Saturday 28 September 2013

Back to MN!

Last weekend we had our long awaited trip back to Minnesota! It was a fabulous weekend, and we're so grateful to have been able to see so many friends and family. Congrats to Chelsea and Sean on their wedding - we loved being able to be there to celebrate! We had so much fun that we forgot to take any pictures. :)


It makes us excited to come back again at the holidays!

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Boston!

Over Labor Day weekend, we capped off our travel-filled August with a long weekend in Boston! What a fabulous city - we had a great time walking around town and seeing everything we could. We flew into town, and Mike found out about a water taxi that will take you from the airport across the harbor to the downtown area - where our hotel was. It was an incredible introduction to the city! And the hotel that Mike found...well, now I know what it's like to stay in a 5 star hotel with chocolate turn-down service. Very cool!
Our hotel's pink British style taxi cab!
We started off our first day, like we usually do, by walking, walking, and more walking! We had tickets to the Red Sox game that night, but 7 hours to get there, so we meandered through much of town seeing great sights and gorgeous streets along the way.
Old graveyard in Boston Commons

We stopped in the library...I could read here for a bit!
The game was fabulous. The ballpark is surrounded with bars and restaurants just packed with fans. And Fenway is really something: between the history and the crowd there was something entertaining the entire game! We spent a few innings just walking around looking at the stadium. Our seats were actually old wooden seats - a far cry from our usual at Target Field but such an experience! The game turned out to be a long one, so we finished watching it from one of the nearby restaurants: the Bleacher Bar which was actually under the stadium bleachers! If you're watching a Red Sox game, and see a grate in center field, that's the Bleacher Bar. Pretty cool, to say the least!
Outside the Stadium - the sign for Bleacher Bar is pointing to Mike!

The Green Monster





Saturday we took a guided tour of the Freedom Trail so we could learn some of the history of the sights we were visiting. We really have had a year of following the Revolutionary War with our trips, and Boston was so interesting to visit knowing how important of a site it was for American history. We continued the trail ourselves and happened upon the Boston Aht Festival (say it out loud...with a Boston accent...) and found an awesome new painting. Then we headed toward Little Italy. Oh, how we loved Little Italy! We had an incredible dinner, and then got cannoli and tiramisu to go from Mike's Pastry. The line was down the block, but was worth it!


Sunday, we went to the Boston Common and found the duck statues! I was very excited. :) It was a rainy day, so it was adorable to see all the real ducks and swans just playing around in the puddles. We also found the Cheers bar before we wove through Beacon Hill neighborhoods back to our hotel to dry off.
Cheers!

Make Way for Ducklings

Ducks and swans playing in the rain...good thing we packed umbrellas!
One of the most surprising and best parts of the trip: my friend Krista and her boyfriend had just moved to Boston, and we were able to meet them for dinner on Sunday night. It hadn't been planned at all, but they were able to spend the whole evening with us. We had a fabulous time!

Sunday 8 September 2013

Maine Part 3: Camden & Portsmouth

After a great stay in Acadia, we had a hard time getting in the car to get to our next destination: Camden! Camden is a gorgeous small town right on the ocean about half way between Portland and Bar Harbor. We had a late lunch with chowder and mussels right on the harbor, and as we walked the harbor, we found out there was room on a sunset harbor cruise! (We were especially excited to take the cruise as we had planned on doing a Puffin cruise in Bar Harbor, but they had already migrated for the season.) The harbor was incredibly scenic with an island lighthouse, many sailboats, and some incredible mansions looking out on the water. The boat also had their own lobster traps, and we were able to see a trap brought on board with 3 lobsters in it! It was really interesting to understand how these traps work. We kept seeing buoys on the water, but didn't realize that every fisherman has their own color/pattern to set them apart. All the lobsters were too small to keep, so they were lucky and got thrown back. We got in some great shopping at local boutiques in Camden too!

Our B&B
 
On our sunset cruise

Camden Harbor - one of the most picturesque we could imagine!
We drove south the next day, and stopped just south of Portland to get a view of the lighthouse we missed on our first stop in the city. We're very happy we did. It was a beautiful day, an incredible lighthouse, and there was a food truck selling delicious lobster rolls!


Mike's in lobster roll heaven
In order to get a little closer to home we spent our last night in Portsmouth, NH. We had heard good things, but wasn't really sure what to expect. Boy are we glad we stayed! It was an adorable old coastal town with fabulous shopping and restaurants. We were able to have apps at a local tapas restaurant, and dinner at a brew pub. We weren't there long, but we had a great time! Breakfast before we left town was at a fabulous spot: Book & Bar. It was a book store and cafe/restaurant/bar. We had a great time browsing the stacks as we waited for our coffee and breakfast.
Adorable historic New England streets and alleyways were everywhere in Portsmouth.

Book and Bar
Needless to say, we had a great week! It was definitely one of our most memorable trips, and we both came home wanting to go back again in the future.

Thursday 5 September 2013

Maine Part 2: Bar Harbor & Acadia

After our fabulous few days in Portland, we drove up to Bar Harbor. It was a spectacular drive up Highway 1 following the coast and driving through some amazing small towns. Our lunch stop was in Rockland where we had our first lobster roll at a great outdoor restaurant.
A scenic stop on our way to Bar Harbor. Fort Knox is about 1/2 a mile away...who knew?!
Once we got to Bar Harbor, we stayed at another great B&B right in town. We could walk all over Bar Harbor, and were only about 5 minutes from Acadia. We literally couldn't leave: on our last day in town we spent 4 hours hiking in the park that morning before hitting the road back to Camden!

Our B&B - the patio to the left was our room!
Mike wrote all about our stay, so I'm not going to re-create the wheel here: http://www.relaxingthetravelitch.com/2013/08/bar-harbor-acadia-natural-wonderland.html

And here are some of my favorite pics!

Matching lobster dinners!

Enjoying the view post-hike

We made it to the top of the Beehive! Mike wrote about this climb too: http://www.relaxingthetravelitch.com/2013/08/the-bee-hive-trail.html

Top of the Beehive - resting our shaky legs!

Top of the Bubble