Back at it again this year: our vacation to Maine! Josh’s family has a place at a campground* in Kennebunk that he’s been going to for his entire life. Last year I let him take me everywhere and anywhere; this year, we both planned the trip to include new and old things.

*It’s technically a trailer at the campground, but it’s a nice trailer. It has AC, a full bathroom, a kitchen, running water, etc. Anything less and I wouldn’t be staying there 😅

Friday, August 11

Not gonna lie, I was really looking forward to this vacation because we didn’t have to fly. Although, with the amount of traffic we were stuck in, we would have easily made it to DC via plane in the same time.

Josh and I left the condo around 1:00 p.m. to hit the road. Our original ETA in Maine was 4:00-ish, but we hit a ton of traffic in Massachusetts that added about 40 more minutes to our drive. Thankfully we like each other enough to be in a car together for that long—and he didn’t kick me out on the side of the highway in New Hampshire.

Before heading to the campground, we stopped at Hannaford, the local grocery store, to get food we’d need. The trailer has a kitchen, so we’re able to make some of our meals there instead of going out all the time. That’s what we did last year and it worked out well.

We got to the campground before 6:00 p.m. Josh’s dad was already up there and would be leaving Saturday night. Josh and I quickly made dinner and unpacked some of our stuff.

Our big plan for the night was to make a fire. We brought some beers from home and, of course, got supplies at the store to make s’mores. 

It was a nice start to vacation, just hanging out at the trailer and drinking around the fire.

Saturday, August 12

The United States Coast Guard maintains the actual light and the fog signal, but the remainder of the property is managed by the Town of Cape Elizabeth. The park itself has picnic areas, walking trails, some of historic fort structures, and more. I’d love to go back to walk around the park, but our main goal was to see the lighthouse.

It’s definitely not as tall as the Washington Monument—only 80 feet tall—but still pretty cool to see, especially since I had never seen a lighthouse in person before. 

From Fort Williams Park, we drove into downtown Portland where we’d spend part of the afternoon. For lunch, we went to Stars & Stripes Brewing, mostly because I saw they had flights on their Instagram. The brewery is a veteran-owned and operated craft brewery that donates a percentage of proceeds to veteran organizations. 

My flight was Blueberry Wheat, Veterans Blonde, Sour Sailor, and Warrior’s Wheat. I think Josh got the same ones as me minus Veterans Blonde—he got Stout and Give Me 20. For food, we got a pizza and mozzarella sticks. I liked the mozzarella sticks, and the pizza was okay; it looked pre-made and was just warmed up when we ordered it. We both enjoyed the beer and I’d go back to have a flight.

We had a quick pit-stop to CVS so Josh could get eyeglass wipes. I was more surprised that the CVS had alcohol for sale.

Folks, never underestimate my ability to find a bookstore. Last year I had randomly stumbled upon Sherman’s but this year I found another bookstore in downtown that we had to go to: Longfellow Books. I got two books: The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny (used for $10) and We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry (new).

The other stores I wanted to go into were Local Color and Shipwreck & Cargo. At Local Color, I got a dish towel for my stove handle with buoys on it and gave one of the girls behind the counter some book suggestions. At Shipwreck & Cargo, Josh and I both got Portland t-shirts. 

I love pre-dinner ice cream, so we stopped into Mount Desert Island Ice Cream. Josh got an orange sherbet and I got Maine Sea Salt Caramel. 

Our final stop for the day was Hadlock Field for a Portland Sea Dogs game. Of course, they were playing the Hartford Yard Goats—just like last year. Just our luck that the Sea Dogs were playing our hometown team again. The game started at 6:00 p.m. and we got there around 5:00 p.m.

It was Star Wars night, and they had a bunch of people dressed up like the characters, so you know I was avoiding them. I kept asking Josh who the characters were since I’ve never seen the movies. Before the game, they had a parade around the warning track, led by their mascot Slugger dressed like a Jedi.

My beers of choice for the game. They had a lot of local Maine beer, which is cool; we’re still confused as to why they only have cans and not draft beers but whatever. Around the third inning, we got hot dogs and pretzels.

There was a young boy sitting behind us with his family and kept asking his dad questions throughout the game. He was actually asking pretty good questions, and Josh was listening to hear the answers. I told Josh that the kid was asking me the same questions he’s asked me before.

Neither of us realized it, but all of a sudden, it was the sixth inning and we needed to get our second beers. The game was going by so quickly, and the Sea Dogs ended up losing 5–1. We decided to cheer for Portland since we were there; meanwhile, when we go to our third Yard Goats game of the season this weekend, we’ll root for Hartford.

The game ended at 8:07 p.m. Yep, just over two hours. As we left, I waved and said we’d be back next year.