Our Trip to Maine

First of all, I am happy to say I found the veggie chips that I loved (look at the comments section, actually) so much in the box lunch you get at Gesine's. I found it at the Hanover co-op, but you can, of course, get them online. They aren't oily, they are very crispy, and they are very flavorful. I wonder if they dehydrate them a bit first, then fry them? I don't know how they do it.

Last week, we drove to Portland, Maine to stay for a couple of nights. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express which was okay, but a bit overpriced. It was one of the cheapest chain hotels I could find in that area, though. Perhaps it is so high because it is a popular time of year to go to Maine. I can't say I recommend it. The bed is comfy and the people are very nice and helpful, but the pool! The pool was really dirty. We didn't let the girls go in and they had been looking forward to some swimming time. We did the pool right before leaving, so it wasn't really something we could ask them to fix. Maybe I would have if Sophia hadn't had an accident right in the middle of the comfy bed (which I told them about and Doug left a note on the spot saying "here").

We didn't really spend our time in Portland except to eat at some chain restaurants like On The Border (which I found satisfying...especially the margarita) and Uno (which we've never been in before, just like On The Border, and it was okay...Doug's turn for a margarita, which was very good, but was also $8.99!). We were staying across from a mall, of all things, and we wandered in there and I found the only bra from Victoria's Secret that fits me, from the Intimissimi line from Italy. I had thought they only had it at big, major stores, and only a few in the US. I guess Maine is one of them? Who knew? Vermont is definitely not one of those stores. I can actually get a fun little bra in size ONE. I tried a two, and I can see now I am definitely a ONE. But it fits. Plus they were on sale, so I had to buy two. Everything else in that store can reduce me to tears of frustration.

The next day we had planned to go to a blueberry festival/fair in Union. After seeing that it was at least another hour north, as was the botanical garden and train museum, we decided to go south along the coast and go beach hopping and tide pool exploring.

We went to York Beach and Fort Foster. It was a fabulous choice. (Can you tell we put off researching this trip until the last minute?) We didn't even make it to York's Wild Kingdom Zoo, but maybe next time. Next time, I want to stay in that area instead of Portland. Portland is fine, but York was more of the sort of thing we were interested in for this trip.

We also found the Kittery outlet stores, purely by chance, which we would have totally ignored except Doug declared he saw a Hanna Andersson outlet. I just love Hanna Andersson, so I turned the car around (a bit to Doug's chagrin) and we braved the crowds. I wanted to find Fiona a coat, but they didn't have anything like that. I did end up getting each girl a new dress and leggings. I'm glad we actually had a chance to try things on instead of going by measurements and ordering online, because I saw they are in the next size up already. They are both between sizes right now (Fiona is 110/120 and Sophia 90/100). We escaped as soon as that was done.

On the way back, we had to stop at Len Libby candies, both for the homemade candies and the chocolate moose (there are also chocolate bear cubs).

I recommend the blueberry malt balls (I have a thing for malt balls). We haven't tried everything yet. Trying to pace ourselves. Oh, both the maple caramel corn and the blueberry caramel corn are divine. There are lots of samples to help you choose.

We returned to the Children's Museum of Portland, which is a really awesome place for the kids. They had a great time, although Sophia mostly wanted to press the buttons for the video of sea creatures.


It's good to be back home, but I can't wait to go back. One of these times, I'm getting a damn lobster roll.