New England Days 1- 3: Portland, Maine

DAY 1:
We arrived in Portland, Maine on Saturday, June 3 at 11:00 a.m. We picked up our rental a car for the week and drove into town, only about a 15 minute drive to our hotel, Holiday Inn By The Bay. We immediately walked downtown to grab a bite to eat at Portland Lobster Company. This is where we all had our first "official" lobster rolls and blueberry beer ( both were delicious)!

 

 

After a delicious lunch, we headed back to our hotel, got in the car, and headed to Freeport to visit the L.L. Bean Flagship store.  This store was like an outdoor mall for one shop... huge! Obviously, Ashley and I made a b-line for the Bean boots and explored all the winter jackets as the guys did their own searching. After spending a few hours walking around, we left and made a quick stop at the magnificent Wicked Whoopies and we each bought one! I bought the banana flavored ( a little too overpowering, but Richard's Oatmeal cream was delicious).  

 

That night we got ready for dinner and had planned to eat at Eventide Oyster Co. but they do not accept reservations and is an extremely small restaurant with a 2-3 hour wait time. This was by far the biggest win for us as we happened to walk by Gilbert's Chowder House. I would go back to Portland just to revisit this small, locally owned restaurant. Ashley and I both ordered the seafood bread bowl for only $12.95 each. This bread bowl was huge and was filled to the brim with the most delicious lobster, crab and fish!!! The best meal for me the entire trip! After all the salt we needed our sweet and headed to the famous Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream. 

DAY 2: 

We started our day bright and early with a half day bike tour to 5 lighthouses (total biking 12 miles) with the company, Summer Feet Bicycle! We had the best weather and was so much fun. 

 

{Stop #1: Willard Beach/ Bug Light, which is the entrance to Portland's breakwater.} 

{View of downtown Portland from Willard Beach}

{Bug lighthouse}

{Stop #2: Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse }

{Stop #3: After biking down Shore Road, the most expensive road in Portland, we made our way to one of the most photographed lighthouse, Portland Head Light. This is where we had time to walk around and lunch (lobster rolls) were provided to us.

{Really excited to eat some lobster}

{Lunch in the park}

 

{Stop #4 and final stop: After a delicious lunch, we biked past two salt water farms to Two Lights State Park where we walked the rocks to find little crabs and then to Kettle Cove before heading back to downtown Portland. }

After biking 12 or so miles, we dropped off our gear and walked across the street from our hotel for some appetizers and beer at Little Tap House. We obviously had to order the local craft blueberry beer. Did you know that Portland, Maine has America's craft beer crown?!?  It has the highest rate per capita of any city in the country.  To end our last night in Portland, we had a fantastic dinner at Scales.

{View from our table}

Day 3: 

The morning we left Portland, Maine was super gloomy and cold, but before we made our way out of the state, we had to stop off at the The Holy Donut.  These AMAZING donuts are made from Portland potatoes!!!