HOME TOUR

We decided on a Tuesday to head up to Maine on Friday. Summer is short after all. Maine is close enough to be a day trip but far enough of a drive that staying overnight is just better with little kids. We left at 7:30 am and stopped at the Palace Diner in Biddeford for breakfast. If you haven’t watched Somebody Feed Phil you are missing out because it’s one of our favorite shows (this was on their Maine episode). He often encourages our travels, like this spontaneous trip to Portugal a few years ago because we’re foodies at heart.

PALACE DINER

This is a very small diner with a whole ton of character, great staff and mind-blowing food. We expected a reallllllly long wait. We prepped the kids for it. But arriving at about 9:30 am we were seated within 15 minutes on a Friday morning. Might have been a fluke because the wait can be hours. Definitely get the pancakes. I liked them better than the French Toast and try the browned butter banana bread. The kids loved their “lumber jack” breakfasts so much they asked for hats, which they wore for the rest of the trip.

COASTAL MAINE BOTANICAL GARDEN

Last summer, on another spontaneity kick, we hopped a plane and found ourselves exploring Denmark for a week. It was unbelievably wonderful and during that trip we discovered the amazing Trolls by the artist Thomas Dambo. They’re all over the world now and such fun for kids (and momma’s alike). The closest one to us here in the States is at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, where there are five trolls hidden through the garden and you’re on a quest to discover clues to unlock the mystery of the “golden seeds.” Boothbay harbor is only 10 minutes from the gardens which we made our home base for this quick overnight trip.

GUARDIANS OF THE SEEDS

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is beautiful and has a lot for kids to do. They are open 9-5. We spent about 2.5 hours but could have stretched that longer if it hadn’t been so hot. There is a beautiful kid’s garden with a playhouse I took a million pictures of (hint hint husband).

There’s also a butterfly house in addition to the troll hunt called “Guardians of the Seeds,” a cafe, fairy garden and forest paths in abundance to explore. They give the kids treasure maps when you enter and at each troll you find a sign with their name on it and what they represent. You then fill out the word to describe them on your map which, once you get all the clues filled in, will lead you to the location in the gardens where the golden seeds are hidden. It was adorable. It’s also the perfect tactile, educational, gross motor, non-screen activity for little kids.

Because we stopped on our way up to eat breakfast, we arrived at the gardens around 12:30 pm completely stuffed. We had a lot of time to explore but it was also the heat of the day. Bring enough water and if you can swing it, go early or later in the afternoon in summer. It is a lot of walking but handicap accessible with shuttles that zip through paths in the forest to get you to the trolls. We ended up taking a shuttle back because Cade was feeling pretty miserable in his hot, sweaty prosthetics.

BOOTHBAY HARBOR

To be honest, most places I wanted to stay here were sold out, clearly, it is Maine in the summer after all. But we found a great option right on the harbor that was even dog-friendly. We weren’t sure if we were going to find a dog sitter with such short notice so we had a dog-friendly room in case. We stayed at Fisherman’s Wharf Inn and it was lovely. Probably a 3 star hotel, nothing fancy to be sure but clean and adequate and a great view of the harbor.

THE BOATHOUSE BISTRO

We parked in their parking lot, unloaded our overnight bag to the room and walked around town to find an early dinner. We ended up eating at The Boathouse Bistro on their rooftop deck. Everything was delicious and the view lovely. But the wild blueberry house sangria was out of this world.

DOWNEAST ICE CREAM FACTORY

A stroll through the town, into a few shops and clearly a bag of saltwater taffy later, we ended up at Downeast Ice Cream shop which has been an institution here for 44 years. And from many of you lovely Instagram followers, a sweet spot in your memories. It was delicious, the portions were insane. The kiddie size took up Aubrey’s whole face.

We walked off the ice cream along the ocean, popping onto wharfs and exploring a boat building shop towards the end of town.

SATURDAY MORNING

We woke up lazy around 8 am and decided to try a boat ride with the kids. Cade and Kai wanted to go on the Puffin tour but I didn’t have Dramamine with me and Cade got sick on the boat in Lake Titicaca in Peru. Soooo, I wanted the shortest possible scenic boat tour as possible and the Puffin tour was 2.5 hours! Our surprise plan for the kids was to leave Boothbay and head down the coast to Portland (an 1.5 hr drive) where they have a Narrow Gauage Railroad Museum and a trainride (which runs on the hour until 3pm on Saturdays). This left us with time but also an awareness of needing to get back to Portland in time for the last train.

A TRIP ABOARD THE “NOVELTY”

This is 1 hour ferry boat ride that takes residents and visitors out to Squirrel Island in Boothbay Harbor. For tourists like us, it gives us a scenic and short ride around the harbor perfect for antsy little kids. Matt had gone out to do some sleuthing about tours while we were still all waking up and came back to tell me about this ferry. He mentioned there was a 9 am and a 10 am assuming we’d do the later. This was 8:45, we were all in our pjs and I realized, if we did the early one, we’d have way more time to explore. So we miraculously got 3 kids dressed and to the wharf in 10 minutes. We figured no food in their bellies would help the seasickness possibility and it was so short that we could eat when we got back to the harbor. It ended up being the perfect trip for little ones.

Beautiful views of the harbor and smooth seas made this a lovely trip to start our day.

We left Boothbay after having a delicious breakfast at Waves which came highly recommended by the hotel. On our drive down to Portland we stopped at a roadside stand to pick up wild Maine blueberries which I promptly turned into a pie. You can get my recipe here.

FOLLOW YOUR GUT

I was feeling conflicted on our drive back to Portland because there just seemed to be so many cute places to stop and I hate having a deadline over my head. Nothing kills spontaneity like a deadline. But Matt’s coworker had told him about the Narrow Gauge Railroad in Portland and we assumed that was going to be the highlight of the trip. I wish I would have listened to my gut on this one because we went by this adorable Railway Village Museum and it looked so darn cute I wanted to stop. In the moment,  having done no research, we assumed it was less awesome than the Portland Maine one so we didn’t stop. But having now been to the Narrow Gauge Railroad museum in Portland, I wish we had.

MAINE NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD

I give this a “meh”. I didn’t enjoy it but the kids seemed to have fun. The actual “museum” is small and basically a gift shop which I wasn’t expecting. There’s a few old pictures on the wall. The main point of this is the train ride. Which the historic cars are interesting, for about 5 minutes. The trains run on the hour until 3 pm on Saturdays, later on Friday nights with occasional activities like an Ice cream train. The journey is out and back, 3 miles round trip along Casco bay. It moves sooooooo slooooowly that I wanted to get out and walk.

AN IDEAL ITINERARY

In my ideal world we would have stayed one more night in Boothbay (three days, two nights total for this trip) doing everything we did that first day (Palace Diner, Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, exploring Boothbay Harbor) and then spent that second day going to the Railway Village Museum and Dolphin Mini Golf in Boothbay after the cute harbor tour. Maybe hitting up the Monkey C Monkey Do which basically had the kids leaping out of their seats when we went by on the drive up. You need reservations for this popular activity though. Then we would have left early for Portland the third day on our way back to Boston, so we could eat our way through the city. I wanted to try the Holy Donut and the Standard Baking Co so badly but we missed it this trip. We did get to Duckfat again which we love.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this New England Moment and our quick trip to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and more. I hope it inspires your travels. We have so much left to see of this beautiful state. Can you comment and let me know your favorite sites in Maine?

 

DETAILS AT A GLANCE

 

PLACES TO STAY

Five Gables Inn

Topside Inn

Harbor Town Inn

Boothbay Harbor Oceanside Resort

Fisherman’s Wharf (we stayed in room 257 opposite the main inn building)

 

PLACES TO EAT

Waves

Boathouse Bistro

Ports of Italy

 

ACTIVITIES

Puffin Tour

Whale Watch Tour

Squirrel Island Ferry

Railway Village Museum

Coastal Maine Botanical Garden

Dolphin Mini Golf

Monkey C Monkey Do

Daffy Taffy and Fudge Factory

Downeast Ice cream Factory

Maine State Aquarium (temporarily closed but slated to reopen)