The last part of our vacation was in Maine. We had no itinerary and just stopped wherever seemed interesting, so we ended up in Ogunquit as our home base and stayed for 2 days. I had heard of Ogunquit before from Stephen King’s The Stand. Fran and Harold were from there. Ogunquit means “Beautiful Place by the Sea” – and it was!
Our first stop was the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge for a hike. This is a wonderful little place with a salt marsh, which is actually pretty rare.
There we stops along the way that explained about the salt marsh and its delicate habitat.
This little guy popped out of his hole in the ground to say hi:
Actually, it was probably more like “Get off of my lawn!”
I was scanning for wildflowers in the hopes of seeing a lady slipper, but no luck there. John actually found this one (so proud of him!):
Trillium. I have never seen one in the wild in bloom before. Yay me!
Ogunquit is really touristy, but has the most beautiful coast line. The nice thing about traveling out of season is that there are hardly any people around. Yes, some things aren’t open and no swimming, but I am not much of a swimmer – I just like to look. There is about a mile of path called Marginal Way, which follows the coast and has spectacular views.
It was a beautiful day, too.
Can you imagine living here and looking over this view?
We weren’t sure if this was a luxury home or a hotel (under construction).
You reach the end of Marginal Way at Perkins Cove and some shops. Right at the end is Breaking New Grounds cafe. There is a cafe in Portsmouth that is run by the son of the owner of the Ogunquit cafe (which we also stopped at). The view was phenomenal!
These were the chairs outside the cafe. I was so happy sitting here and relaxing.
We also were able to get to the most photographed lighthouse, which is the Nubble.
This teetery little cable basket is how the lighthouse keepers get back and forth from the island.
No thank you!
It’s a very pretty scene, but not my favorite lighthouse – you will see that one tomorrow.
We feasted on more lobster at the Maine Diner, which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. I had the lobster mac and cheese:
That was a claw I pulled out from the bottom. There was a *ton* of lobster in this and so delicious!
Our home base was the Ogunquit Inn.
This was sort of a hybrid of a BB and a hotel. It was in a house, but the owner was not one of those that interacts much with the people staying there. He provided a nice continental breakfast for everyone.
The first night – we were the only ones in the inn. The price was really reasonable as well (off season).
Our room opened to a balcony:
and overlooked the garden:
I loved this place. We had only booked for one night, but then asked if the room was available to stay another and lucky for us – it was. We were able to walk to the Marginal Way and downtown from here, which was really convenient.
I’ll tie it all up tomorrow!
Amazing photos! It looks like a beautiful place. I’ve always wanted to visit Maine, but have never been that far north. I live in VA.
Maine is lovely and it seems as if you’ve had better weather in Maine than we’ve had on Long Island! Please come to East Tennessee sometime in April and I’ll show you mountainsides covered with different varieties of Trillium. It is mesmerizing.
Sure – sometime we will make it down there!
I love Maine. Is Nubble claiming to be the most photographed? I love that lighthouse, but love Portland Headlight more, and it also claims “most photographed”. It’s actually in Cape Elizabeth just outside Portland.
It’s so nice to visit these tourist locations off season, isn’t it! Looks like you had a wonderful trip.
I love the Port Head more as well. Nubble is closer to NH and the outlet malls, so it really gets more traffic than going further up the coast to Cape Elizabeth.
I think this is my favorite place on your trip! What a beautiful, charming, relaxing place! I LOVE that lighthouse island.
Lobster mac and cheese–just last night I watched an episode of Iron Chef, and the judges were kind of snooty–“I don’t care for the combination of lobster and cheese.” I think it sounds yummy!
I don’t generally like cheese with my seafood (other than cream cheese), but this was really tasty!
Beautiful! I have never even heard of lobster mac and cheese, but it sounds divine! The B&B/hotel hybrid sounds like just the right balance. Sometimes the owners are too chatty and meddlesome for me!
We live way over here in the Pacific Northwest, but I’ve always wanted to wander around New England! Thank you for bringing us along! 🙂
Beautiful! We used to vacation in Kennebunkport when I was a kid. It was always so much fun. Hope you have beautiful weather and the best time. Can’t wait to read more.
my sister and her family go to maine every summer for a few weeks.
Ive never been (invited)—-yet 🙂
Lori, my hubby’s sis lives in Kennebunk!! She is the one that works at TJs too but that is a 30 minute drive for her to get there for work. How funny that was your first pic!!
What a wonderful trip & amazing sights! Love all the beauty back there. The light house pics were so cool!
That room & John sitting there looked so peaceful!!!
I loved your photo recap of Maine! That trail looks like such a fun experience.
Maine is on my travel bucket list (along with about 38 more states and all of Canada)! Thank you for sharing your photos of it. I think I’ll move it up the list. 🙂
Lori what a beautiful trip you and John took. It’s so beautiful in Maine. I love the B&B where you stayed. R. and I love these kind of inns very much too. Much more than hotels.
Now off to read your last vacation post.