My Trip to Maine (August 26-28)

[Stan4dSteph]

My Maine Trip Report... or How to Spend a Lot of Money in Just One Day

This past weekend (August 26-28) I drove up with my mother to meet some friends for a brief trip to Maine. We left Albany at about 4 PM on Friday and got to Kennebunkport, Maine a little after 8 PM. Traffic wasn't too bad.

We stayed at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunkport. It's the only cheap place in town, if you don't count camping. A great deal for a bare-bones place, and it's within walking distance of the beach. They have an impressive spread for breakfast too, although if you're doing the low-carb thing, you'll have to stick to the cold cut and cheese tray. They do a lot of their own baking, and have a delicious cinnamon-raisin strudel.

Our main objective in going up was to shop like crazy at L.L. Bean's retail store in Freeport. And shop we did. We got up there early, at about 9 AM. I had an idea of what I wanted to try on from the catalog, and we went crazy filling up 3 of their tote bags with items to try on.

In the first round, before lunch, we focused on women's clothes. I got the following items:

The Swift River Sweater, in Pea Pod and Hazelnut. It's really comfy and works great as an outer layer.
The Pima Cotton Stand-Up Neck Shirt in Celadon to go with the Pea Pod-colored Swift River Sweater. The Pima cotton shirts are so soft and comfy, and they look dressy enough to wear without an outer layer, unlike some of the other mock turtlenecks I've seen.
The Air Light Turtleneck Sweater in Chocolate Brown. Yeah, it's dry clean only, but it looks dressy enough to wear at work. It falls at the high hip too, which I like a lot.
The Wrinkle-Resistant Pinpoint Oxford Shirt, Three-Quarter-Sleeve Shirt in the Wood Violet Stripe color. These shirts are awesome! They are fitted to give you shape, and any shirt that doesn't require ironing is tops in my book. I love the bright colors and I will definitely be getting some more of these in other colors sometime soon.
The Orchard Floral Shirt in Primrose. It's a nice lightweight cotton, with slight shaping and a fun, cute pattern. It looks great under the Hazelnut Swift River Sweater or on its own.

Forward-Seamed Pants in the Light Khaki color. These look great paired with the sweaters and I needed another pair of tan pants. I love the different look of the forward seam.
The Triple-Stitch Jeans in Vintage. These jeans make my butt look fantastic! I was so stoked when I tried them on, I didn't care how much they were. IMO, they have a designer look without a designer price tag.

The Chino Jacket in Khaki. This works great as casual wear, but is dressy enough for my office. It looks great over oxford shirts with slacks or over t-shirts paired with jeans. I buttoned it and it gives a great fitted shape right where I need it. I love it!
The Classic Wool Blend Polo Coat in Cherry Blossom Tweed. A pink coat!

Around about noon, it was starting to get busy and we decided to head out to lunch. We went next door to the Jameson Tavern. Jameson Tavern is considered the birthplace of Maine; it's where the papers were signed separating Maine from Massachusetts. The food was good and the weather was perfect, so we sat outside on the patio. I had a yummy hot pastrami sandwich on marble rye with some of their signature sweet brown mustard.

After fortifying ourselves, we went back to Bean to visit the shoe department, kid's clothes and housewares. We got some really cute stuff for my nephew, including this sweater in the navy with the lobster on it and this fleece jacket in Alpine Gold. We also couldn't resist getting him a pair of these cute dog slippers.

Upstairs, the shoe department was a bit of a madhouse, but we managed to try on several different kinds of shoes. I got a pair of Market Street Comfort Slides in the Sail Orange color, which don't seem as bright as they look in the linked photo. I also grabbed a pair of the Summer Breeze Comfort Slides in Midnight since they were on sale and I needed a dark pair. They're great for warm weather; the mesh lets the air in and out.

We swung through housewares because I absolutely love their furniture. We found these lounge chairs to be very comfy (you can lean all the way back), but didn't pick one up this time. At this point we were over by the cafe, so we all grabbed drinks and lounged on the wonderful leather furniture.

Heading to the cash registers to buy my shoes, I came across some items I hadn't seen yet. (Danger!) Of course, I had to pick up a Fitness Fleece Jacket in the Plum Wine color. Keeping my eyes averted from any further displays, we headed for the cash register and made our final purchases of the day.

Finally, we're leaving, but wait, not so fast! As we were leaving, we were handed a coupon that entitled us to $10 off a purchase of $100 or more. So back in we go to customer service to get our $10 refund.

Dinner was at the Ogunquit Lobster Pound, a true Maine experience. The place was packed by the time we arrived around 6 PM. We ended up waiting about an hour for our table, but the weather was nice and there are plenty of Adirondack chairs outside to lounge in while waiting. The inside is a long room with many tables, each numbered. After getting your number, you go back outside and pick out your lobster from the large tank by telling them how large (by weight) of lobster you want. We also got an order of steamers (steamed clams). It's quite a production. The secret to their fabulous lobster flavor is that they boil them in seawater.

The lobster is pre-cracked, making it easier to eat, although it's still messy (You use a lot of napkins). I'm not a big fan of clams, but these particular ones were very tasty and a bit sweet. The lobster was fantastic as usual. To top off our orgy of eating, the Lobster Pound makes a diving deep-dish blueberry pie. It's served warm in a crock with the crust draped over the top. Of course we had ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. There's nothing like a wild Maine blueberry pie from here. A perfect cap to a long, wonderful day of shopping and eating.

[Stan4dSteph]

On Sunday we headed to the beach. The weather was perfect, although the water here is too cold for swimming without a wetsuit. We walked along the sand and lounged for a while, just enjoying the weather and the sound of the surf. For lunch, we walked into town and had Ben and Jerry's ice cream (why not? I'm on vacation!). I had Apple-y Ever After, which has a wonderful cinnamon-apple flavor with a hint of ginger. We did some more window shopping in Kennebunkport before heading on our way back to Albany.

Unfortunately, we weren't the only New Englanders to take advantage of the great weekend weather. The drive back was horrific. It ended up taking us about 6.5 hours, with a lot of stop and go driving all the way through Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. It didn't thin out until after the I-84 turnoff for the NYC/NJ/CT types. We grabbed dinner at a rest stop on the Mass Pike, and I got a wonderful Lavazza coffee to give me a jolt.

All in all, a really fantastic, but tiring, weekend.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Awesome. Sometimes those little weekend trips down the road are the best.

[Not Afraid]

DAMN! Now, I am hungry, wanting to go shoping, and needing to see Steph in her "Gee my ass look terrific" jeans. Please post a pic of your ass.

Seriously, that sounds like an incredible weekend. I do love the East Coast accessability - although, it seems others do to.

Thank you for sharing your TR. Now, if I could only get my lips around some lobster........

[mistyisjafo]

Maine is one state I'd love to visit. Just to see where Stephen King lived and to visit Bangor and pay tribute to the non-existant Castle Rock!

[Not Afraid]

I have to admit that I have a great desire to abuse my administrative powers to change the name of this thread to:

My Trip to Maine (August 26-28) or Gee My Ass Looks Terrific!

But I won't.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I am well acquainted with pics of Steph's ass on a normal (MA?) day, so it'd be great to see a comparison shot