gilpinology: {She Said} Whisked Away To Maine

A year ago, Rachel and I decided that we would go into the next decade together. After much debate, it was decided that we would meet up in the North East to celebrate our 30th birthdays in style.

First, Matt and I almost missed our plane. Our luggage did miss our plane. So, upon arriving in Boston, we had some lunch while our clothes caught up. Then we drove out to Cape Cod and stayed 3 days in Province Town.

This was a lovely little town with fun shopping and great seafood. The entire purpose of this trip for Matt was to eat as much seafood as possible. I don’t know that he accomplished the “as possible part” but he ate A LOT of it. We did sample the clam chowder at most restaurants that we visited. Delicious.

The first day we mostly walked around a shopped. This was mainly all of us walking around and me shopping but Rachel stepped in just enough for me to not feel awkward about it. Over lunch, we looked out the restaurant window and got to watch some old ladies go for a swim in the (freezing) bay and then strip naked to change back into their clothes. That was fun. Then in the afternoon, we went to a bar to give the guys a little rest on the shopping spree and one native was very rude about his leering at Rachel and I (mainly Rachel- she’s a fox).

That night, we unfortunately stood up the Inn Keeper’s son. Dinner ran a bit late and we had told him that we would play the Pirates of the Caribbean game with him but he got tired and left before we showed up. Oops.

For my actual birthday, we drove out to the beach and took in the sights of the sand dunes (got some exercise walking through the sand ahem) and then drove to some other small towns. Rachel found this great little boutique for her and I to buy old lady clothes in while the guys found a bar for us to catch the last half of the A&M game at (the Aggies ran out of time). In search of sweets (because that’s all I wanted to eat for my birthday) Justin got some chocolate covered gummies which were more delicious than I would have guessed. We tied it all off with dinner at what quickly became our favorite restaurant in Province Town, The Lobster Pot, where we discussed mercurial moods and Justin wore a bib.

Our Bed and Breakfast, Gabriel’s, in Province Town was lovely. It had a great breakfast in the morning, comfy accommodations and was super accessible to everything we needed. It takes a real hostess’s heart to run a place like that and they do it well.

Finally, on Sunday, we had breakfast with a lovely lady named Richard and then made our way to Kennebunkport, Maine, stopping along the way to have lunch with Aunt Donna and Uncle George in Portsmouth. Good seafood chowder.

Kennebunkport, was exactly what you want a New England town to be. It was quaint with an old feel. Right on the water. Old homes. Very beautiful.

Our bed and breakfast there was called The Mansion, and boy was it. I actually felt a little too unfancy for it. But they were super nice and new how to make a visit special. I bought an elephant candy dish from them. On our first evening there, we went to a store that boasted to have the Best of Everything. They lied. And then had an extended happy hour at two different bars. Good times.

Rachel had food poisoning on her birthday so we played it low key. Did a little walking and a little driving. I never did get to take a Tums with her but I did get to take her under my wing a bit which was a nice throw back to some of our days back in college when we relied on each other to get through the tough times. That night we all sat around in the main room of our Bed and Breakfast and watched the presidential debate. This is probably one of my fonder memories of the trip because it was just so us. Comfortable. Good conversation. Laughs.