This past summer my husband, Wesley, and I ventured up to Maine to see what was there, and we were so pleased with what we found. Maine was something we never expected. Wes loves going to Mexico and to the Texas Gulf Coast to fish and swim and sit on the beach, and Maine had rocky coastlines and the water is frigid. Nevertheless, my sailor husband connected with Maine and the people there.

 

 

I am always up for any adventure so I fell in love with everything there before we event left Dallas. I loved the small-town-sailor-new-england vibe. 

 

 

If you ever go to Maine, we have a few recommendations. But I must first explain our vacation style – we like to maybe see one touristy thing and then find a good dive bar and make friends with the locals. A lot of our time in Maine involved us watching the tide rise and fall (there were TWO high tides) with a beer/wine in hand. When Wes napped I would go shop. I was constantly taking photos and making Wes pull over for the perfect shot of whatever spoke to me (sorry babe!). But our style is super low key, so just know that before reading below.

 

 

Definitely fly in and out of Portland. Bangor’s (pronounced “Bang – gor” …you will get corrected) airport is so small.

Also Portland has some awesome areas in that town. We stayed at the Pomegranate Inn and I highly recommend it. It’s a cute little Inn in a nice neighborhood AND their breakfast is to die for. I had one of everything – it was that good. And I am a semi picky eater.

 

 

Maine is great for day trips because everything is so close (unlike Texas)…we drove through Freeport and Booth Bay Harbor. Freeport is ok..if you want to shop, then go there. But in my opinion, I would rather find a local store than another JCrew (but I do love me some JCrew).

 

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We stay at the Samoset in Rockland which was lovely. If you want the resort feel, then definitely check it out. Wes got to golf (on the foggiest morning ever…haha poor guy) and I walked out to the Rockland Breakwater (the white lighthouse). They also have a great pool and I definitely felt like I should be a member of some rich New England family while we were there.

 

 

After Rockland we moved on to Camden (10 miles down the road) AND IT WAS SOOOO WONDERFUL!!! I cannot tell you enough wonderful things about Camden. It is semi-touristy but not too bad. We stayed at the Hartstone Inn and I was a little disappointed when Lorelai Gilmore did not greet me at the front because I felt like her and Michele should have been there. Its the best little Inn. They have a sweet little happy hour and I hear their dinner is to die for. I remember seeing Martha Stewart recommended some other Inn in Camden that was already booked so instead we booked the Hartstone and let me tell you I WAS SOOOOOOO glad we found the Hartstone. It should have been Martha’s pick.

 

 

 While in Camden we just roamed the streets. There’s a wonderful antique mall that you should check out. Also there a wine and tap place (vine and tap is the name, I think) on the harbor that has a good little vibe. If you are a Gilmore Girls fan then check out the grocery store on the main street. I went in and bought a water… but I wanted to steal corn meal and get kissed by the local Dean – just kidding. What I am trying to say is that it was very similar to Gilmore Girls. (I did buy that water and then eyed the check out boys and the girls they were flirting with and wondered which one was Rory. I may be a little obsessed but just go with it). 

 

 

After the wonderful Camden, we drove up to Bar Harbor and stayed at the Bar Harbor Inn. Now I don’t like to be a downer but this was my least favorite part of the trip. The hotel was just ok. It desperately needs to be updated. The three best things I can think of from that experience was 1. sleeping with the balcony door open and the AMAZING sun rise waking me at 5 am (it really was awesome) 2. We met some awesome people at the happy hour (apparently everything revolves around alcohol for us – whatevs! it’s a vacay!) 3. It’s a good location to walk to town.

The town of Bar Harbor is SOOOO touristy. I just don’t love the shops with the cheesy Bar Harbor shirts and Moosetang (yes, I saw that) shirts. But they did have some great little bars that were a little more hip. There was one place called the Cottage Street Pub which had a fun vibe. It was just filled with other tourists and we wanted to meet locals and feel like we were truly apart of that town for the night.

 

 

But another HUGE perk of Bar Harbor is Acadia National Park. It really was incredible. Wes and I may have gone on a random semi long hike to get to the beach but really the path just took up back to the parking lot…where we PARKED! (I was embarrassed but thankful for the sights I had seen) But hey it was an adventure. The water was FREEZING for this Texas girl’s blood. But seeing the water and sand made my heart whole.

 

 

 

Wes and I already have another trip planned back to Maine this summer so I am sure I will have a few more thoughts or photos. But hopefully you found this helpful if you every decide to explore that wonderful state! If you have been to Maine and have any recommendations please send them my way. We are doing Portland, Samoset and Hartstone this year and will have ore time in each place. So please send any must see’s my way.

 

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