The Portland on the East Coast

Portland, ME is such a friendly city- not only people friendly, but pet friendly as well. It also has a nice New England/ seacoast town feel to it and it is a lovely place to walk around and enjoy the sea breeze.

Niki, Alana, Boo and I drove up to Portland in March of 2009. We hadn't exactly planned to drive that far (we started in Stamford, CT) but once Niki and I looked at a map and realized how close Portland was to our original destination in New Hampshire, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Maine. We both have a very important goal of seeing all 50 states, and feel that the sooner this happens, the better.

We didn't tell Alana our plan. She's the practical one out of the 3 of us and she would have been right in saying "Portland is way too far for 1 night." Good thing Alana wasn't there when Niki and I drove to Alabama, but that's another story for another time!

Alana wasn't as thrilled as we were when we arrived in Portland, but she came around (right Alana? haha) It was such a cute and fun city, we didn't find anything not to love.

When we went in March it was still chilly, but not freezing, and the sun made it comfortable. It was probably in the 50s and people were out and about, taking walks in the glorious spring weather and dining at the outdoor cafes. I can just imagine people from warmer climates cringing at the fact that I consider 50 degrees to be warm enough for outdoor dining. It's funny, when you're freezing all winter long and then 50 degrees happens, it feels like summer.

Eat..

Lobster. I can't make any recommendations, but the next time I go I'll most likely seek out a local and demand to know the best place to get lobster in Maine. We got lobster for dinner while we were there, but I don't remember where we got it from, plus Boo was a puppy and I couldn't leave him alone in the hotel room for fear he would eat it (the hotel room.) So we got lobster to go.

Buy:

We were mainly in the Old Port district of the city and it was filled with cute shops. You don't need to look very hard to find the shops either. Just head towards the water and chances are you'll pass a ton of shop windows along your way. The greatest thing (I thought) was that most places welcome dogs. Some of the shop owners even gave Boo a biscuit. I think he liked shopping in Portland.

Do:

• Take a walk down by the dock
• I would definitely take a harbor cruise tour if I went again, I love those, and there are plenty to be found by the harbor.
• The Maine Foodie tour- I just read about this and I think they would definitely take you to some amazing lobster.
• Whale watching cruise
• Just don't leave without trying some lobster.. unless you can't/don't eat lobster- then I'll forgive you.

On our way home from Portland we decided to do a little exploring in Kennebunkport, ME. It was beautiful, but definitely seemed to be a summer town as many of the houses were boarded up for the season. It must be nice to live in those houses for the summer and hop right down to the beach on hot day. (Or even on a chilly day- we enjoyed it!)

A weekend trip like this would be great right about now. The drive was a little long, but I love road trips, so it didn't bother me. Hm, maybe I'll start planning a travel adventure for my birthday.