It's Baxter!

Hello everyone!

I want to start by apologizing...for those of you who follow the blog, I have not updated in quite some time. I am a bit behind on our adventures, but I am going to start with the most recent adventure today. This past Saturday, we spent the better part of the day exploring Baxter State Park. We specifically took the Sentinel Mountain Trail which took us to the top (about 1800 ft) of the Sentinal Mountain.

What a beaut! (WARNING: This blog contains tons of pictures!)

The entire experience was remarkable. I told Troy that it seemed like we were in a Disney movie. It was so lush and green that it almost didn't seem real. We began naming each part as though it was a scene from a movie. We had 'Alice in Wonderland' ...

'The Dark Forest' ...

Many of the tree had a rather Tim Burtonesque whimsy that I loved!

And 'Spruce City' (Troy's favorite) ...

Though it is hard to compare to the view we had from the top (coming soon...), the journey was beautiful...almost mesmerizing. I found myself stopping in the middle of nowhere and just looking around...soaking it in. So calm, yet so full of life.

As the Sentinel Trail is right along 'Kidney Pond' (named for its shape), the great 'Kidney Stone' was placed along the way. Kind of funny! "Do not remove."

This tree is actually kind of gross...resembles a rather large snake. Blech! Still cool enough to make the blog!

 Almost to the top!!!!! (I will admit, at this point, my legs were feeling very shaky, my breathing was a little heavy and I might have been complaining a bit...poor Troy).

 And here we are, ladies and gentlemen...the view from the top. Absolutely BREATHTAKING!

Where did you eat lunch today?

We snapped a few more pictures on our way out...before heading to Buffalo Wild Wings (as per tradition since we've been in Maine) to watch the Hawkeyes....and that's all I have to say about that...

 This may be my favorite shot of the day. From a bridge on the way out of the park...

Labor Day/Anniversay Weekend

Hello dear friends! Hope you all had a GREAT 3-day/Labor Day weekend! This weekend marked one year since Troy and I started dating, so we decided to celebrate by checking out a few towns around Waterville!

Friday: Hallowell
Hallowell is a popular town for tourists. We loved it. Of course, Troy had to work Friday, so we didn't get to spend a ton of time there. However, we did have enough time to check out The L"iberal Cup", a very popular English-style brewery. So popular, in fact, that it was literally filled wall to wall by the time we got there. It was definitely worth the wait though! Our favorite beer was Dog Days Summer Wheat (very similar to Summer Shandy). After dinner, we went on a short walk around town. While the downtown area of Hallowell isn't huge, it is definitely worth seeing with all of the cute shops and restaurants/pubs.

The walls of "The Liberal Cup" were filled with signs and pictures. This (thanks to my obsession with "Alice in Wonderland") was my favorite.

 

 

Saturday: Freeport

Of course, the first part of our Saturday was spent supporting our Hawkeyes! After that, we headed to Freeport to visit the L.L. Bean Outlet (one of Troy's bucket list items). What a cute town! Known for its outlet center (which yes, we did check out) and for recreational activities like outside concerts and fireworks (which we also got to see). This is one of my favorite spots that we have visited so far!

The first (and only) moose we've seen in Maine! (Courtesy of L.L.Bean)

The stores were SUPER cute! I had to take at least one picture. The Cape Cod style is one of my favorite things Maine has to offer. Imagine an entire shopping center full of it!

Troy did a really good job of stepping into each picture I tried to take!

Enjoying a bit of the concert. Brett Dennen a folk singer, played this weekend. He was pretty good.

We had the BEST burgers at Johnny Rockets.



The cats enjoyed our L.L.Bean purchases too!



Sunday: Waterville
We decided to spend the day at home Sunday. However, we made the mistake of starting "The Walking Dead" series...and we are now addicted.

Monday: Winslow
Sept. 1st...our official one-year anniversary date. We visited a local coffee shop, Jorgensen's (my new favorite hang out spot...coffee, coffee, COFFEE!!!!) Did I say coffee? Then, we went to Winslow (as suggested by a Waterville local) to eat at "The Lobster Trap" where we took a seat outside overlooking the Kennebec river (beautiful). We shared a delicious lobster bake complete with lobster, scallops, haddock and shrimp. Dinner was followed up with some AMAZING ice cream from Gifford's (Maine's famous ice cream stand). 

My cone: Maine Wild Blueberry & Maple Nut
Troy's Cone: Fly Fishing Fudge & Maine Wild Blackberry

We had a WONDERFUL Labor Day weekend and hope everyone else did too! Watching the Hawks win definitely made us miss home, but we had a LOT of fun checking out more fun places in Maine! Thanks for reading! :)