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| Welcome to Maine. The way life should be. |
As I've mentioned a lot lately, my Maine vacation is quickly approaching! We're on the road in T minus two weeks! So what does one do when in Maine? Here are the places we hit nearly every visit.
Freeport
Shopping!!!!!! The headquarters of L.L.Bean is here, and that store is ginormous. I still need to get a picture with the giant boot outside of the store someday. Besides that, there's an entire outlet mall that includes stores like Gap, J.Crew, Nine West, Coach, and then also some fun local boutiques as well.
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| Bartlett sign |
Bartlett Maine Estate Winery
Bartlett specializes in fruity wine, like peach (a favorite of ours), pear, apple, and of course, blueberry. My husband has gone there every year for about 10 years, and the people know him by name now. Let's just say we're VERY good customers every time we go. We stock up for the year...seriously.
Winterport Winery
We don't do this one as often, but when we do, we always remember how much we like it. The port is delicious, and their cranberry wine tastes JUST LIKE cranberries.
Bar Harbor
Yes, it's touristy, but I still love stopping by and walking around the little shops. We sometimes grab ice cream or fudge and definitely hit
Cool as a Moose to get some Life is Good apparel and
Bark Harbor to pick up something for the dog.
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| Atop Cadillac Mountain |
Acadia National Park
This is one of my husband's favorite spots. He's made me hike one of the mountains before, but I prefer it when we drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain and just walk around instead. At least I got a purse out of the hiking last year. Either way, you're going to get beautiful views. And if you're a first-time visitor, you should probably check out Thunder Hole, too, just to say you did.
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| Our meals at Jack Russell's |
Jack Russell's Steakhouse & Brewery
The steaks are good, the meatballs are ridiculously good, the crab cakes are alright. They'd be better if they had a sauce to go with them, like hollandaise or something like that. The martinis are excellent. The spinach and artichoke dip is amazing (maybe I imagined this or it's a newer thing because I can't find it on any online menu). The shrimp skewers! How could I forget those? Try all three varieties, but I think we determined the cajun is the best. We tend to drop a lot of money here...
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| Max plate at ABC (sorry, vegetarians) |
Atlantic Brewing Company
Although I do drink beer occasionally, and I hear the beer is not to be missed, my favorite ABC beverage is by far the blueberry soda. My trip is not complete without it. If you love barbecue, GO HERE NOW! For a group of at least four (five or six realistically), I highly recommend the max plate. The sides of potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans are just as good as the meat. Or maybe better, if that's what you're into. To put it in perspective, I didn't eat beans at all until I tried these. Now I'm a bean fan.
Basically any little eatery on the side of the road
I'm kind of over the getting a whole lobster thing since I've done it once, but I still like to get a lobster roll if we stop for lunch when we're out and about. We've been to a handful of little diner-type restaurants in random places, and none of them seemed to disappoint.
Family and friends, did I forget any??
