Last month, we took a family vacation to Maine. We flew into Portland late at night on a Tuesday, drove to Kennebunk the next day, and returned to Portland on Saturday before flying home on Sunday. Fair warning, this post is going to have a million photos, but it’s also going to have some hot tips if you’re planning a trip to Maine- especially if you love food or are taking kids. Here we go!
On our first night, getting to the hotel quickly was the priority (our flight landed at like 10:00pm and we knew that getting Eddie to bed would need to happen immediately.) With that in mind, we grabbed the rental car at the airport and stayed at the Comfort Inn Airport. It was clean, and we had a crib, and it was a ten minute drive to the airport. Boxes checked.
On our first morning we headed to the Holy Donut and got a selection of a half a dozen donuts. Our favorite was, hands down, the blueberry donut. It was incredible. We found a park where Eddie ran around wildly as I slowly stuffed my face with more donuts and watched people play pickleball, then made our way back to the shopping district in Portland and wandered along the waterfront until we were hungry enough for lunch.
We got to Eventide right at 11am and ordered oysters, a lobster roll, and a fish sandwich.
The fish sandwich was incredible, but we found lobster rolls that we preferred over this one as we ate our way through Maine. We headed to our hotel in Kennebunk, the Port Inn. We loved the hotel- the room was large enough so that we could stick the crib in the corner and let Eddie sleep when he needed to. There was a saltwater pool, a lobby where we could hang out and watch Netflix or read when the baby went to bed, and it was across the street from a deli where we had lunch one day. We were about a 15 minute drive from the beach in Kennebunkport but within walking distance to downtown Kennebunk. Highly recommend.
For the next several mornings, we headed to Boulangerie to grab coffees and breakfast pastries or quiche. This place, charmingly located inside a red barn, was one of the highlights of my entire trip. We sampled croissants, pain au chocolat, wedges of coffee cake, savory quiche, cookies, pretty much whatever they were offering- it was all to die for. Downtown Kennebunk has an open-air public space which one night hosted the Rotary chicken dinner and on another morning a pickleball tournament, which Eddie was intrigued by.
We would grab our treats from Boulangerie and head to a park just around the corner that had huge, wonderful play structures for him to run around on and lots of woodchips for him to throw into the air. Endless entertainment for a 1.5 year old.
We had lobster rolls from The Clam Shack in Kennebunkport. Kennebunkport reminded me of Traverse City- lots of people, lots of shopping, lots of food.
He spent plenty of time throwing rocks into the water.
More lobster. He wanted his cold with mayo.
I wanted mine hot with butter. This one was my favorite of the trip, from The Ocean Roll food truck in Kennebunk. Word to the wise, they are cash only, and you’re going to want to try one of every single item on their menu.
On our final morning in the Kennebunks, which also happened to be Mark’s 35th birthday, we were up early and stopped at The Landing Store to pick up delicious muffins and breakfast sandwiches before heading to the beach. Eddie couldn’t get enough of the water and the dogs that were running around, and mama couldn’t get enough of her oversized blueberry corn muffin and egg and cheese on English muffin as I watched my two men in the water.
Back in Portland we spent the afternoon at Smiling Hill Farm, where Eddie could pet lots of animals, play on the playground, and eat his own baby-sized ice cream. This place was perfect.
Other favorites were the boiled lobster dinner at the Clam Shack, ice cream cones from Rococo Ice Cream, dinner at 50 Local, looking at the animals and plants at Snug Harbor Farm, ogling the Bush compound at Walker’s Point, and dreaming about making a week in Maine a yearly tradition. It was a heavenly vacation and I was so happy that we stayed in Kennebunk, a little bit off the beaten path, instead of dealing with bustling Portland (which is a wonderful city and one that we liked spending time in, we just needed a more relaxed pace for this trip.)
Have you been to Maine? Any other recommendations? Because the Lawrences are going back in Summer 2020, with any luck!
