5 day trip to Portland Maine in October
Dec 17th, 2017, 01:01 PM
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5 day trip to Portland Maine in October
Finally getting around to posting about our anniversary trip in mid October 2017. My husband and I wanted to go somewhere nice and different for our 14th anniversary. We left Wednesday afternoon from Little Rock, Ar and headed towards Portland Maine.
Wednesday evening we rented a car at the Portland airport and headed towards Freeport where our hotel was. On the way we took a short walk on the port on the water in Portland and ate at the Portland Lobster roll. A beautiful lobster roll for the both of us. Very good. Then we checked into our hotel - Super 8 Freeport. It was very budget friendly and was clean, comfortable and did it's job nicely. The staff was very nice as well. We then went to the LL Bean Flagship stores that night as they are open 24 hours a day. We just did a little walk through as we were tired.
I won't go day by day for the next few days but some highlights were:
One day we drove to Amherst MA because that is where the home and museum of Emily Dickinson is located and I have been a devoted fan of her work since I was a young girl. It was truly remarkable for me- my husband indulged me and chauffeured me wherever I wanted to go- but it truly was amazing for me. We then went to the Amherst college and walked around and looked around. I am a professor and love to visit other universities. This is one that has been on my list to visit for a while. The leaves were beautiful, the weather was nice and it was a great day. We had lunch in Amherst right up from the museum at a little Indian restaurant. It was good. That day we also went to the Yankee Candle Flagship store in South Deerfield, MA- which was right down the road from there. It was also very fun. They have a lot of things to look through- not everything is candle related. They have everything decorated with fall and pumpkins and such as was again- just lovely.
Back in Portland we did a few tours. One was a Lucky Catch Lobster Tour which was neat because we got to see several lighthouses, but also got to throw in the lobster traps and pull in other ones to check. We caught some neat things! Another tour which was probably our favorite was the Foodie Walking tour through town. The weather was great, we have a nice group and a fun tour guide a learned a lot about the Portland. The food also was amazing.
We went to a nice dinner at 555 which was wonderful to me. Very classy, delicious food, nice servers etc. We both had the tasting menu which I think maybe is 6 or so courses. Anyways it had some delectable cheeses, great seafood, soup, salad, deserts, etc. Just an amazing dinner.
One day we spent puttering around Freeport, shopping, visiting the chocolate factory ( Wilburs), looking around LL Bean some more etc.
We did some driving around New Hampshire- all the locals said the leaves were leaving us something left to be desired and that this wasn't the year for leaf peeping, but being from Arkansas we didn't know any better and thought the leaves were quite beautiful. We did a bit of poking around Kennebunkport and Wells, Maine as well. Wells has the Maine Diner which is unassuming on the outside but the service and food is so wonderful.
We had a wonderful trip, and to be honest may quite well go back next year for our 15 year anniversary. I do think the kids would enjoy it here as well, we may bring them back during the summer one year, but fall in Maine is very romantic and made for a lovely couple's getaway.
Wednesday evening we rented a car at the Portland airport and headed towards Freeport where our hotel was. On the way we took a short walk on the port on the water in Portland and ate at the Portland Lobster roll. A beautiful lobster roll for the both of us. Very good. Then we checked into our hotel - Super 8 Freeport. It was very budget friendly and was clean, comfortable and did it's job nicely. The staff was very nice as well. We then went to the LL Bean Flagship stores that night as they are open 24 hours a day. We just did a little walk through as we were tired.
I won't go day by day for the next few days but some highlights were:
One day we drove to Amherst MA because that is where the home and museum of Emily Dickinson is located and I have been a devoted fan of her work since I was a young girl. It was truly remarkable for me- my husband indulged me and chauffeured me wherever I wanted to go- but it truly was amazing for me. We then went to the Amherst college and walked around and looked around. I am a professor and love to visit other universities. This is one that has been on my list to visit for a while. The leaves were beautiful, the weather was nice and it was a great day. We had lunch in Amherst right up from the museum at a little Indian restaurant. It was good. That day we also went to the Yankee Candle Flagship store in South Deerfield, MA- which was right down the road from there. It was also very fun. They have a lot of things to look through- not everything is candle related. They have everything decorated with fall and pumpkins and such as was again- just lovely.
Back in Portland we did a few tours. One was a Lucky Catch Lobster Tour which was neat because we got to see several lighthouses, but also got to throw in the lobster traps and pull in other ones to check. We caught some neat things! Another tour which was probably our favorite was the Foodie Walking tour through town. The weather was great, we have a nice group and a fun tour guide a learned a lot about the Portland. The food also was amazing.
We went to a nice dinner at 555 which was wonderful to me. Very classy, delicious food, nice servers etc. We both had the tasting menu which I think maybe is 6 or so courses. Anyways it had some delectable cheeses, great seafood, soup, salad, deserts, etc. Just an amazing dinner.
One day we spent puttering around Freeport, shopping, visiting the chocolate factory ( Wilburs), looking around LL Bean some more etc.
We did some driving around New Hampshire- all the locals said the leaves were leaving us something left to be desired and that this wasn't the year for leaf peeping, but being from Arkansas we didn't know any better and thought the leaves were quite beautiful. We did a bit of poking around Kennebunkport and Wells, Maine as well. Wells has the Maine Diner which is unassuming on the outside but the service and food is so wonderful.
We had a wonderful trip, and to be honest may quite well go back next year for our 15 year anniversary. I do think the kids would enjoy it here as well, we may bring them back during the summer one year, but fall in Maine is very romantic and made for a lovely couple's getaway.
Dec 18th, 2017, 12:03 AM
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Great report. We went up to Maine for a day while we were in Boston two years ago. I agree with you that Portland is quite charming.
If you do go back to Maine and are a professor, you might want to stop by Bowdoin. A couple of the historic buildings are still used for classes including by some famous alums (Hawthorne, Longfellow, President Pierce).
If you do go back to Maine and are a professor, you might want to stop by Bowdoin. A couple of the historic buildings are still used for classes including by some famous alums (Hawthorne, Longfellow, President Pierce).
Dec 18th, 2017, 11:47 PM
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Thanks. It's fun to read what someone else enjoys about places we visit. Since we live so close, Maine is a frequent vacation or day trip place for us. If you visit Bowdoin you could explore the Harpswell area except in October the great lobster shacks are closed. There are plenty of other restaurants in Maine to enjoy, however. Glad you got out on the water.
