Maine

Rocky coastlines, fresh seafood, loads of lighthouses and some amazing scenery.

Being as though we were here in October, it was the perfect time for the changing of the fall leaves. Bright orange, red and brown leaves were everywhere. I have to say, I knew the least about Maine before going on this trip. But the scenery was probably the most beautiful. I mean just from the freeway, all we could see were trees and bright leaves and blue lakes and rivers. It was amazing.




Portland Maine:

We decided to stop in Portland Maine. Again, we stopped at the Tourist Station and got our fill of maps and brochures.



Off of Highway 95, we took exit 44 towards route 1. We made a left at route 1 (Main Street). Right on Broadway and that took us all the way to two lighthouses. Bug Light and Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse. By this time, it was freezing out. (I'm trying to remember, but I believe it was in the low 40's) We had seen so many lighthouses at this point that basically I was kicked out of the car to take some pictures and that was that. Back into the car and back on our way.

I was actually able to walk out all the way to Bug Light. It was freaking freezing and windy, but for some reason I really wanted to go on it just for the reason that I could. On my way back, I could see my sister in law yelling at me to go back on so she could get a picture. It was absolutely freezing and water was splashing up under my feet. But hey, she got the picture!



Bug Light

Off to the next lighthouse which I do believe might be my favorite (definitely top 2). Portland Head Light near Fort Williams. This one is a must see. We all got out for this one.


Portland Head Light

While driving along the highway, we saw a lobster shack. It was so cute and very much what I had pictured to be in Maine. However, it was not open. Not sure if it was closed for the season or just because it was so early in the day.




Rockland:

We decided to head to Rockland, Maine. There was a downtown main street with shops, restaurants, museums, etc. We actually found a Puffin Visitor Center. It is a small gift shop/museum geared towards young children. They have a live video feed of Puffins and other sea birds being filmed 20 miles south of Rockland on Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge. They also have a movie about saving the Puffins, a crawl in Puffin burrow for kids, paper work and information regarding Puffins and adopting a Puffin and also small projects for kids to take home. My niece is a huge fan of animals and was thrilled to hang out here for a while. She even got a "Project Puffin" pin for her backpack. The proceeds go to saving the Puffins!
http://www.projectpuffin.org/PPVC.html



We also stopped by Rockland Cafe. Famous for their fish cakes. My mom and sister in law were dying for some "New England" clam chowder, so this seemed like the perfect spot. We were not looking for anything fancy. Just a typical small diner type place. Being as though, I do not particularly like seafood (but I really wanted to say I ate seafood in Maine), I decided to try some little shrimpys. (yes, I said "shrimpys") My mom and sister in law finally got their clam chowder.
http://www.rocklandcafe.com/



My shrimpys......

Another near by lighthouse we stopped to visit was Owl's Head Lighthouse in Owl's Head Maine.

Owl's Head

Somewhere in Maine.....










Hotel:

Again, being that I work for Marriott, we stayed at a Marriott brand property. The Marriott Fairfield Inns & Suites in Brunswick. Free internet & parking! Woo hoo!

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pwmbw-fairfield-inn-and-suites-brunswick-freeport/

Only one night in Maine and then it was back down the coast to...... Massachusetts!

Rhode Island!

Providence, Rhode Island.....


Probably the most confusing city to drive in. Seriously. It was horrible. And I wasn't even driving. Every road splits off into two, maybe 3 separate roads. Those 2 or 3 separate roads also refused to have street signs telling us which street was which. Rude. Being named "Map Girl" by my niece, I was in charge of all things directions. For someone who gets car sick very easily, this city was a daunting task. But we all made it alive!!! Barely.

The city of Providence was way more "big city" than I had expected. My mom being a huge fan of the tv show Providence also felt the same way. She thought it would be more of a small town feeling. It was way more urban than we pictured it to be. However, there was so much history there and we were definitely some amazing parts.


Some Pictures of Downtown Providence:

Jamestown & Newport Rhode Island-

Since we were in Providence for 2 nights, we decided that we needed to get out of the city for the 2nd day. We decided to go on a lighthouse search. Being "map girl", I had already noted that there were a ton of lighthouses in Jamestown and Newport. So again, we set sail in our Sebring to find new places.

Jamestown is a very small island off the coast of Rhode Island. We took highway 138 which took us over a bridge to Jamestown. On the bridge, we spotted our first lighthouse. It was a small lighthouse in the middle of the water. Once in Jamestown, we went south to Beavertail Light. This was our very first lighthouse stop! Woo hoo!

Beavertail Lighthouse, Jamestown Rhode Island

From Jamestown, we drove over another small bridge which took us to Newport, Rhode Island. Newport is another small island. Pretty easy to navigate. This is where we found Castle Hill Lighthouse and our new house. ;-)

Castle Hill Lighthouse

My new house and front yard....

After our second night in Rhode Island, it was time to pack up the Sebring again and move on to our next destination. We became pro at packing up the car knowing what we were going to need in the back seat for my niece and what we could shove in the trunk. I have to say, there are so many amazing things out there for kids now adays. She is a great traveler. As long as we had the dvd player, an iPod full of Dora and Backyardigans and her Leapster books to read, she was all set. She kept herself busy with the exception of me needing to select the new shows on her dvd's and iPod.

Our next destination was Maine. However, we made a small stop in New Hampshire. We saw the visitor's bureau from the freeway and decided to stop. We found out that Portsmouth, New Hampshire was near by and decided to go there. It was a great stop. We found a nice little downtown area with shops and restaurants. It was very cute and very festive for the fall time of year.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Next Stop.....

Maine!

Connecticut!

New England road trip continued......

Connecticut! Day 2 & 3




















Packed in our Sebring, we drove from New York to Mystic, Connecticut. The drive was only about 1 1/2 hours long. We arrived at our home for the next 2 nights. The Residence Inn Mystic Groton www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/gonmy-residence-inn-mystic-groton/. Turned out to be a great place to stay! The rooms are meant for long term stays. Each room has a bed, living room area with a sofa bed and a small kitchenette. The kitchenette has a full size fridge, dishwasher and microwave. The stay includes free internet, parking and breakfast. Very economic! It is also very close to Mystic Seaport and downtown Mystic.

I really loved Mystic. Some of the things that should not be missed are:

Mystic Seaport- A seaport with a beautiful view. It is free to stop by and look but if you want to go into the museum and onto the boats it will cost you.
Mystic Seaport- A Museum of America and the Sea- $18.50 for adults & $13 for children 6-17
www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=1































Mystic River Drawbridge- Takes you to downtown Mystic (Mystic Pizza is here). We actually saw the drawbridge lift to let a boat go through. I was kicked out of the car to go take pictures. I'm serious. This actually happened quite a bit through out our trip. ;-)
http://www.mysticpizza.com/restaurants.aspx





































Downtown Mystic- Shops, restaurants, a few bars and home of Mystic Pizza where they filmed the movie with the same name. Starring of course, Julia Roberts. We did get to dine in Mystic Pizza and it was very yummy. It is filled with tons of memorabilia from the movie and actually plays the movie on the tv's. A must see for movie fans.
















Old Mistick Village- Very cute old town shopping village. A small movie theatre, coffee houses, chocolate and candy stores, gift shops, restaurants and great landscaping. Old Mistick Village was the beginning of our New England leaf collecting adventure. My mom was collecting different types of leaves for herself and I promised a friend I would bring her leaves that would remind her of where she grew up on the east coast. Old Mistick Village was a great place to start our collection.
www.oldmysticvillage.com/
















Clyde's Cider Mill- OMG a must see for a cider lover like me!!! I love hot apple cider and hard cider. FYI, Hard Cider = alcholic beverage. And for those of you who think hard cider is a "girly" drink at the bar.....it actually has more alcohol than beer! So do not judge!!!! ;-) Okayyy?! Clyde's is the oldest steam powered cider mill in the United States! Only open from September to late December so plan accordingly. They have cider making demonstrations and a gift shop where you can purchase the cider and other specialties to go. They also serve hot cider, hot apple pie, candy apples and apple cider donuts. These apple cider donuts must have been delicious because there was a 30 minute or longer wait for them! I guess I'll just have to go back. I did try the apple pie and cider and both were delicious.
www.bfclydescidermill.com/

**My mom and I actually got the chance to go to the movies at Old Mistick Village. Funny thing is that the latest movie started at 7:10pm! They definitely shut down early in small town Mystic! We saw the movie, The Secret Lives of Bees. I had just read the book and was dying to see the movie. The movie was pretty much exactly like the book. Both were amazing! Check them out!
www.foxsearchlight.com/thesecretlifeofbees/

**I started a game with my niece in New York. I bought her an I Love NY button for her back pack. To get her involved in the trip, we told her to collect a button from each state she went to. This became a game for her and she was so excited each time she found a new button. She would tell everyone about her buttons and which states she already had and which states she still needed. She is 4 but she is super smart. She listed the states we were visiting in correct order each time. I would say 70% of the trip she was involved in her leapster computer, her books, her dvd player or my brother's iPod that was filled with Dora and Backyardigans. These all kept her busy and let us gawk at the scenery without complaints. 20% of her time was spent playing around these different cities and the last 10% was spent on finding buttons. She had a blast with it. One minor problem occured when we lost the New York button in the airport. We thought it was gone forever. About an hour later, we found it. Thank goodness. I did not want to see the meltdown that would have occured had we not found it. Ek!

Next Stop........
Rhode Island!


Travel Girl's Connecticut Movie:
Mystic Pizza





















Travel Girl Reads:
The Secret Lives of Bees: by Sue Monk Kidd

New England Trip- NYC

So finally.....my first blog for my New England trip! So much has been going on with the Presidential elections and everything. And of course, my computer still being a biatch. ;-)

Anyway, it was the perfect time of year to take a New England road trip! October. Seriously. It was so beautiful! It was a quick paced whirlwind trip, but soooo worth it. Let's start from the beginning. :-)

Day 1-

Long Beach to JFK. For those of you who have not experienced Long Beach Airport, let me tell you. A-Maz-Ing. There are only 2 gates, 1 baggage claim and you have to walk out onto the tarmac to get on to your plane. It's simple and quick. Not to mention, like 10 minutes from my parent's house where I can leave my car.....for FREE!

We flew on Jet Blue which is my favorite domestic airline. The seats are leather and nice, each person gets their own tv with cable and they give you free treats and drinks! Anytime you get a chance to fly on Jet Blue, I highly recommend it. http://www.jetblue.com/

We did not arrive in New York until 9pm. We were kind of starving since we missed a few meals with the flight and the time difference. We didn't think there would be anything near the hotel so we opted to have pizza in the airport. I was traveling with my mom, sister in law and one of my nieces who is 4 years old. My niece got to experience her first "New York pizza"! Even if it was in the middle of JFK Airport. ;-)

While waiting in line for a taxi (a very long line mind you), my niece yells, "I love New York!". Everyone near us in line starts laughing and one older lady replys, "She's the only one." Welcome to New York! ha ha.

Day 2-
We didn't have to pick the rental car up until 3pm so we woke up early and decided to go into the city. To get there, we took a bus which took us near a subway. We then took the subway into Times Square. Now I have been to NYC about 5 times, so I am very comfortable taking subways and getting around the city. I know most of the streets and how they run. I know what main sites are in what areas and I know if things are "walkable" or not. For instance, I knew if we started in Times Square that we would be able to walk to Rockafeller Plaza, walk by St. Patrick's Cathedral and walk to Central Park giving us enough time to get back to the hotel and back to rent the car by 3pm. We did just that. We also stopped for breakfast/lunch at a diner that I most likely mentioned on my NYC blog a while back. Ellen's Stardust Diner. http://www.ellensstardustdiner.com/ I thought it would be a fun place for my niece and sister in law. I had previously taken my mom there on a different trip. It's a fun diner where the servers all perform songs. They perform mainly oldies and show tunes. Very lively, crowded and lots of fun. Our server even came over to my niece during his performance in which she hid under the table. That's ok, I probably would have done the same thing. ha ha.

My niece really loved the whole "public transportation thing". She loved the bus, subway and the taxis. It was hilarious.

I absolutely love New York City and wish I could have spent more time there this trip. But this was a trip about places that I have never been before so we had to be on our way. Unfortunately we did not run into any tapings of Law & Order: SVU to the dismay of myself and my sister in law. Probably a good thing because I probably would have flipped out if I saw Benson or Stabler. Seriously. It is actually very common to run into a film/tv set in New York. They are everywhere.

We made it to the rental car place and found our lovely red Sebring waiting for us. So there are 4 of us traveling together with luggage and enough "stuff" to occupy a 4 year old for 8 days all packed into a Sebring. Um yeah......do the math. It doesn't add up. We knew this was going to be an issue but we made it happen. 2 big suitcases in the trunk, sister in law driving, mom in passenger seat, 1 suitcase and huge backpack and snack bag behind driver, niece in booster seat in the middle and me squished behind the passenger side with my maps ready to navigate.

Next Stop...... Mystic, Connecticut!

Travel Girl's New York TV:

Law & Order: SVU

Lipstick Jungle

Without a Trace

I'm a slacker.....

New England post coming soon.....

My computer is a biatch and I've been preoccupied with following the Election '08!

Things are Sweeter in Tennessee.

Nashville, Tennessee

As The Wrecker's said in one of their songs......"Things are sweeter in Tennessee". But are they?? Well, I went to check it out and so here it goes:

So, our goal was to make the 12 o'clock shuttle from my work which takes us to the Orange County Airport. This sounds simple to most people, however it was stressing me out tremendously. I have a ton of work to do normally, but leading up to a weekend (especially a holiday weekend) can get even busier. I am also a little OCD regarding my work. So, of course we had a lot of last minute things to do and people were asking long questions that required research on my part to answer. But at 11:45pm, I decided I was DONE. Hands in the air, I'm over it, I'm taking a trip and All of this can wait until Tuesday! I'm so proud of my self for "letting it go". I stress enough during the weeks and so this is my little vacation and I wasn't gonna worry about it. So we were off and on our way to the airport on the 12 o'clock shuttle.

It was about a 4 hour flight to Atlanta where we had a layover of about 1 hour. The only thing is they oversold the flight and I unfortunately did not have a seat. Luckily, someone volunteered to give up their seat and I was back on the plane with a seat. 1 hour later, we were in Nashville. It was a little after 11pm Nashville time when we arrived. The taxi drove us through their main downtown strip. The place was hopping! We spotted our first cowboy....and then another....and another. Oh gosh WHERE ARE WE!?

We checked into the hotel, dropped off our stuff and walked downtown. They have 2 main streets in downtown. 2nd Avenue and Broadway. These two streets are filled with bars, restaurants, live music, tourist shops and life size statues of Elvis (seriously I think I counted about 4). Music is everywhere. You can walk by 5 bars in a row and each one will have a live band playing. I would say there were like 30 or so places playing live music at once. There are also people playing music for money on the streets. Primarily country music. There were a few places playing other types of music as well (rock/blues), but primarily country. My friend has lived in Nashville and swears there are many places to hear other types of music like singer/songwriter and blues. Mainly these places are not on the downtown strip. She even told me about a time she ran in to Maroon 5 at a bar after their show. They talked a little bit and Maroon 5 asked them for a restaurant recommendation. They gave their suggestion to which Maroon 5 replied by telling them they were gonna get a taxi. So what should 2 girls with a car do?? Of course offer them a ride which they accepted. They all ended up having dinner together! See, you never know who you will run into in "Music City"!

On Saturday, we decided to check out one of the recommended restaurants we were told about. Pancake Pantry (http://www.pancakepantry.com/) was established in 1960 and was Tennessee's first pancake house. The place is family owned and everything is made from scratch. Peach delight, Blueberry, Apricot Lemon, Pecan and Chocolate Chip are some of the yummy selections. However, expect a line. A long line. We decided to skip Pancake Pantry for the day since the line was about 2 hours long.

Our taxi driver instead took us by Vanderbilt University to the Parthenon. The Parthenon in Nashville is the only life size replica of the original which resides in Athen, Greece. We then decided we would walk from there and try to find Belmont Mansion. We did not have the best map in the world so we ended up missing streets and roaming around Nashville for about 3 hours until finally walking back downtown. We had lunch on Broadway and went back to the hotel. The heat and the miles and miles of walking and the jet lag must have done something to us because we were just exhausted. It was very hot, but I think what we weren't used to was the humidity! We did not do too much else but rest and read our books. I did go back out for a walk downtown in the evening. Tomorrow, we decided we shall rent a car!!!

Best idea ever to rent this car!! $25 gets us the car (complete with AC!!!) until tomorrow where we will drop it off at the airport on our way home. Our hotel had free internet and we mapquested our hearts out. We looked up all of the places we wanted to see and were off to pick up the car. This day, we did get to go to Pancake Pantry and I enjoyed some Blueberry Pancakes. The line was about 45 minutes long. Not too bad.

We then went to Belle Meade Plantation which was very cool. (http://www.bellemeadeplantation.com/) Built in 1853, the Harding-Jackson family were the original owners of the Belle Meade Farm. The farm bred and trained championship Thoroughbred horses. On site is also, the dairy (or creamery), the slave quarters, a mausoleum and stables. Free to browse around and definitely worth the trip. You can purchase tickets for a tour which actually takes you inside the mansion. About 6 miles from downtown.

I had to! ha ha.

Next stop was The Grand Ole Opry House. (http://www.opry.com/) We did not go inside the Opry House, but did get to go into the Grand Ole Opry Museum which was quite interesting. The grounds are nice as well. Definitely check out the museum. It's free and very cold inside (nice to get out of the heat!) and fun to look at even if you are not a huge country music fan.

While we were across the river, we went to LP Stadium: Home of the Titans. Just to look and take a few pictures.

We saw the Tennessee State Capital building. Very close to downtown and our hotel. We couldn't find how we could get to the top of the hill it was on to view it up close, but we still saw it and were able to get some good pictures.

We then decided to check out that house I was telling you about. I had mapquested the directions and since we had extra time, we decided to check it out. It was about a 15 minute drive on the 40 freeway westbound. We got off the freeway and turned down this long windy road. Green hills on both sides of the road but no houses. I'm not gonna lie, I was thinking, "this is beautiful, but we are in the middle of nowhere!". But that only lasted about 1 minute and then we saw tons and tons of beautiful houses. I mean really beautiful. Now this is what I was hoping Tennessee was going to be like. We found my house and I love it now more than I did before. I didn't get to go inside, but I have seen pictures of the inside. Check it out....isn't it awesome?!



Our next recommended restarant is SATCO or San Antonio Taco Company. But you must call it SATCO or you will be outed as a "tourist"! SATCO is near Vanderbilt University and is the local hangout. You can even get a bucket of beers. When you walk in, you are greeted with pads of paper and pencils. There is a check list of different types of tacos, fillings and sides. You check off what you want and give it to the cashier. Very casual yummy place to go. Even for a vegetarian like myself. They had bean tacos! Woo hoo!

Back to the hotel to shower and get ready to go back to Broadway to have drinks for my roommates birthday. The big 25! On our way back to the hotel after drinks, we stopped by the market to get waters and met a hilarious (and I think homeless) guy. He was super nice and very funny. There are some interesting characters in downtown Nashville, but I have to say everyone was friendly.

Monday. Up at 4:15am to get on our way home. Another layover in Atlanta, Georgia. This one was a long one. Then back to Orange County. Then the 45 minute drive home. It was a long day! Plus we gained 2 hours in the time change.

So. Lots of things to do in Nashville. The downtown area was not my favorite part of Nashville, but did have a lot to do. Definitely rent a car. Since everything is spread out, you will save money on all of the taxi's you would have needed. Do fill up the gas tank before you drop it off so they will not charge you a ginormous fee! The car will help you see all of the great sites within Nashville. These sites are important to the Nashville's history. I would definitely have loved to have more time to drive around more in the suburbs. It's just very green and beautiful.

So, in conclusion.....things can be sweeter in Tennessee, you just have to venture out and find them!

My Nashville playlist includes:
The Wreckers- Stand Still, Look Pretty
Sara Evans- Greatest Hits
Dixie Chicks- Taking the Long Way






Ciao!