, it is pretty cold in Maine at this time of the year/day.  But we did it.  I set my alarm and left Ben all cozied up in bed.  Nick and Megan were troopers and joined me on the beach.  We hauled out blankets and threw on our warmest layers to watch with a few other people as the sun made it’s way back up into the sky.  We rounded off our trip with another stop at Holy Donut for breakfast and then packed up.  On our drive south we were able to stop in Kennebunkport to meet up with Megan’s relatives for our last bowl of clam chowdahh.  It was a short, but perfectly sweet trip.  It was perfection. It always is with family though, right???