Exploring Portland, ME

Jeff and I are making sure we use our weekends to their full potential and our streak of day trips continues. So far this summer, we’ve gone to three different beach towns, did a scavenger hunt in the Back Bay part of Boston, and yesterday we ventured up to Portland, ME. I had never been before, so exploring a new city is always exciting. After stopping for a quick breakfast and some gas, it took us a little less than 2 hours to get up there. A little warning to anyone traveling south of New Hampshire, be prepared to pay $6 in 3 different tolls each way. We were a little surprised with how much it was costing just to get to Portland, but now we know for next time.

On our way!

Not knowing any better, we parked at the first garage we saw. It was $3 an hour so it didn’t seem too horrible. Unsure of how long we’d be there anyway, we were fine with our decision. We walked out onto the street and were greeted by one of the nicest days New England has seen all season. It was the perfect temperature with a light breeze and not a cloud in the sky. For a second, I almost thought I was back in California! We perused a few shops and grabbed a grilled muffin and coffee from one of the corner stores. We were sitting down enjoying our second breakfast and looked over to see a sign that said $5 for all day parking. Clearly we got robbed finding a place to leave our car for the day! We decided to head back to the garage and find either metered parking or get to that $5 lot.

No luck.

We couldn’t find anywhere to park under $10 now that we had forfeited our place in the garage. We gave up on main drag and after driving around aimlessly, we finally settled on parking in front of one of the government buildings. We happily paid $2 for 2 hours and it was only after walking passed several expired meters that we noticed it’s free parking on Sundays! Everyone, please learn from our mistakes! If you are in Portland on a Sunday…DO NOT PAY FOR PARKING! I’d much rather spend my money in the shops or at a restaurant then on a place to leave my car.

Anyway, parking aside, we had an amazing time in Portland. We ate at this amazing restaurant called Duckfat that was a quick walk from the Old Port District. I’ve decided that Duckfat was such an awesome meal that it deserved its own post, so see tomorrow for more details. I will leave you with this fries fried in duckfat and lemon zest donut holes with duckfat caramel sauce were some of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

After what was a fattening—but delicious—lunch, we figured we should probably work some of that duckfat off. There is a beautiful park at the edge of Portland that was built with the public in mind, the Eastern Promenade. Free parking lines the street (if you can’t tell, I hate paying for parking) and there are so many different activities you could do. We saw kayakers and paddle boarders, swimmers and bicyclists, even people just lying on the grass enjoying a good book. We took a nice walk along the coastal trail, loving the cool breeze that was coming from the water. We headed back to the car, exhausted after a nice, long day in the sun. After stopping at one of the nicest rest stops we’ve been to—Maine knows how to do things right—we were ready to be home. Until next weekend!