Trip Report: Maine ~ Portland, Camden & Bar Harbor

When we were thinking about where to go for our summer family getaway my only requirement was that we pick a place we’ve never been before!  New England immediately came to mind, and we quickly narrowed our vacation destination down to Maine.  We all fell in head-over-heels love with Portland, Camden and Bar Harbor!

Portland

We started and ended our trip in Portland.

The food scene in Portland was A-MAINE-ZING!  Sorry, I had to, but seriously, Portland is a foodie’s friend for sure.  And for those that are gluten free, Portland’s got your back, from donuts and poptarts to the most incredible lobster rolls…….I’d go back just for the food.  It was that good.

God bless The Holy Donut!  They had 6 different gluten-free flavors to choose from in addition to their not gluten friendly offerings.  The kids were in donut heaven here!

I sampled my fair share, but I was mostly impressed that they put coffee ice cubes in my iced coffee.  Um, hello genius!  I brought that little tip home with me, as those of you who follow my instagram stories saw this past week.

We obviously ate our weight in lobster while we were visiting………

and now I’m having recurrent dreams about the lobster roll I had at Eventide.  This place was highly recommended when I asked for restaurant recommendations on Instagram, and it absolutely, most definitely, lived up to the hype.  And all the praise hands that it was gluten free!

We stayed at the Westin which was a great location for us to walk to restaurants and shops.  One day we took the ferry to Peaks Island.

(red sunnies, similar red tote)

Once there we rented a golf cart to take a tour of the island.  The views were breathtaking, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing some house stalking.

This pink house was a favorite for sure.  Can you even believe these hydrangeas?!

And how about this red and white striped beauty?!  Peaks Island was filled to the brim with beauty and charm!

Camden

We had originally planned to head straight to Bar Harbor from Portland, but on recommendations from a few different friends we decided to stop for a night in Camden.  It was the perfect place to stop on the way.  Camden is wonderfully quaint and charming.

We enjoyed walking around.

(black & white sandals)

The store fronts were all so lovely.  I fell in love with these map kites.  Wouldn’t they be so darling in a nursery or playroom?

Our daughter’s birthday fell on the day we were in Camden, and she was pretty excited to find an ice cream shop that had gluten free cones!  River Ducks Ice Cream totally made her day!

No matter how old she’ll always be my baby.

We celebrated her birthday that evening with a sunset sail.  It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.

Bar Harbor

Next we headed to Bar Harbor where we continued our lobster-fest.

We had planned to do a whale watching cruise, but the weather wasn’t very cooperative.  Thankfully we were still able to enjoy visiting Acadia National Park.

We thoroughly enjoyed our first trip to Maine.  The weather alone was pure perfection, and we thoroughly enjoyed the food scene.   I have no doubt we’ll be back again some time in the future!