Last Summer in Maine

This pandemic has caused so much trouble for so many people, so it's just a small thing that I had to forego my normal summer vacation in Maine. Missing seeing my daughter is harder.

Anyway, it's been a crazy two days with a surprise book-related task that had to be finished quickly, so I thought I'd just indulge and revisit last year's vacation which would have been ending just about now.


I'm a coastal girl at heart. I can't be too many miles inland before the yearning for the ocean takes over.

My youngest daughter lives in Portland, ME, so the older daughter and I decided to go visit her for a week. We rented a cottage about a block from the beach. This is my idea of heaven.


Crossing the Piscataqua Bridge is a magical moment. Halfway across you leave New Hampshire behind and enter Maine.

A little bit down the road, you see this sign. Well, this is what you see now. For decades, the sign read Maine the Way Life Should Be. That sign was replaced with this Welcome Home sign. There was so much outrage over the loss of the original sign, that the bottom part was added last February.

The trip up on Friday was long, and as we arrived in Maine, fog shrouded everything. We were tired and hungry so we settled into our Air BnB and headed down to the waterfront in Portland for a late dinner.

Both my daughter and I chose the seafood scampi - shrimp, scallops, and lobster in a lemon garlic sauce over pasta.

The next morning, the fog had lifted, so this was my view when I took Fenway out walking.

The view off the Eastern Promenade in Portland. That's Casco Bay.

We picked up the younger daughter and took her cat to the vet for his checkup before heading down to York Beach.

Part of the reason I chose York was because we're allowed to take Fenway walking on Long Sands Beach before 8AM and after 6 PM. That was definitely my favorite part of the trip, so here are some photos.

Long Sands Beach

Sunset looking away from the beach.

We had dinner a couple of times at this delicious restaurant called Stone's Throw which was literally a stone's throw from the beach. These two photos are the view from our table.

We also stayed close by the Nubble Lighthouse so it was a lovely spot to just hang out with Fen and soak in the beauty.

Fenway likes the lighthouse.

Another restaurant. More lobster.

And finally, here are a few videos to help bring the beach to you.

We also brought two cats and Fenway. It had the potential for disaster, but everyone got along well.

 Sadly, one of the pre-pandemic changes from the past year is that BartyCat is no longer with us. my daughter was devastated when we had to put him to sleep at Christmas. But a pandemic rescue gave her Teddy. I shared this photo on FB and Twitter this week of Teddy doing Yoga with Adriene along with my daughter.