It’s summertime, so that means vacation trips to Maine! This time, Josh and I went for our four-year (!!!!) anniversary and stayed at his parents’ trailer in the campground in Kennebunk. I know that for past Maine trips, I’ve done multiple posts (one for each day), but I’m grouping everything together in this one post. We were up there from Thursday to Saturday and came home early Sunday morning so we could go to our niece’s baptism.

Where We Went

Antique stores (Anytime Antiques and Bo-Mar Hall Antiques & Collectibles): Since the weather was iffy on Thursday (chance of thunderstorms), we decided to do more indoor activities. We hadn’t been to the antique stores in a few summers, so we went to two of the bigger ones on Route 1. At one of them, I got a cute little creamer/sugar bowl set with cats on them, and at the other, Josh got an Anheuser-Busch beer stein. 

Elements Books • Coffee • Beer: This was probably my favorite place we visited on our trip. I found it on Google Maps while looking in downtown Biddeford, and I knew we had to go. I mean, a bookstore that also has beer?! Yes, please.

Josh and I each got a beer, and he sat at a table while I wandered around to look at the books for purchase. Most of them were paperbacks, and they were priced around $8.99, which is about half off of a regular paperback price. I got two books: The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir and Bottom of the 33rd by Dan Barry.

Sanford Mainers baseball game: The Mainers are a summer collegiate baseball team (like the Cape Cod league), and the Mainers are part of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Back in college, I interned with the western MA team that’s in the same league, and when Josh and I were talking about planning for Maine, I remembered there was a Maine team that played in the league. Once I looked them up, the stadium was only 20 minutes away, and tickets were cheap, so Josh was in.

The Mainers were playing the North Adams Steeple Cats, and I doubt this was planned, but both teams were wearing gold-colored jerseys. This made it hard to tell which team was which on the field, so at one point, I was clapping for the wrong team. The game was pretty quiet, and the Mainers won 2–0.

We ate at the game, chicken tenders and pretzels, and both had Baxter Haze beers—once we realized they actually did sell alcohol there after buying bottled water and lemonade.

Gooch’s beach: We originally planned the beach for Thursday, but because of a chance of thunderstorms, we moved the beach day to Saturday. And the weather was perfect. Since we were going on a weekend, we decided to get there around 9:00 am since parking is sort of limited (it’s street parking right along the beach).

Dogs are allowed on the beach before 9:00 am and after 5:00 pm, and we saw tons of pups running around in the morning. And thankfully, we were able to snag a parking spot right away. The one nice thing about this beach is that since the parking is right next to the beach, you can drop your stuff down off the sidewalk onto the sand (compared to schleping from a parking lot). 

Josh’s friend’s house for a fire: Josh has a friend from Scouts who lives up in Maine, and after Josh told him we were up there for the weekend, his friend invited us over for a fire. It was my first time meeting his friend (but I had heard about him), and I was actually more excited to meet his dog, Dobby. He was such a cutie and was going around to everyone (there were seven of us there) to get pets. 

What We Ate + Drank

Boulay Farm and Market: Josh went here with his parents last fall, and he knew he had to take me here when we were up in Maine. It was super cute! It’s a little farm (with goats!) and also a market with a ton of locally made items. We split a sandwich and chips for a quick lunch.

Batson River: We’ve already been to two Batson locations (Kennebunk and Portland) and decided to go to the Biddeford location for our pre-anniversary dinner. We split a pretzel for an appetizer; for dinner, I got blackened haddock tacos, and Josh got the fried haddock sandwich. 

Sebago Brewing: The last time we went here was a few years ago, and we wanted an easy place for dinner after a day at the beach (mostly meaning a place we could go in comfy clothes). We both got the blueberry ale and split fried pickles; for dinner, I got the Hop Daddy Chicken, and Josh got the Vermont Melt. They also have the best tater tots—and they don’t upcharge for them.

Miscellaneous

We went to Gooch’s beach on Thursday night after dinner as the sun was setting, and on Friday night, we made s’mores! And, keeping on brand, I had trouble sleeping the entire time we were there. I was very happy to sleep in my own bed Sunday night, especially after how busy that day was coming home and then going to the church and then out to dinner with my parents.

Then we do it all again next weekend!! Yes, we’re going back again next weekend, which means I need to get to planning right about now.