Here are part 1 and part 2!

Tuesday, August 15

Our last day in Maine! Neither of us wanted to go home but still wanted to make the most of the day even though it was raining. To start, we went to Boulangerie: A Proper Bakery for breakfast. Josh’s mom suggested we go there, and it was really cute.

I got a slice of coffee cake and a chai tea latte while Josh got a slice of lemon loaf, a scone, and a cold brew coffee. The bakery was next to The Waterhouse Center, which seemed to be a community pavilion for events. It just so happened that pickleball courts were set up inside and a bunch of teams were playing. We snagged a table off to the side to eat and we watched some of the teams play for a bit.

We headed to Wells for the rest of the morning, which is about a 10 minute drive from Kennebunk. 

Like I said in part 2, never underestimate my ability to find a bookstore, especially a used bookstore. Before we left for breakfast, I looked on the Maps app for places to go in Wells and immediately found Harding’s Books. It’s a 14 room bookstore with over 100,000 books—Josh could have left me there for the rest of the day and I would have been happy.

The highlight of the bookstore was the four bookshelves dedicated to Watergate books. I’m such a nerd, but there was a chance I’d walk out of there with a book of the entire Watergate hearing transcripts. 

I only got one book, The Last Flight by Julie Clark—now that I can read/watch plane-related things after our flight to DC. It was marked for $8 but I didn’t realize they were having a sale of 50% off books, so I ended up getting it for $4. Not too bad.

We then stopped into two antique shops down the road from the bookstore. Josh was quite taken by the “vintage” video games that were there, along with a PS2. I didn’t buy anything at the shops but it was still fun to walk around and look at all of the stuff.

We ate lunch at the trailer and then did our own thing for most of the afternoon: Josh played a game on his laptop while I read on the couch and ended up napping for an hour. Around 4:00ish we started packing up our stuff, cleaning up the trailer, and packing up the car.

We both got flights: I got Damn Sam, Runabout Red Ale, Bassackwards Blueberry Ale, and On a Boat; Josh got Hefeweizen, Damn Sam, BoddingTims Pub Ale, and On a Boat. For an appetizer, we split the pretzels (like always), and for dinners, I got the Vermont Panini and Josh got the Reuben. Everything was really good; my favorite beer was On a Boat.

Since the restaurant was next to Hannaford, we quickly ran in to get some groceries to hold us over until we went last night. Prior to leaving, we didn’t have too much in the fridge but didn’t have time to do a regular grocery trip. 

We left Maine around 6:00ish and didn’t hit any traffic like we did on the way up. Once we got home at 9:00, we just threw everything in the living room and went to bed.

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Final Thoughts

Neither of us wanted to come back. It was just such a nice time away together. I know Maine means a lot to Josh—as he’s been going for his entire life—and I like being able to see it through his eyes. From my two trips up there, I’ve started to love going up there, and I can’t wait to go back.

Packing and getting ready for this trip was less stressful than DC, mostly because I didn’t have to abide by TSA rules for travel. I used my carry-on luggage along with my big duffel bag, and it worked out really well. I know we weren’t going for that long but I’d rather bring extra socks and random stuff just in case, and it was easier since we could just pack up Josh’s car as much as we wanted.

I forgot to mention this—I probably just blocked it out—but when we went to Longfellow Books in Portland, I was defeated by the door. I tried pulling it open but didn’t work, so we went around the side and tried another door. Then we went back to the original door and Josh pushed, and it opened. He won’t let me live that down.

We discovered a new love for Hannaford store brand kettle cooked sea salt and cracked pepper chips. I know it’s super random but we seriously thought about buying a ton of them before we left to bring them back.

Now I’m just counting down the days until we go back next year! We already have a list of new things we’d like to explore.