Our Itinerary (October 5 - October 9, 2013)
Saturday, October 5
We got into Portland around noon and hopped right into our rental car. Despite having had breakfast at the airport a few hours earlier, we were ready to eat again. Before we headed to our first stay-over destination of the trip, Rockland, we stopped for a bite to eat at Marcy's Diner in Downtown Portland.
Marcy's Diner is a small dive but it's very popular. In fact, we had to wait to be seated for about 10-15 minutes. It's one of those local kind of places so you know you're getting an authentic experience. Unfortunately, by the time we had arrived they had run out of their fresh muffins (one of their specialities). However, everything we did have (we both opted for a round 2 of breakfast) was delicious. I'd go back and try their muffins and maybe something savory next time.
Our food stop was the extent of our time in Portland that first day. Our initial impressions were that Portland was pretty small but also cute. We were more impressed later in our trip when we got a chance to get to know it better.
Then we made our way to Freeport or L.L. Bean central. We specifically stopped there because my parents had previously spent time there and highly recommended it. We went into L.L. Bean because it sort of seems like you have to. We didn't spend too much time in there because it's overwhelming like the Mall of America. You could spend your entire day in there if you don't have a clear objective.
We also spent some time in a cute art shop called The Salty Lobster. Everything sold in the store is Maine-made. The store proprietor is a really nice guy, too.
After a short but pleasant stint in Freeport we got back on the road. We arrived at our final destination around 4:00pm and checked into the Berry Manor Inn. This was by far my favorite of the places we stayed while in Maine. It's a huge, beautifully-restored Victorian mansion. Every room is decorated with such care and attention to detail. The breakfasts were amazing, some of the best of the trip. They also provided home-made pies for guest consumption - blueberry, cherry, and raspberry. We enjoyed their many options for diversion as well - puzzles, board games, dvds, etc. The Berry Manor Inn is a great place to go to just relax. It's a shame that we only had two nights and a day to spend there. We also found our hosts, Cheryl and Mark, and their staff very pleasant to deal with. We made friends with their resident cat, Captain Nemo, too.
We spent the late afternoon/early evening exploring Downtown, the Waterfront, and the Rockland Harbor Breakwater Light.
The Downtown is quite small and honestly, we never got a chance to get out and walk around. Our exploration consisted of a very quick drive through. It was really peaceful to get out and look at the boats in the harbor, though. We missed the sunset and it had already started to get chilly so we also skipped walking the 7/8 of a mile to the Breakwater Light. We thought we might come back and do it but the next time we had a chance it was raining.
That night we had dinner at Cafe Miranda. We had late reservations but thought we'd try to go earlier and see if they could let us in. They did and seated us outside. Truth be told, the food was fantastic. We had fried calamari to start, Evan got a spicy noodle dish for his main course, and I got pork mole. BUT, the service was unapologetically slow and we didn't like the ambiance outside. It was cold and the seating was uncomfortable. We could also hear every word of the conversation taking place next to us. It sounded like a first, second, or third date - still in the getting-to-know-you stage. Anyway, the guy was insufferable. I hope she dumped his ass afterwards!
Sunday, October 6
After a delightful breakfast we headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather.
My dad had sent me an e-mail with a link to DownEast.com, the web version of DownEast Magazine, that featured an article on the Camden Snow Bowl. We mentioned it to Lori, one of the Inn staff members, and she highly recommended it. Apparently, it's rained every Sunday that they've offered it the past few years but it was a cloudless and sunshiney day on our anniversary!
Before the Camden Snow Bowl we started a scenic Rockland/Rockport/Camden/Lincolnville drive and stopped at some points of interest along the way. The Inn provided a laminated map that we took with us.
We first drove through Rockport, which is extremely small but one of the more beautiful harbors we saw. There was something about the light, the sunshine, and the blue sky that made it extraordinarily lovely.
Evan and I are both afraid of heights so I'm not exactly sure what we were thinking except that we were hoping to get a really nice view of the foliage. Unfortunately, while it was peak in the northernmost part of Maine, it was "low color" where we were. Oh well. We tried not to dwell on it since we did have the good fortune of pleasant weather.
From start to finish we were at the Snow Bowl for 1.5 hours. The lift is extremely slow and we rode it both ways. I was mildly paralyzed on the way up and OK on the way back while Evan was fine on the way up and fearful on the way down. Still, for $5 per person it was a unique and fun experience. I'm sure it would've been even more worth it had there been more color on the leaves. We saw people ride up with their bikes and ride them down. We also saw people ride up and then hike their way down. It's obviously a popular thing for not just tourists but locals, too.
The view on the way down:
When we were done we got back on the road to resume our scenic drive. Some pretty sights along the way:
Knowing that we wouldn't be able to do the Park Loop through Acadia or go up to Cadillac Mountain, we did the next best thing - we went to the top of Mount Battie, which overlooks Camden Harbor.
Then we made our way to Camden for lunch. Camden is at least twice as big as Rockland and has a lot more to offer in numbers - shops, restaurants, people/tourists. We had a great, casual lunch at Camden Deli. Evan got a chicken salad sandwich and I got "the Rachel" or a turkey reuben.
We ended our afternoon looking at Windsor Chairs. They were quite comfortable. If they weren't so expensive I'm sure we'd buy some!
The weather started to deteriorate toward the late afternoon so we took a break back at the Inn and worked on an already started puzzle and also squeezed in a game of Scrabble.
We had reservations at 8:00 at Primo, one of the best restaurants in Rockland and perhaps Maine...? The chef won a 2013 James Beard Award. Based on the award-winning and the prices, I was expecting the meal of my life! I'd say it was an incredible meal but I've had better for cheaper and in more comfortable settings. We did really enjoy ourselves, though. We don't often splurge like that on a meal.
We had an amazing, fresh calamari salad to start. Then we split a half-portion of spaghetti with lamb bolognese. It had some fresh mint in it, which was interesting but it made me glad we were splitting and that I hadn't ordered it as my main meal. Evan got beef shank over pesto risotto as his main course and I got chicken with potatoes and brussel sprouts. I have to say, even though I cleaned my plate and Evan cleaned his, I think we both agree that we were far more impressed with our appetizer and later, our desserts, than we were with the middle dishes. I even found my chicken slightly overcooked/a little too chargrilled. For dessert we got zeppoles or Italian donuts and creme brulee with a side of a short bread sandwich filled with lemon-blueberry cream. It was a little too much to finish off so we took the mini-donuts to go.
When we got back to our room there were fake rose petals strewn across our bedspread. Even though it took some time to clean up, I appreciated the gesture. It's the little things/special touches that can really make a great B&B experience.
Monday, October 7
Today was mostly a travel day with a few stops in between. It was raining cats, dogs, and windsor chairs! Seriously, though, it was POURING.
On our way out of Midcoast Maine, we stopped at the State of Maine Cheese Company. I wanted to get my parents a little something and while we were there I got an e-mail telling me that our future (now, present) cat would be ready for pick-up when we got back home!
After sampling some cheese we went on our way and drove without stopping until we got to Bangor. Bangor is a very sleepy "city". We didn't sense a lot of excitement or movement. Still, we couldn't roll into town without paying Stephen King a visit. His house looks pretty big from the front but as we were driving away we saw that it was pretty gargantuan. It had what looked like two other houses tacked onto the back.
We headed Downtown to grab some lunch and happened upon Giacomo's. We both got great deli sandwiches and then some sweet treats to go.
Some cool newspaper stands we happened upon:
Then we continued on our way to Southwest Harbor and checked into Clark Point Inn. Southwest Harbor is extremely small, consisting of just a few restaurants and shops. We enjoyed our time there but in the future, I'd want to be closer to where the action is. Clark Point Inn definitely looked better online than it did in person. That's not to say that we didn't like it, but I'm not sure I'd be a repeat customer. Breakfast was tasty although, we were both annoyed by the fact that there was individual seating but because of the close table placement conversation seemed to jump from table to table and across the room. They either need to set up one table if the intention is for guests to mingle or do a better job of spacing the tables away from one another. Also, up close a lot of the house detail needed re-painting, dusting, cleaning, etc. We had to heat our room with an old-fashioned radiator and it smelled like something was burning for the first twenty minutes. The hosts were very nice but I'd still choose to patron a different Inn next time.
Once we got settled in the area we decided to get back in the car and venture over to Bar Harbor, the tourist hub of Mount Desert Island. One of the reasons we went that evening versus going the next day is that a local shop-owner told us there would be 5,000 cruise-ship passengers over-running the place. When we got to Bar Harbor, we were pleasantly surprised. We had heard it was "touristy" but with the place absent of the cruise crowds it was quite enjoyable. There were several side streets and one main road with lots of restaurants, shops, ice cream parlors, etc. With so many more options for diversion, I'd stay in Bar Harbor if I plan on going to Acadia again.
We found casual dining at the slow end of the main road called Blaze and that's where we went for dinner. I got a turkey burger and Evan got a chorizo and black bean burger. We both really enjoyed our meals. Evan's burger was so hot he was literally, dripping with sweat. For dessert we had a thick slice of warm pumpkin bread with vanilla ice cream.
We spent the rest of the evening back at the Inn, watching TV and relaxing. It's about a 20-30 minute drive from Bar Harbor to Southwest Harbor or vice versa and the weather was quite inclement that night - windy, rainy, and foggy. We didn't want to be out in the elements for long.
Tuesday, October 8
One upside to the morning conversation jumping around the room is that we learned about a Huffington Post article, which outlined many different ways to enjoy Acadia and Mount Desert Island without having to breach the government-imposed barricades around the Park.
We heard lots of stories of people walking around barriers and resuming their hiking and biking activities despite the government shutdown. We also saw it. Apparently, the rangers that were working, a very small percentage, were looking the other way because they just didn't have the manpower nor did they really want to kick people out. I believe a few people were cited only because they blatantly damaged or threw down barriers.
Even though we didn't get to see the Park from the top of Cadillac Mountain, we were able to see bits and pieces of the Park just by driving through. A state road goes right through the Park so there's really no way for them to close the Park completely.
We followed the advice of the HP article quite closely and started our day driving to Northeast Harbor, just as small as Southeast Harbor, possibly smaller.
Northeast Harbor:
Following the Azalea Garden we hopped back in the car and drove just a short distance to the Thuya Garden. The final destination, the Garden, isn't very impressive but the trek up to the Garden is well-worth it for the views of Northeast Harbor. Evan and I aren't hikers but I guess this was our "hike" of the trip.
At some point we got back in the car to continue our scenic drive and pulled in next to an entrance to Acadia and saw this sign of government oppression:
Next we drove through Seal Harbor, another small town, which is allegedly frequented by the likes of Martha Stewart.
Here's a nice view I got from skittering down a dirt embankment into a closed off area of the Park on the side of the road:
We ended our day with a scenic drive around Somes Sound/Fjord. I felt like a bit of an idiot because I kept expecting to see this spectacular fjord, which I imagined to be some sort of massive waterfall. It's not. Basically, it looks like any other body of water in Maine. Haha.
We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening at the Inn playing Scrabble Slam! and Skip-Bo at the Inn on the sun porch. We never did get hungry for dinner. That's what happens when you eat out too much. Anyway, it was a truly enjoyable evening because it was one of the few times during the trip that we weren't on the run to see or do something. It was relaxation at its finest.
Wednesday, October 9
Today was our last full day in Maine and we spent at least half of it on the road to Portland.
I remembered driving through a very vibrant-looking seaside town on our way up the coast so I kept an eye out for it on the way down. Sure enough, we arrived there about half-way through our drive and just around lunch time. The timing couldn't have been better!
The town, by the way, is Wiscasset. It has several lobster roll stands and one in particular, Red's Eats, had an ever growing line of people. Apparently, it's a pretty big deal. Still, neither of us are lobster-eaters and I saw another place, Sarah's Cafe, that looked more appealing with a much shorter wait time. They must have a hell of a senior discount because we were the youngest people there by about 30 years. Either way, we had a delicious and casual lunch. I had a fresh Haddock melt with a side of baked mac & cheese (in hindsight, that was too much cheese in one sitting) and Evan got a chicken salad sandwich. They had a laundry list of homemade cakes, pies, and other desserts available but we were too full.
We walked around town a bit to stretch our legs and came upon a treat shop. You didn't really think we were going to leave without eating something sweet, did you? We spotted Treats, which is where I picked up a chocolate chip cookie, more cake-like than anything, and sat down at a communal table with some complimentary reading material. I could imagine being a local and going there for a breakfast sweet and sitting down to read the paper everyday. It had a very cozy, homey vibe.
When we took off again we headed slightly past Portland to Cape Elizabeth to see the Portland Head Light. We didn't see many lighthouses in Maine, in fact, we barely saw two, but I can't imagine any of them topping this one.
We didn't spend much time at the lighthouse except to take some pictures but there's a whole park that you can walk through. I imagine it would be a great place for a picnic or to play frisbee with your dog.
We arrived at Pomegranate Inn in the West End around 4:00 in the afternoon. In a lot of ways, I really liked it. It was more like a boutique hotel than a B&B and it was decorated from head to toe with all sorts of colorful, modern art. Each room had its own theme, our room, for instance, was painted with wall-to-wall flowers. It was all very eye-catching and interesting. The Inn managers were also very nice and helpful. And our one breakfast there (the following morning) was one of the best we had. It was pumpkin pancakes and honestly, it was like having pumpkin pie with maple syrup. AMAZING.
All that being said, the price for just one night was insane and in my opinion, the room/Inn was not worth what they were charging. The location was quite good, maybe 6-8 blocks from Downtown, but aside from that I can't understand how they justify their prices. Our room, while colorful, wasn't particularly comfortable and the bathroom needed work and a more thorough cleaning. I'd probably stay somewhere else in the future.
We spent the late afternoon/early evening walking around Downtown. We walked several blocks to Congress Street, one of the main thoroughfares, until it intersected with Exchange Street. Congress is pretty busy and you see all kinds of people. We even saw some cops pick up a bum sleeping on the sidewalk. I sort of see Bangor as a blue-collar town and Portland as a mix of white collar, hipsters, and hippies.
The Old Port, a series of cobble-stoned streets with loads of boutique shops and restaurants, is near Exchange Street. Near the water we saw what appeared to be a piece of the Berlin Wall. I wasn't sure if it was a replica or the real thing. Evan looked it up online and there are remnants of the Wall all over the world, including Portland, ME. Who knew? The funny part is that we've been to a lot of the places where they are and we've never seen them before. We saw this piece by total accident!
We weren't overly impressed with Congress due to a certain seediness but our admiration for Portland grew when we were exposed to the Old Port. You can tell it's a hot spot with lots of up and coming eateries and speciality stores. In fact, I didn't know until my brother told me that Portland is a real foodie city. I feel like we missed out since we only had two opportunities to eat in the area.
We walked around for quite some time debating about where to eat - there were so many options! Eventually, we settled on Little Seoul. Technically, we can get good Korean in our area but since it's not something we eat very often we thought it would be outside the box for us. The food was great and the service was even better. Our waitress couldn't have been cuter or more friendly. And I couldn't stop saying bi-bim-bop for the next few days. We ended the evening with some ice cream at Beal's.
All in all, we had a great time in Maine. It was short but fun and if nothing else, it convinced us that we have to go back. We saw a lot but something we didn't get enough of was down time. Maine is the perfect place to go to eat good food, explore the pristine environment, and RELAX. We found a lot of similarities to the PNW in the sense that Mainers also pride themselves on investing in their community and using local and sustainable products. The landscape is also alike. Then again, Maine villages reminded me a lot of Upstate New York villages in terms of size and character.
Despite the similarities, Maine is unique all its own. We're already talking about going back next summer for an extended stay. We'd really like to get to know Portland and experience it like locals. I'd love to take a food tour, take long walks on the city streets/the Waterfront/around the natural environs, and have the chance to play board games or make puzzles in the evenings.
Unfortunately, this is the extent of Maine wildlife we saw:
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