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Travel Advice: Maine

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by JackReacher, Jul 7, 2019.

  1. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Driving up the east coast next week with stops in NYC, Newport, Boston, and Portland.

    We have a plan for all but Portland. Any recommendations? We don’t even have lodging yet. Just gonna drive around and see what we see.

    Is it worth detouring into NH or VT for anything? We’ll likely have 3 days for Portland/etc.

    Thanks!
     
  2. Scout

    Scout Well-Known Member

    JackReacher likes this.
  3. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    Lots of good restaurants and breweries up that way. I’d start listing them, but I’d forget somewhere very worthy ...

    If you’re into transportation, the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport is worth swinging by for an hour or two.
     
    JackReacher likes this.
  4. Vombatus

    Vombatus Well-Known Member

    I like Boothbay, and if you like National Parks, Acadia is a must.
     
    JackReacher likes this.
  5. Key

    Key Well-Known Member

    Portsmouth NH is a fun little town...but I've heard Portland is a bigger version of Portsmouth.
     
    Smallpotatoes and JackReacher like this.
  6. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    I met some people from Portsmouth in Portland. They basically told me there was no real reason to detour into New Hampshire and they came to Maine to get the hell away from the place. So take that for what it's worth.

    I toured the hell out of Portland's brewery scene when I was up there two years ago. I visited Lone Pine, Rising Tide, Bissell Brothers, Foundation, Austin Street, Allagash, Maine Beer Co., Banded Horn and Barreled Souls.

    Maine Beer is up in Freeport, so you can check out LL Bean while you're there. Lone Pine, Rising Tide and Bissell Brothers are near downtown, and there are several others that I didn't hit or have opened since I visited. I wholeheartedly recommend a visit to the Allagash tasting room, even if you don't like Allagash White. You'll get a free sample tray of four beers, plus an opportunity to check out the facility. Austin Street and Foundation are right across the street from Allagash in an industrial park, so you can get to all three easily. Austin Street is run by several women, and their beer is fantastic.

    Banded Horn and Barreled Souls are on the way out of town south if you're headed toward Saco-Biddeford. Barreled Souls is basically a little basement brewery that has some super strong beers. Banded Horn is more of an arcade type setting, so that's pretty fun as well.

    When I was up there, I checked out Two Lights State Park just east of Portland, and it has some stunning views of the craggy coastline. Also visited Wolfe Neck Woods State Park when I went up toward Freeport for the stop at Maine Beer Co. There are a couple of easy hiking trails there and great views of the coastal scenery.
     
    wicked likes this.
  7. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    Bissell Brothers is the beer geek choice, or it was a few years ago. Maine Beer has some good IPAs. There is a very well regarded beer bar with a French name I cannot remember. (Novare Reis)

    There is a cool hotel near the bars and restaurants. It was renovated from an armory or something. You can walk to the places on the water. Again, good restaurant whose name I cannot remember. It had a good beer list and served large pretzels and cheese plates type of stuff.
     
  8. spikechiquet

    spikechiquet Well-Known Member

    I just got back from Portland. We loved it. We stayed the first night in a AirBnB on the Eastern Promenade and the view of awesome. We found a cheaper place the rest of the week over by Bunker Brewing. Hotel prices there are crazy.

    Get the lobster claw cocktail at J's Oysters rawbar.
    Try the Lobster Corn Dog at The Highroller.
    Allagash had our favorite beers and the food truck there makes mini lobster roll flights.
    If you don't want fish for a night, try Paciarino's in-house pasta.
    Holy Donut was good. Thick (made from potatoes) but delicious.

    Oh, and the sun comes up at like 4:50a, so have room-darkening shades! LOL

    We did stop in Portsmouth and got inside the Albacore submarine. It's cheap and fairly quick to walk though. So if you have never been in a sub before, worth a stop.
     
  9. Vombatus

    Vombatus Well-Known Member

    You folks are making me hungry.
     
  10. Monday Morning Sportswriter

    Monday Morning Sportswriter Well-Known Member

    Portland has two interesting food stops:

    If anyone in your party is gluten free, the Bow Wow bakery is amazing. I’m not g-free, but my wife is, and whenever I’m within an hour of there, I detour to bring back a few boxes of their stuff.

    There’s a little cafe called Duck Fat with some amazing fries. Cuz duck fat.
     
  11. Scout

    Scout Well-Known Member

    My logic when traveling is to do things I can’t do at home. There are a shit ton of breweries where I live.

    What I don’t have is dry summer air, the ocean and lobsters.
     
  12. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

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