I should start off by saying that I think we picked probably one of the busiest times of the year to visit Maine. You’d think I’d know better but… well here we are! The planes were busy, the airport was busy, the car rental… yep – busy. Still though when we heard about a small town Kennebunkport, Maine… that was a tourist destination and great place for “newbies” to Maine we thought… why not? That should be a great thing to do for “Day 2”!
And so as my friends got up early and made their way to the port for a boat tour… I had memories of seasickness on my way to Antarctica and instead had one of the easiest travel mornings I’ve ever had – I sat on the porch overlooking the bay and drank coffee – for like two or three hours. It was amazing. I watched the boats come and go, I watched my coffee mug empty and then went and filled it again, it was relaxing and everything I wanted it to be. I also watched as food truck after food truck parked in the park down the lane from us – something they apparently do in that park regularly and our chance to get lunch somewhere easy (and cheap-ish) before heading out on our drive to Kennebunkport.
I met Rachel, Eliza, and Rachel down the hill in the park, and lunch consisted of food truck pizza, amongst other things from the trucks. It was quite good! there were all sorts, thai food, everything you could want really! We all grabbed something, and then it was time to head back up to the house, jump in the Suburban, and point it towards Kennebunkport.
The drive was about an hour, and we got to see a lot of what I would call “little” Maine – small towns, churches, back roads, the works! There were amazing colors on the trees, a true fall experience! I wish I could say I had pictures but… I was driving. 🙂 And… then we got to Kennebunkport.
I will say that Kennebunkport must be amazing – and the crowds that were there showed this clearly. There were so many people on the sideways it looked like New York City at the corners! We tried for quite some time to find somewhere to park, and eventually I was the one to give up as the driver – telling the girls I’d be glad to drop them off somewhere but that I really wasn’t interested in visiting a town where it was hard to park and harder still to walk. They said they understood, we agreed that the drive alone had been worth it, and then decided to head back to downtown Portland. Perhaps a walk around there – in search of everything from a good drink to some stationary, would be worthwhile. And as it would turn out… it was!
A store in Downtown Portland, ME
We spent a few hours walking the town, and while we didn’t buy much we did stop by a candy shop and grab some chocolates and other small bites. We stopped by a few bookstores, quaint but nothing amazing or stand-out in my mind, and then walked around a bit and located the courthouse of Portland and a few other State buildings. Overall it was a fun evening and was day became night we headed into a place called “$3 Deweys” for dinner – which ended up being a somewhat raucous local haunt full of fried foods and beers. It was fun, and just like previous days the food was reasonable overall and well-priced. I had a lobster-roll of course! It was delicious!
We wrapped up the day early with plans the next morning to head out and look for lighthouses, promising an early morning and hours of photos. I managed to lock myself in my bathroom at the Airbnb – the doorhandle somehow no longer operating the lock – but one credit card later and I was out and free again – I’d end up doing this multiple times over the trip as I’d forget again and again not to close the door all the way! Luckily… I always managed to get myself back out again!
And with that… it was bedtime. A good closure to our second day in Maine.
