Escape From the Concrete Jungle

DISCLAIMER: While it may seem as if I am mocking the town, I honestly have nothing but love for Portland and Maine-iacs in general. I have a few friends from the state and while they don’t Live Free or Die, they are from Vacationland, so it’s all good (although nothing beats an Empire State of mind).

First off, let me say Hi Everyone. I hope you enjoyed reading my last post. As I mentioned at the end of it, I was planning on visiting Maine for the first time this past weekend…Well, I did. And oh man, was it a weekend to remember! I took the bus to Portland (shout out to Concord Coach Lines for getting me there in two hours for $36 roundtrip) on Friday afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed watching the foliage during my ride. I was especially proud of the trees that have already turned bright red. Good job trees.

Friday night my friend Veronica and I (names have been changed to protect the innocent) went out to Gritty McDuff’s. No less than 1.5 minutes after sitting down, some drunk guy comes up to us and says “Excuse me. How do you spell Melissa?” Yes, like the name. After I spelled it, he asked “Wait, what comes after the M-E-L??” Yea, that actually happened. Welcome to Maine, Dawn. Gritty’s was fun though. Yummy beer. And I totally dig that the proper “going out” attire consists of casual jeans, a cozy sweater and flat shoes. Damn you Faneuil Hall for making me get dressed up in uncomfortable heels!

Now Saturday…get ready….we went to the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, Maine. I joked about packing my overalls and straw hat, but seriously, that place was chock full of rolled up pants (with holes in them), bare feet, hairy legs (on women), and everything else hippie (no offense to hippies). All I could think was “Good thing I left my Coach bag at home!” I didn’t want to stand out, of course. After getting over the initial shock, I promptly rolled up my jeans and dove right in. I perused the organic food offerings, looked at about 50 different chickens, played a “Test Your Strength” game (the only game at the fair), and watched a man chop a (thick) branch in half with the speed that one would use to swat at a fly. I want his knife (i.e. weapon of death)….Saturday night brought my friend and I to the local bar/club, Oasis, where I played Life Size Jenga. Remember that game, with the rectangular blocks that you have to stack on top of one another? Yea, well, the life size version is pure awesomeness. And the blocks are the size of my forearm. Photo evidence below:

Sunday, we went to brunch, where we proceeded to wait for a table outside for like 15 minutes until we heard a waitress say to a couple  sitting at an outdoor table, “Oh, would you like to go inside? It’s kinda chilly out here and there are a bunch of empty tables inside.” Umm, what? Why am I waiting in the chilled New England air for a table if there are “a bunch of empty tables inside”?!? I would have recovered from that ordeal if my meal was at least good. It wasn’t.

So, to wrap it up, despite my joking commentary, I really did enjoy my escape to the north and highly recommend it to all. Portland is a great place to visit for a quick weekend getaway.  Where else can you can see and smell the ocean as you wait outside for over 15 minutes to eat brunch? ; )

Until next time…

~Dawn

P.S. I am still afraid of the suburbs, but Mother Nature and I are a little closer to becoming one.