Portland, ME - Day 4

This is the last day of my trip to Portland -- I had such a great time hanging out with my friends! We started the day off with a tasty breakfast from the Standard Baking Co. where I had a nice rooibos tea, an apricot and marzipan tart, and a chocolate muffin-thing. The tart was the best!

We spent a relaxing morning wandering around the Old Port town and shopping for some last-minute souvenirs. We also peeped into a lobster shop to see about sending some fresh lobsters home, but it was a little pricey -- maybe it's better to take a live lobster with you on the plane tucked away safely in your carry-on!

We had a nice clam chowder (or chowdah) lunch at Gilbert's Chowder house.

After lunch and more wanderings, we returned to the hotel so that I could check into my flight online before leaving for the airport around 2pm. Well, due to bad weather (I guess?) my flight out of Portland was pushed back by about 5 hours, meaning I would definitely miss my connection in Detroit. After tussling with Delta, they put me on a new flight to DC that left the next morning. Luckily I have awesome friends and Jen and Erin let me stay with them for the night (thanks guys!!). We relaxed by playing Bananagrams and drinking root beer mixed with whipped cream flavored vodka. Woo-hoo!

I said goodbye the next morning and everyone made it back home safe and sound. It was a fun trip and a nice reunion with my Santa Barbara buddies. Maybe I can take a trip out to California soon to see them all again~

That's it for my Maine trip report. I returned home with a bunch of souvenirs for people, but I was pretty restricted by only bringing a carry-on suitcase so no big canisters of Maine maple syrup or blueberry jam!

Portland, ME - Day 3

Today was the day that we went on a food tour around the Old Port area of Portland and we stuffed ourselves silly! The tour was really great and we spent the whole morning wandering town, snacking, and learning a little history too.

We started off at a store called Vervacious and sampled mead, lobster on a cracker, and mango with chocolate balsamic and curry balsamic.

From there, we walked to a nice local cheese shop and sampled various cheeses (a couple of raw cow's milk and a goat cheese).

After getting our fill of cheese, we walked to Stonewall Kitchen where we ate fresh scones with Maine blueberry jam. We even returned here after the tour to stock up on food-related souvenirs!

Next, we walked to the harbor to visit Harbor Fish Market where we looked at lobsters and sampled maple-glazed smoked trout on a cracker. It was really tasty and fresh (even Jennifer liked it!).

We walked by Standard Baking Company (which we visited for breakfast the next day) and stopped by Dean's Sweets to taste some nice chocolates (including a Needham that is made with potatoes). My favorite was the maple chocolate.

Still on a sweet kick, we walked to Two Fat Cats Bakery to try a whoopie pie and it was so good and fluffy!

We finished our tour at the Shipyard Brewery where we sampled a variety of beers and, my favorite, root beers! This food tour was a really great way to spend our morning and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

After a quick little pizza lunch at Otto, we had to say goodbye to Michele and Jeremy -- they were on their way to Boston. Jennifer, Erin, and I relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the afternoon (and did a little souvenir shopping) until dinner. We ate our first real lobster meal at the Portland Lobster Company and it was FANTASTIC! Hands-down this was the best lobster that I have ever eaten. We each had a lobster roll and shared a full lobster meal -- it was pretty fun cracking open the lobster. My favorite meat was in the claws.

As if we weren't stuffed enough, we popped in to a nearby ice cream parlor where we couldn't pass up delicious fresh ice cream made with local Maine blueberries. It was really great and creamy.

And so ended our fantastic day o' food!

Portland, ME - Day 2

Onwards to day two in Portland -- this was the day of Christina's wedding! Erin, Michele, Jen, and I started the day off right by chowing down on delicious blueberry pancakes at Becky's Diner. These very well may have been the best pancakes I have ever eaten~

After wandering around a little to burn off those pancakes (ha!) we ambled back to the hotel to prepare for the wedding. We got ready and took a hotel shuttle to the waterfront around 2 pm to meet the Bay Mist ferry at the Casco Bay Lines ferry terminal. We boarded the boat and got settled, once we started moving, the ceremony began. After that, we were treated to tasty snacks and a tour of the bay -- it was pretty fun to see all the little islands and lighthouses.

Eventually, we arrived at Peaks Island where Christina's reception was held -- it was really pretty and relaxed! We ate, drank, and danced until the final boat of the evening ferried us back to the mainland. It might have been the best wedding I have ever been to!

Portland, ME - Day 1

Moving from Texas to Maine! I flew directly to Portland from Austin (with a stopover in Atlanta - blah!) on 12 August, arriving in the afternoon. I met Erin and Jennifer at the Portland airport and from there we took the a shuttle to our hotel (Holiday Inn Portland by-the-Bay). We checked in and met up with Michele and her boyfriend FF (firefighter, AKA Jeremy).

From there, we all headed out to lunch at Duck Fat. When we arrived it was a little busy so we put in our names and headed next door to wait. We shared a bottle of wine while waiting, then headed back for lunch. The food here was pretty good -- especially the french fries (in garlic aioli). I also ate a BGT sandwich: bacon, goat cheese, and tomato. We also shared another bottle of wine.

After stuffing ourselves silly (this would be a theme of our Maine trip), we waddled back to the hotel and promptly fell asleep. We had originally planned to visit the Portland Art Museum (across the street from our hotel) because it was free on Fridays from 5-8 pm, but we slept through 8pm! Oh well, we have something to do for next time!

Austin, TX - Part 4

For the last part in my Austin blogging series, I will talk about a visit to the pretty Texas state capitol. Carlos and I visited the capitol on a slow morning (when there weren't any talks that we wanted to see). It was a super hot and sunny day, but not a very far walk from our hotel and once we were inside the building it was nice and cool.

I really like the outside of the capitol and it looks a lot like the capitol we see every day here in DC, only a bit smaller and more brown (I liked the brown color of the stone used in its construction).

The inner room under the rotunda was very cool and if you stand in the very center of the dome, you can talk and the echo only bounces back to you -- no one around you can hear it (I think this is called a whispering chamber). Neat effect!

We guided ourselves on a little tour of the rooms throughout the capitol, visiting the house and senate chambers and seeing lots of cool things. I think my favorite room was the treasury -- people have offices inside the big cage (and I really loved the black and white checker tile floor).

Thus ends our time in Austin, from there I flew straight to Portland, Maine for my friend's wedding -- but I will talk about that more in the next few blogging installments!