A Couples Getaway in Portland Maine
Well, it was that time of year again…the time of year when Dan buys tickets for a 311 concert. HAHAH Yes, each year we see 311 in concert, it’s Dan’s favorite band. And I can’t lie, I don’t hate them, so I of course also have a great time. This year we decided to turn it into a weekend away, we took a day off work, dropped Wanda the Berner off to be boarded and hit the road for Portland, Maine. It was the perfect couples New England getaway! I grew up in New England, small town Vermont and we always vacationed in Maine. It’s a similar place with different beautiful views. It was Dan’s first trip to Portland, Maine, so we were gunning to make it a damned fun New England getaway.
Since off season had just begun we thought it would be fun to stay in a beach town, to enjoy the ocean views with less of a crowd. We stayed at a cute little hotel right on the beach named, The Gull. Funny story: Dan stormed in on stranger in a room that wasn’t ours. HAHAHAH! There was a slight key mixup, everyone was cool, we laughed and moved on with a new key to our actual room. The bed was super comfy, there was a kitchenette — makes it perfect for an even longer beach getaway!
Anyways, we chilled for a few mins, went down into the beach town, had some drinks and an expensive mediocre lunch. That’s when we decided we weren’t eating in town again.. HAHHA. After that, we ventured back to the hotel room, walked down the beach it was chilly so we just rested in a comfy hotel bed without a Wanda around! LOL
We had decided to head to the Great Lost Bear for dinner, food was sounding wicked good, they had 80+ beers on tap. So it was a no brainer, I was gettin’ some damn good food, and doin’ some beer tasting. We waited for maybe 25 mins before getting a table, so it really wasn’t bad at all. After browsing the menu, I decided I was going to taste 5 of the 80+ beers they had. You can watch the tasting and get the beer names right here on my IG: WATCH ME TASTE 5 BEERS. Anyways, the food was most important here…it was SERVED IN A MASON JAR. I had BBQ served up in a mason jar: beans, claw, pulled pork and Mac + cheese, all layered perfectly. It’s been two weeks and typing this has my mouth watering. It makes me want to call my local fave BBQ joint (Memphis King), and ask them if they can start putting my food in a mason jar. LOL, I know that’s crazy so I might not do it. That was it, the end of our first night. Full bellies and happy hearts! We had a lot of fun planned for the next day, so it was important to get to our beauty rest in.
Bright and early we rose to start primpin. Gotta primp and prime, you know the damn deal. We started by going to Holy Donut, again, Dan hasn’t visited Portland, Maine before so he just needed to get some local goodness. As expected, the donuts were delicious! Now, right across the road just about to open was a quaint little candy shop that I had been to before. Len Libby Candies, the home of the life-size 1000 chocolate moose. Yep, that’s right, 1000 chocolate moose. LOL. We went in just so I could get new photos with the moose and then bought some peanut butter cups. After that, we went to downtown, parked in garage and immediately found a dispensary to stop at to get a few treats for the day.
We quickly found ourselves making our way down to the ferry, we were headed to Peaks Island for an afternoon of fun! We had already reserved a golf cart online for 3 hours through Mike’s Carts. SUPER easy, yes when you get off the ferry you are facing a hill. BUT, Mike’s carts is about 10 steps up that hill. They over a few instructions, basically just don’t drive the cart off a cliff. Little did they know, that was my exact concern. I hadn’t driven a golf cart before. Dan was the main driver anyways, but I did drive for bit. It just felt so slow while driving, I had much more fun being a passenger. We carted around the island for 3 hours, we explored beaches, we made a rock sculpture and we visited Battery Steele, a WWWII building. The building is nothing but darkness, filled with rooms, and two open ends allowing light to enter on near the entrances. We’re walking around, got my cell phone flashlight on, having a spooky time I tell ya. We encountered a group of guys, who were planning to have an event there, we chatted for a bit, and then they started to exit….I started walking with them. Before I knew it, they had ditched me, Dan was gone and I was alone in pure darkness. Literally was yelling out Dan’s name, while he’s hiding in a completely dark room hoping I would go find him so he could scare me. Instead, I said “EFF THIS, Dan I am leaving. I am walking towards the light” and then he appeared. LOL. NOPE, I’ve seen horror movies, I’m not gonna die in an old war building, no way. Anyways, so next time you visit Maine, make sure to go to Battery Steele on Peaks Island so you can scare your partner or friend(s). After that, we rode our golf cart back into the heart of the little island to roam the gift shop and have lunch (it was another over priced meh lunch, pack your own and eat by the beach). We return our cart, and loaded back onto the ferry so we could return to our hotel room.
The evening begins! We’re ready for the concert, and waiting for our Uber to arrive. We had our driver bring us to an authentic Sicilian pizza place, and the pizza did NOT disappoint. I finally found a pizza to fall in love with! It was called, Slab Sicilian. We were super early for the concert, so we chilled and had a couple of drinks before we walked our way up to State Theatre. We got our drinks, merch, and made our way to the baloney where we could enjoy the concert in peace. (We’re old lmao) We had lots of beer, fun and made memories. We got an Uber back to the hotel and hit the dang sheets, we were pooped after such fun filled day, not to mention all of the drinks!
The next morning, we had a big hangover breakfast. Shortly after we made our way to the LL Bean flagship store (again, Dan hadn’t been and it’s a staple of my childhood lmao). We roamed for a bit and then we HIT THE ROAD! After all, we had 4 long hours ahead of our tired hungover selves.
If you visit Portland, Maine 10/10 recommend at least going to the Great Lost Bear for dinner and exploring Peaks Island! Thanks for tagging along on our fun little journey.
XOXO Leah
