Maine was beautiful!

All four of our flights were uneventful (the best kind!)We landed in Manchester, NH, in the early evening & were immediately overcome by the dazzling array of colors due to the changing of the leaves. What beauty! The orange shades were breathtaking. We collected our rental car & drove North, crossing the river into Maine. We stopped in Portland to eat at the first place we found, a chain restaurant called Outback Steakhouse. We do not normally eat at chains, but were pleasantly surprised by the food at this establishment & the staff could not have been more
friendly or helpful. The gave us directions & even let us use their phone to call the Inn to let them know we were on our way. My husband had a chicken dish called Alice Springs Chicken, grilled chicken breast with bacon, mushrooms, Jack & Cheddar cheeses & a honey mustard sauce while I had a wonderful rack of lamb paired with an Australian Shiraz. We lodged at Country Abundance B&B in Poland, Maine. It is a beautiful white farmhouse with a blacksmith shop on 11 1/2 wooded acres within walking distance of Tripp Lake. There are horseshoe pits, canoes & rafts for the summer months, hammocks, swings & porches with rockers, chairs & tables. The innkeepers were wonderful, as were the other guests & the food. There were cookies on the sideboard waiting for us when we arrived. (Along with a bottle of wine & a handcrafted set of iron dice made by the innkeeper himself that my father had called ahead to have put in our room!) The breakfasts included with our lodging were fantastic. Along with fruit, juice, coffee or tea, bacon or ham, waffles, french toast, blueberry pancakes or eggs there was a different kind of homemade muffin each day! Maple syrup made by the innkeepers from their own trees. WOW! My husband wrapped his muffin up, taking it to class with him to place under his blacksmith forge around 10 each morning for a yummy warm snack. He will miss his 10 o'clock muffin at work today! So accommodating, the innkeeper make breakfast early for my husband so he could get to class on
time & then a later breakfast for the rest of us! The beds were so very comfortable with IRONED sheets! The first day we drove to Wells, Ogunquit, Kennybunk, Kennybunkport,York & Portland, Maine. I attempted to find the restaurant where I had dined in Wells with my parents some years
ago, but found things had changed quite a bit. I have a suspicion we DID eat lunch at the same place, but I couldn't be sure! I had lazy lobster, which is one with the meat already removed for you. Very yummy. My husband had fish & chips. We went to the beach where my husband waded in the Atlantic for the first time ever! We stumbled upon a country church made of field stones called St. Peters by the Sea & collected acorns. Also found a small roadside wine & cheese store where everything was marked down. Picked out presents for loved ones & ourselves! In Portland we checked out the downtown & harbor areas, including the Farmer's Market where we bought bread, wine, coffee & even a cannoli to share. We explored bookstores, a pet supply store, (they had "My Labrador Retriever is smarter than your honor student" bumper stickers) candy stores & many stores that defy definition! One sold stained glass windows with whole antique bottles incorporated into them. We dined that evening at Dimillo's, a floating restaurant, for a very enjoyable dinner of Chicken Marsala for my husband & Clam Chowder & Crab Cakes for myself, along with a lovely Red Zinfandel. We watched as the Scotia Princess (I think) left the harbor for an evening cruise to Nova Scotia. The next day my husband took the car to his blacksmith class in Auburn, ME, about 20 minutes away. The innkeeper took me to the Freyburg Fair. It's a county-fair-type fair. I had a very yummy turkey soup there & bought a Welsh Corgi Pembroke
lapel pin. On the way we stopped at one of her artist friend's shops. There I bought a much needed new purse. It's fabric, black & tan with a patchwork design incorporating dragonflies. It will work wonderfully in Italy. There is a mountain on this route used for skiing. It's lit for night skiing. On the way back to the inn we stopped at a gift shop with a sculpture garden & also
at Blacksmith Winery. That night my husband & I dined at Maurice Restaurant in Paris, Maine. Pork loin with Marsala for my husband and Scampi for myself accompanied by a White Zinfandel. Once again, very lovely. They had a nice sherbet in champagne course to clean your palate. When
we got back to the inn we were joined by four other guests. A couple from Boston who stay at the Inn often & a couple from Ireland. We sat around the fireplace (and sometimes the World Series on TV) sharing wine & very interesting conversation. The third day I took my husband to his class so I would have use of the car. It poured most of the day, but was gorgeous none-the-less! I visited the Shaker Village at Sabbathday Lake, the only active Shaker Community, where there are only 7 Shakers left, all male, the last woman dying just recently. I purchased a few gifts for friends & an open shaker box with a handle for myself. I then went back to the Inn & spent a lovely day reading, journaling, drinking hot tea, watching & listening to the rain & visiting with the innkeeper. The next day I went back into Portland, across the bridge to
the Portland Head Light, in Cape Elizabeth, a lighthouse commissioned by George Washington. Gorgeous ocean vistas greeted me & I purchased some Christmas cards featuring the lighthouse. On the way out of Cape Elizabeth there is a large, beautiful home, decorated outside by placing
HUGE pots of various colors of mums down the side of the front stairs. So beautiful. Everywhere in Maine I saw yards & homes decorated for fall. Pumpkins were on porches & in yards everywhere. Halloween decorations abounded. I continued down the coast to Two Lights & a lobster shack recommended by our innkeepers. It's a tiny place right on the ocean. There are a few tables inside, but I opted for one of the many picnic tables outside, the one closest to the ocean! Huge waves broke on the large petrified rocks right next to me as I feasted on shrimp, fried potatoes & coleslaw with a hint of pineapple, accompanied by a bottle of cranberry juice. A passerby told me that if it was high tide I would be getting drenched in salt spray! That evening, at the blacksmith school, we were treated to a lobster boil, a whole soft shell lobster for each of us, accompanied by corn on the cob, mussels, red potatoes, bread and plenty of melted butter! The last day there I visited Norway, Naples & Bridgton, purchasing Christmas gifts & enjoying the friendly, helpful people of Maine. My lunch that day was onion soup & an entree of haddock (the local fish) prepared with a Dijon sauce. I purchased sandwich makin's at a store on the way back to the Inn so I could prepare a quick evening meal for my husband before he, another guest & the innkeeper went out to his shop to light the forge & do some hammering. We flew home yesterday after a final, wonderful breakfast at the Inn. My father met us at the plane in Phoenix & our Corgi was very happy to see us when we got to his home. A couple more hours of driving and reminiscing about our wonderful trip & we were home once again! If any of you get the chance, visit Maine, it's a beautiful place with wonderful people!