The last leg of my Northeast road trip was in picturesque Maine. Portland gave me the best photos from the whole trip. It’s a small city with a famous and delicious food scene and safe to say, my FAVORITE city on the road trip.
Where I Stayed
I stayed in South Portland in a cute home of creatives. It was almost a Cape Cod-styled home with continuous construction. It’s a home I would love to live in, older and creakier but charming.
Where I Ate
Tandem Coffee Roasters The cold brew coffee was okay – I think everyone else got a vanilla latte, which they raved about, but the loaded biscuit was to-die-for. For a biscuit snob who used to live in the South, it was impressively flaky on the outside and fluffy inside with jam and butter.
Blake Orchard Juicery is hipster heaven with their bowls and smoothies. I chose their mint chocolate smoothie with cacao nibs. It was refreshing and I’m thinking of trying to replicate it as I type this.
The Holy Donut was as good as it sounds. They use potato flour in their donuts. I picked the blueberry donut since Maine is known for blueberries and their most popular sea salt chocolate.
Rising Tide I didn’t drink much beer on this trip and didn’t love the beer at Rising Tide, but I did enjoy the atmosphere. Portland is a little more spread out aside from the downtown area. Rising Tide is in an industrial complex and occupies a large open space with indoor and outdoor seating.
Bao Bao Dumpling House Recommended by my AirBnb host, this was the best meal of the whole trip. I had been strangely craving dumplings. These were their short rib dumplings, but they have some other creative and mouthwatering flavors. I would go back just for these.
Where I Visited
Greener Postures Yoga I went twice, once to each location. They specialize in heated yoga. The first class was easier and great after a long drive. The second class in their South Portland location was taught by their co-founder and super challenging. I loved it!
Old Port still has stone streets and little shops as well as… the ports.
Portland Light House I made my way slowly down the coast to the lighthouses, all which are south of Portland. I spent over an hour walking around and relaxing at one of the many green areas/picnic tables.
Where I Stayed Active
Eastern Promenade and all the other ocean-side paths were perfect add-ons after a day within the city center. There were people kayaking, which I don’t do but you can.
Jewell Falls and other nearby hikes, which aren’t as close as I hoped maybe within an hour’s drive though. Bring bug spray though – I walked for maybe 2 miles and came out with 5 new bug bites.
