Tuesday was the last day of our vacation on the east coast. We started the day with another amazing breakfast of Eggs Benedict over lobster at the Inn on Carleton. It was so good that it was easily one of my favorite meals of the entire trip. I’m pretty sure I would have stayed an extra day in Portland just to have breakfast at the Inn on Carleton one more time.
Eggs Benedict over lobster
After breakfast, we finished packing up our things, signed the inn’s guest book and loaded up the car for our eventual trip back to Boston (our flights to get back home would leave from Boston on Wednesday morning). The first stop on our drive was the outlets in Freeport. We quickly checked out a few small gift shops before going to the real destination of our Freeport stop: the L.L. Bean outlet. This outlet was so big that it was actually divided into different stores: one for the actual traditional store, one that was for hunting, and one that was for their home furnishings. It was awesome. My big hope for the day was to get myself a pair of duck boots. Yes, I know they’re not really needed for winters in San Antonio but that doesn’t matter to me. I’ve been pinning different duck boots for months and it was time I had a pair for myself.
Turns out this was harder than I anticipated. After eagerly getting to the women’s shoe section and eye-ing the tan and blue pair I had my heart set on, I was told the smallest women’s size was a 6 and that these shoes tend to run big, so it’s recommended you get a good size and a half smaller than your usual size. News flash: I typically wear a size 5.5. I was still determined to at least try a pair on and after being given a 6 I realized they were indeed far too big… like I would need to wear four or five pairs of thick wool socks to try to get my toe to touch the end of the shoe. As pathetic as it is, I’m proud of myself for not pitching a fit and blaming the universe for this unfairness but instead walked with my head held high to the children’s shoe department. They didn’t have the colors I was looking for, but I still got a pair that I really like and can’t wait to wear (will definitely be packing them for our upcoming San Francisco trip!). Fun fact: the pair I bought is a size 3 in kids. #shortpeopleproblems
Ready to buy some duck boots
Before I realized I wouldn’t be getting that tan/blue pair
Bumped to the kids section
Animal exhibit in the store
We bought a few more things at L.L. Bean, including some awesome blueberry jelly that Chip has been eating like a champ ever since we got back. We then went to the L.L. Bean home store for a bit as well as the JCrew outlet before grabbing some lunch to wrap up our time in Freeport.
The rest of the afternoon was spent slowly getting back to Boston while driving through some super cute towns. The best part was when we went to Kennebunkport and spent some time walking along the coast. The wind was strong and the ocean water was chilly. And it was all great.
Enjoying the view in Kennebunkport
My parents really liked this town
Saint Ann’s Church
I love Maine’s rocky coast
My mom was the first one to brave the cold water
My parents are pretty funny
Love this picture of my mom and dad
Love this guy
Mom taking in the view
Another one of my favorites
We found a crab!
We also found a few sand dollars
Dog paw prints make me happy
After our last stop in Kennebunkport, we finished the drive to Boston and eventually got to our hotel near the airport. Why eventually? That’s because my dad kept missing the exit for our hotel and we had to do some laps on the highway. This meant we got to see Fenway a few more times, but it also meant that we were all pretty hungry and ready for dinner by the time we got to the hotel. We quickly dropped off our bags and then back in the car to head to the North End for one last meal. We called Neptune Oyster to see if we would have better luck this time, but once again they had a super long wait. And like I just mentioned, we were already hungry. A few minutes on TripAdvisor later, I had made us some quick reservations at Trattoria di Monica. This place was pretty crowded when we got there and we realized why we were seated later than our reservation time: the place is tiny. Like the guy sitting behind me would lean back in his seat and his hoodie would be on my back. Not my ideal seating arrangement, but it started to empty out a little bit by the time we ordered our appetizers so thankfully my random moments of claustrophobia didn’t kick in. The food was definitely worth the wait and our meal there was a great way to end our trip.
Boston skyline from our hotel
With my mom before dinner
Dinner at Trattoria di Monica
Yum
One last stop at Mike’s Pastry
We all flew out Wednesday morning and I have to admit, it took me a couple of days to be content with “regular” food. After eating so many declisious meals in Boston and Maine, I was a little disappointed with our dinner options here. Thankfully I’ve gotten over this (one bowl of queso was really all I needed), but if anyone wants to fly me out to the North End for a special dinner, you are more than welcome to!
And mom, thanks for planning such a great trip!
the nance familia 