Over Columbus Day weekend, I went up to Portland, Maine with a girlfriend to meet another friend. We had such a blast. We got an awesome deal on flights ($49 each way!) on Southwest, so why not?! (Note: I brought stuff to work out, and had intentions of doing so, but it didn't happen.)
This was my first trip where I wasn't cooking since being gluten-free.
On Saturday, I got up at an insanely early time and got on the road to the airport by 7am. Thankfully the traffic gods were kind and I got to the airport by 8:10 or so. Parked the car, got in the shuttle, and headed the rest of the way to the airport. The security line was VERY manageable and I got through in less than 5 minutes. I waited for my girlfriend on the other side of security. Once she was through, we wandered around the airport for a bit & then sat and chatted. Oh and, we people watched. There were some epic characters.
The flight was uneventful and we landed in Portland about 15 minutes early. Love tailwinds! We headed to the rental car location and got that taken care of pretty quickly. One thing we noticed in Portland is that the airport (excuse me... jetport) is SMALL. 10 terminals in all. My normal airport is a major international airport, so it was kind of funny to me. Anyhow, we got the car & headed off to Portland.
The first thing we did was get lunch. From the airport to Portland proper is all of 15 minutes... if you don't know where you're going (like us). We found parking and then wandered around for a few. We ended up deciding on Farmer's Table for lunch. It was super tasty! (I had a GF bbq pulled pork. If you have allergies and not just a sensitivity, I don't know that I'd recommend eating here.)
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| Farmer's Table |
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| GF BBQ Pulled Pork. Note: the fried pickles weren't listed as being fried on the menu. They're covered in a cracker meal. It probably has gluten in it. It didn't bother me. |
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| This was "interesting". Worth trying it at least once! |
After lunch, we headed up to the Victoria Mansion. On the way, we saw this cool compass looking thing (which turns out to be the
Memory Wheel).
Once we got to the
Victoria Mansion, we looked around the outside for a few minutes and then went in to the gift store to pay for the tour. One of the first things they told us on the tour is that the house has 95% of it's original belongings.
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| Victoria Mansion |
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| Love these doors |
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| Ruggles... hehehe |
Then it was time to wander around Old Port. We had a good time just wandering. We walked down the waterfront for a bit, found a trail & wandered up it. After a while, it started getting dark and we decided it was time to go check in to the hotel.
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| M and I in front of the Polar Express |
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| The harbor |
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| Train! |
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| Trail we headed up |
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| USS Portland Memorial |
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| Look how clear the water is! Hard to believe it's the same Atlantic Ocean as we have here. |
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| Random sculpture |
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| Leap in the dork (dark) |
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| Portland - we don't get you |
We had an awesome dinner at Portland Pie Company. I had a GF pizza, which was great! Their cheese also has gluten and they do have a GF and dairy free cheese. I ordered a pizza with no cheese.
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| Mmmm, pizza! |
On Sunday, we got up and headed to Freeport to meet another friend. It was so good to see her again! She drove us all around the coast line of Maine. We went to Owl's Head Light, Camden, Linconville, and East Boothbay. We spent about 11 hrs driving around - it was fantastic!
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| Owl's Head Light |
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| Owl's Head Light |
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| Owl's Head Light |
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| Owl's Head Light |
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| B, M, and I at Owl's Head Light |
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| Me at Camden |
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| Camden - so pretty! |
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| Lincolnville |
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| Lincolnvile |
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| Lincolnville |
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| Cappy's menu in Camden |
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| Lunch was a GF pasta at Cappy's. It was really good! |
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| East Boothbay |
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| East Boothbay |
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| East Boothbay |
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| East Boothbay |
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| Blurry picture of the LLBean boot in Freeport |
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| Tasty GF salad at the cafe in LLBean |
Monday, was our last day. M & I headed out to Fort Williams and Portland Head Light. I couldn't wait to show M this awesome state park.
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| We were here! |
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| We climbed that to get down to play in the rocks |
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| Ahhh, Portland Head Light! |
After Fort Williams, we headed back into Old Port and walked around a bit more. This is where my GF diet took a bit of a plunge. I decided to go ahead and have fried shrimp for lunch. It was really good.
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| Lobster buzzer |
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| Not gluten free, but so good (though the cole slaw was better at Farmers Table) |
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| Except I didn't :( |
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| HAHAHAHA! |
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| Next time I go to ME, I'm having some of this! |
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| Mmmm, Gorgeous Gelato! Dark chocolate & hazelnut flavors. |
Once we were done with lunch, we walked around a bit more & then headed to the airport. The airport was kind of funny just because it is so tiny! 10 gates, 5 airlines with 1 charter "airline". The TSA agents were even nice! The trip back was pretty uneventful (other than people who can't follow simple directions). It was kind of sad to say goodbye to M - we had a great time!
