We’re Talkin’ Maine

Our summer adventures continue. In case you are not an avid follower of my blog, I will give you a quick summary of the situation.

Previously in GwenThinks:

Last summer sucked.  This summer won’t, if I have anything to say about it.

So, we just finished our first big trip of the summer. My 3 daughters and I took a Girls’ Trip to Maine, a state that none of us had ever visited. When planning the trip, I connected with a friend that I hadn’t seen in 20 years. She graciously opened her home to us and hosted us for the trip. My friend and her husband have an adorable cottage in Damariscotta, Maine. They were the most incredible hosts. I can’t over-emphasize how much they made us feel at home. They housed us, fed us, and pointed us the right direction to the best sights and activities. Big heart emojis, big thanks, and big hugs to them both.

I thought I would show you some of the highlight pictures of our trip to whet your appetite for a trip to Maine. Get the popcorn, turn off the lights, and let’s roll the film.

On Pemaquid Point we saw the lighthouse and we ate DE-LI-CI-OUS lobster rolls and shrimp.  Heavy fog rolled in, which stayed for most of our trip and added a hazy mysterious vibe to our explorations.

We fell in love with Camden, Maine. It is a quaint lovely town where things are hoppin'. Camden has a beautiful harbor and many interesting shops. We spent several hours investigating.

We made a quick stop in Belfast, Maine to visit the Farmer’s Market, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We made a few purchases, including picnic foods to enjoy later in the day.

Then we visited our #1 destination Acadia National Park. Such amazing scenery! Whether it was due to the misty weather, or transition day (Saturday) for renters leaving and new renters arriving, or whatever, we were surprised that the crowds were so small. We had read a lot about summer crowds diminishing the experience of visiting the park, but we didn’t find that to be the case at all. Although there were cars parked all down the roads, we decided to see if we could find a parking space in the parking lots at each must-see spot. Every time, we quickly found an empty parking space. Of course there were people around us, but everyone spread out into their own space. It was very, very nice!!

Look at that scenery! Relaxing! And Beautiful!

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As the trip wound down, we made a stopover in Freeport, Maine to visit the LL Bean flagship store and headquarters. I had to buy a shirt there. And, we stopped in Portland, Maine, but it was so incredibly rainy that we decided to save that city for another visit, when we would actually be able to enjoy traversing the cobblestone streets and exploring the waterfront area.

Our trip ended in Boston, Massachusetts, where we had flown in. There we had an extra day to look around before we flew back to Atlanta. I can’t say that we did the whole historical thing, but we did step on the Freedom Trail to hit a few notable sites, like The Old North Church (“One if by Land, Two if by Sea”). If you don’t know, The Freedom Trail is a walking path marked all throughout the city by specially colored bricks. If you follow the bricks, you will see the major historical sites from the American Revolution. It's actually pretty cool, but we decided we needed a nap after a few hours, so we didn't spend much time on the Freedom Trail.

We ate some deliziosa Italian food in the North End, and some yummy seafood at the Boston Harbor. We took a sunset cruise which was visually interesting, but a snooze-fest if you listened to the tour guide’s narration. Instead of talking about historical stories of Boston, he was very excited to point out condos, and things that were built recently, and sewage processing plants, and other strange buildings that you could see from the boat. Still scratching our heads about that. Glad we got on the boat, though.

And, just like that, the trip was over. I highly recommend visiting Maine. The scenery is inviting. Exhilarating. The air is fresh and clear. We slept with the windows open and no air condition. (Try THAT in Atlanta. On second thought, don’t.)

I would love to go back to Maine—there is so much more to see. I hope I get the opportunity again!

P.S. I have to give kudos to my new phone Google Pixel 7A. The phone has an editing function which can remove people from the background. Here's the actual picture, and in, like, one second with one click I can remove unwanted items, resulting in the edited picture. I'm lovin' it!