Maine I LOOOOOVE You!!

(This post is way too long, but I need to finish posting about our trip so I can get caught up with other things - like our Memorial Day weekend and NEWS ABOUT OUR NEW BABY'S GENDER TOMORROW!!!!)

Davis is so tired of me going on and on about how I want to move to Maine. But when you see these pictures (all unedited and taken in un-ideal lighting conditions) you will see why. I have been all over this great land of ours, and I have never been in love with a place the way I fell in love with Maine. Maine, Maine, Maine... When our neighbors moved away, our kids' school closed, and we decided to maybe leave our church all in the week following our trip, I told Davis it was DEFINITELY a sign that we should move to Maine. He didn't think so.

Actually, before I get to Maine (Maine, Maine, Maine), we stopped in Salem on the way up the coast. Mostly it was totally hokey and we were totally dorky

but the witch trial memorial was beautiful

and so were parts of Salem - the sun even peeked out for about 20 minutes!

We ate at Fitz's Seafood, which was very extremely yummy. And look - they were celebrating their tenth anniversary too!

We also stopped so I could have a cup of ginger tea (my new best friend, because I am STILL queasy all the time)

and then we went and bought Davis a pipe. He used to smoke a pipe years ago and missed it, and I kind of love the smell of pipe tobacco.

Anyway, now, on to MAINE! We stayed in Kennebunkport and LOVED it. It was foggy and so gorgeous, I don't even know where to begin with all the things I loved. How about the houses?

Here's the one I picked for us to live in - right on the ocean.

Our B&B was awesome, and we'll definitely be back. It was the Maine Stay Inn (in Maine, BTW). Oh and it's on Main Street too. Cute, huh?

I love B&B's, because you meet such great people. The other couples we had breakfast with were fun to talk to. And Walt and Judi who owned the place were so great. We had the most amazing breakfasts - things like rhubarb and strawberry crepes. Sunday we were leaving before breakfast, so Judi said "we'll just put out some cereal for you when you get up." I was thinking like corn flakes, not this

The town of Kennebunkport was completely adorable.

We went antique store browsing

and drove around to see some sights - like this old jail, which was like the oldest still-standing jail in the U.S. or something like that.

Criminals in the 1700's must not have been very bad, because there were no bars on the windows and the doors were thin wood. Maybe it's because all the bad criminals just got their heads lopped off?

Did I mention how beautiful Maine is? Even in the fog

Davis was obsessed with the tides - it was cracking me up, because he gave me constant updates about the tide. Now I just randomly ask him "what's the tide doing?" that and "have you seen a Dunkin Donuts?"

Can you see what's behind that sea gull?

Look closely and you'll see the lighthouse.

We dropped in on the Bush's one afternoon. George says hi.

We ate dinner at Federal Jacks in Kennebunkport, and it was good. The beer was extra good (or so I've heard). This was the view from our table

The next day we had lunch at H.B. Provisions and had the best clam chowder either one of us has EVER had. It was to die for!! It made us sleepy and we went and TOOK A NAP! IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON!

Speaking of food, here's a picture of how humongous I am already

and a picture of the whoopie pie that I ate which didn't help.

Anyway... we spent one day in Portland, which was JUST AS AWESOME in a completely different way.

We went to a great coffee shop and, while Davis waited on the AAA guy to come unlock the car after he locked the keys in it, I sat and drank tea and read my new book (which I got half way through on my trip and haven't touched since)

We wandered around and noticed how friendly the people up there are - totally could live there. This shop cracked me up. Not very subtle - the sign on the door says things like NO CELL PHONES! NO MINORS! I asked Davis if he needed any special "tobacco" for his pipe

Across the street was the crytpozoology museum that we went to. It did not know what cryptozoology was - it's the study of monsters and actually it was pretty fun for $5!

We had some sushi for dinner and went to see Bridesmaids before heading back to Kennebunkport. The movie was hilarious in a completely raunchy, silly way.

Our last night, we went to Nunan's Lobster.

It's a lobster shack near Kennebunkport and the lobster was perfect

(I took this picture and then had to turn the little feller around before I could finish eating him! That reminds me, I worked at a seafood restaurant once in Carmel, California, and in our lobster tank, we had "Larry the Lobster." Little kids always came in to visit Larry, and we'd take him out of the tank to show him off... they didn't know that every day Larry was a different lobster) I do feel bad for lobsters, it's not their fault they're so delicious.

If you go to Nunan's, just have the lobster, though. The clam chowder and the blueberry cobbler were awful. So was running back in to go to the bathroom at the back of the restaurant, then walking back out and having your husband inform you that the back of your dress is tucked into your underwear.

Good thing we were leaving town early the next morning.

I want to move to Maine! Seriously. I LOVED it. The people, the landscape, the houses, the weather (really), everything.

But by the end of Saturday, we were really missing the kids. The first part of the trip, we tried to avoid any places that might have kids there, but by Saturday I wanted to ask some lady at the coffee shop whether I could hold her baby! It was so good to get home and have my babies back. I can't wait for our annual family vacations to Kennebunkport to begin!!

BYE, BYE MAINE! TIL NEXT TIME!