Prior to my annual apple picking adventure last weekend, John and I celebrated my birthday with a weekend in Maine. I love Maine. It’s just perfect. Humble people, wonderful restaurants, water all around, a constant perfect breeze. And the air. The air is Maine is good for the soul. Maine is charming and inspiring. I just love it.
The first stop on our journey through Maine on Saturday morning was at the Kittery Trading Post. You can buy anything here – clothes, camping gear, fishing equipment, sporting goods, and all kinds of footwear. It’s pretty awesome.
After we spent an hour or so in the Trading Post we were hungry. A week before we went up to Maine I read about Robert’s Maine Grill and Market in an article on Eater.com about the 18 Essential Maine Restaurants. The list was impressive and trustworthy so we headed to Robert’s for lunch.
The restaurant was welcoming and sunny. Everything about it was wonderful. Sigh, Maine.
We started with calamari which was super fresh. I also had the turkey sandwich on cranberry walnut bread. So Fall!
Steps outside of the restaurant were these views. What a gorgeous day it was!
The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering the rest of the Kittery Outlet shops. They have so many stores there, I think we were shopping for at least 3-4 hours.
Our final stop before leaving Kittery and heading up to Portland was Yummies Candy & Nuts. This store boasts over 10,000 lbs. of candy which I thought for sure had to be an exaggeration. Nope. There are walls and walls of every candy imaginable. Weee, sugar! I bought chocolate covered sunflower seeds. It’s impossible to leave this place empty handed.
Candy in hand, we hit the road and about an hour later, we arrived in Portland. When we arrived we checked in to our hotel and got ready for dinner at Fore Street. My thoughtful husband made reservations for Fore Street a month in advance (they book up fast!). We’ve been to Fore Street several times and it’s one of my favorite restaurants in the world. I love it so much I wrote a whole separate blog on it which you can read here.
On Sunday we slept in, went to the hotel gym, got ready for the day, and headed out.
Our first stop was the Shipyard Brewery, literally right next to our hotel. We loaded up with their pumpkin beer (in cans, classy!).
Next was a late breakfast at The Standard Baking Company.
The Standard Baking Co. is owned by the same folks who own Fore Street. The two are actually located in the same building – Fore Street is on the top floor and faces the street, Standard Baking Co. is on the ground level and faces the waterfront. The table bread at Fore Street is all made at Standard and is divine.
This bakery is like heaven to me.
For breakfast I had tea and a blueberry oatmeal scone. I can’t even tell you how delicious the scone was – light, buttery, just barely sweet. Mmmm!
After carb-loading and purchasing a whole ton of bread for the week, we explored downtown Portland for a bit.
Downtown Portland it just off the waterfront and full of great shops, crooked alleys, and perfect old-city nooks and crannys.
Downtown Portland is also surrounded by beautiful brick buildings. I can’t get enough of this aesthetic.
We left Portland around 1PM and leisurely made the two hour drive back to Boston.
We stopped at a delightful little roadside cafe called Roost for lunch.
We also stopped at a few antique shops along the way in the York area.
It was a quick trip to Maine but a great birthday weekend. It was no baller birthday like we had for John’s 30th in Vegas but it was perfect for me. That’s another thing I love about Maine – it’s less than 2 hours away so we can go pretty much anytime we want. Until next time, Maine!
