Travel for fun is one of the most special and wonderful things in life, and sadly something that doesn’t get to happen all too often. So when my friend Linda had a flight voucher and needed to get a trip booked, she put the word out to our group of friends last summer to see if we could plan a girls trip. This was such an exciting prospect.
It’s rare enough to get to travel with Zack for fun now that we have the girls, and funnily enough, we’ve tried to travel more as a couple after having kids than when it would have been a lot easier to sneak away for a long weekend here and there. But to be able to get away with friends, especially when there are multiple kids and pups and jobs involved, seemed like a marvelous idea.
After much discussion about time of year and focusing in on the east coast, we set our sights (and sails) towards Portland, Maine.
I will say that I didn’t know much about Maine, only that Julie “The Cat” Gaffney from “The Mighty Ducks 2” was from there. But the area looked beautiful as we began to dig into the details, and it checked off a lot of boxes: potential for water activities, a delicious food scene, and beautiful scenery.
We booked our trip for June 21-24, a sweet little long weekend getaway to a seaside town. It felt like it would take forever to get here, but now, the trip is in our wake.
And it was a delicious and wonderful trip filled with innovative meals, sea air, belly laughs, cute dogs, and lots of memories. I can’t tell enough people how much they need to go there.
Here are some postcards from Portland, Maine.
THE FOOD
I’m always of the mindset that you can know a lot about places by their cuisine, and I’m happy to experience and try everything that they have to offer. A running joke about this particular trip to Maine is that I have a shellfish allergy, so some of the best things to eat would be a no-go for me. But I was able to enjoy not only fresh fish, but all of the other special places in Portland.
Some of my highlights included my octopus appetizer at Scales (I was so excited I didn’t even take a picture of it), our lunch by the water at Boone’s Fish House and Oyster Room, my crispy duck at David’s Restaurant, and the fresh lemon donut from The Holy Donut.
But really, we had fantastic food and drinks at every meal. After we arrived on Thursday, we ate lunch at Blue Spoon, and then grabbed a frozen treat at Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream. I ordered the Blueberry Sour Cream Crumble, and it was pretty bomb. I didn’t realize blueberries were a big Maine thing, so I was all about trying the blueberry things. Later in the evening, we went back down to the water and had dinner at the Portland Lobster Co. This spot was a perfect first night meal, where the ladies could indulge in a steamed lobster dinner, complete with bibs.
Friday morning, I was up and at ’em really early, so I stopped at The Flying Fox Juice Bar across the street from our Airbnb and grabbed a banana and cacao nibs smoothie. I loved this little place, and I brought back smoothies for the girls. Later that morning, we stopped at The Holy Donut and then walked around the Old Port. After shopping and walking around, we went to Boone’s for a light lunch of oysters and their yummy tuna poke bowl.
That evening, we had a delicious dinner at Scales.
Saturday morning, Erin and I grabbed coffees and some breakfast pastries at Tandem Coffee by our Airbnb. Later that morning, we all had a champagne brunch at Lolita in Munjoy Hill, which had just the type of savory breakfast foods we were craving. Here’s my fennel sausage gravy and biscuit:
When we did an afternoon trip over to Freeport to visit L.L. Bean (more on that below), we grabbed a snack at Linda Bean’s Maine Kitchen. And by snack, I finally tried a slice of Maine blueberry pie (the official state dessert of Maine) and Linda ordered a whoopie pie (apparently the official state treat of Maine). Saturday evening was our lovely dinner at David’s Restaurant, followed by a few stops at some of the local bars before we settled in at Vena’s Fizz House in Old Port and then helped close down Eventide.
On Sunday before our flight, we enjoyed a walk around the Old Port area again before stopping into Central Provisions for a final brunch. My cornbread skillet, which Tessa also ordered, was a revelation.
Thank goodness we did a lot of walking over the weekend, because it still felt like I could be rolled onto our Delta flight home by the end of it.
There are also several great breweries and distilleries in the Portland area that we either stopped into for a drink or just to check out the vibe. Our house was near Oxbow Blending and Bottling, Hardshore Distilling Company, and Maine Craft Distilling.
THE COFFEE
It seemed apparent from early research that there’s a really good coffee scene happening in Portland. I’m very happy that we ended up trying a new place each time we grabbed a coffee. I would say our collective favorite was Tandem Coffee, where I had the beautiful latte and cherry chocolate scone pictured above.
We also all enjoyed the oat milk latte from Coffee by Design, which had a location very close to our Airbnb, but it appears they have them all over. The other latte pictured above was from Bard Coffee, which is located in a beautiful part of the Old Port area.
We also grabbed coffee at Hilltop Coffee before heading to Freeport for a rainy Saturday shopping day.
THE SEA AND THE SIGHTS
One of the must-dos for our trip was a sail on the ocean, so we were very excited to book a sunset sail with the Portland Schooner Co. for our Friday evening activity. It capped off a most perfect and beautiful day of exploring Portland on land. The captain and crew of our boat, the Wendameen, were all fantastic and made it such a wonderful and picturesque experience. Linda was especially in her element.
The sail was definitely one of the biggest highlights of the trip, and would be on my must list.
Walking the Eastern Promenade was also a part of our Friday explorations. This was a great way to see the sights along the water, and get some fun photos.
And on our rainy Saturday, we got a ride up to Freeport, Maine, home of the L.L. Bean flagship store. It was a great way to see another part of Maine that wasn’t too long of a car ride… when in Rome, as they say. The campus of L.L. Bean was beautiful even in the rain, and we were ready to move into the L.L. Bean Home store.
I also loved Portland’s art scene. There wasn’t a street that didn’t have a fun mural, architectural detail, or cool backdrop for photos. Our Airbnb was across from Portland Pottery and Cafe, where I found some great souvenirs for my mom and mother in law.
The shopping, particularly in the Old Port area, was really fantastic as well. While there were a few seaside town touristy-type places, there were also some wonderful home stores, galleries, and clothing boutiques. Some of my favorites were the children’s stores, like Little and Blanche + Mimi.
We also happened upon some artists along one of the sidewalks, including a painter named Heather Roselle Barter, whose work included painted originals and prints.
The pictures of lighthouses and buoys were particularly beautiful, and we each went home with something for our homes. Also, her daughter was so cute and I got my mom fix playing bubbles with her.
MY TAKEAWAYS
Throughout the trip, we couldn’t get over how nice everyone was. Well, with the exception of a snippy bartender, but we won’t focus on that part. But honestly, from the shop owners to our drivers (especially Philip, who drove us to L.L. Bean and just so happened to work there, too) to our Airbnb host, everyone was very accommodating and nice.
We did a lot of jaywalking across the streets near our Airbnb and in the Old Port area, and every driver without fail let us cross without any hesitation or annoyance.
Portland is a very dog-friendly place. Every shop and street corner has a bowl of water for pups, and Linda and I couldn’t resist stopping at every doggy we passed and giving them a pet. We also noticed that 98% of the dogs were of the curly-haired variety. Is that a thing? Either way, they were all the cutest dogs ever.
Portland is also very LGBTQ-friendly, which was on full display in particular for Pride Month. One thing that was particularly striking and wonderful was when the City Hall building was lit up in rainbow lights one of the nights.
Portland also has all of the beauty and feeling of the East Coast without any of the pretentiousness. Everyone was so easy-going and breezy. When we spoke with people, usually the dog owners we met as we doted on their pups, they often noted how different Portland is from places in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
A young woman at one of the clothing boutiques was talking with us about our visit and when we told her where we were from, she said that “Michigan is the Maine of the Midwest.” It became a sort of running joke throughout the trip, this statement, but it also feels pretty true.
When you go to places in Florida or a city like Chicago, you have a bit of a feeling of home because so many people are transplants from Michigan. But it isn’t like Maine is full of Michiganders on a holiday.
So what is it about a place like Portland and its people that made it feel so comfortable and inviting, like home? I think in many ways, our states are cousins. We’re cut from similar cloth; it’s just that our water is unsalted.
I can’t say enough wonderful things about Portland, Maine. It was a beautiful time, and I hope this recap is enough to add it to your bucket lists.
Fabulous blog of your trip. I really enjoyed all the pictures.