Road Trip: Portland, Maine

Saturday was the big road trip to Portland. Megg and I left around 10:30AM. Traffic was phenomenal as well as the foliage views. I have been to Portland years ago just for shopping so this was my first extended tim in the city. First off, I have to highly recommend the Kennebunkport rest-stop (exit 25). It is huge and very clean.

We got to Portland, with a side trip over the Casco Bay bridge, around 12:30. The weather was perfect: sunny and mid-60's. After parking on Fore St, our first stop was Condom Sense. Lots of really funny raunchy stuff. I picked up a couple magnets and adult Mad Libs. We also encountered a historical moment in a lady's life. At age 50, she got her first dildo. Awww.... First they crawl and then they run, right?

Famished, we lunched at Gritty McDuff's Brew Pub. Their Halloween brew is amazing. It's like Guinness but lighter and creamier. The food is excellent too.

Lots of shopping and perusing ensued. I don't remember all the places we checked out but here's a little list:
China Sea Trading Co. - very cool store of old sea junk. They had hats that fit my ginormous head so big thumbs up.
Stonewall Kitchen - Simply amazing place if you like to cook and/or eat. I picked up a nice linen spray and pumpkin spread.
LeRoux Kitchen - this store is fabulous. Lots of wine and kitchenwares. I realized that I need a decanter to complete my wine loving ways. They also have a huge selection of aprons and textiles.

There are a ton of nice pottery places where I couldn't afford a single item but I could admire the glazes. One store actually had a Judaica shelf! I was tempted to get a Kiddush cup. Some stores were very nice but horribly cramped and overheated. So after a circuit, we had to leave fanning ourselves. After we left one store, I commented, "So that's where hippies go to die, huh?" Ugh, incense and pachuli overload!

Many deep discussions occured throughout the day. We discovered that yawns can be "addictive" and money = food = love. If you're stingy in one area, it usually spreads to others. We ended the day dining at Bull Feeney's. Their popcorn shrimp is to die for. I think I declared at one point, "I want to marry this sweet chili dip." If you like old school martinis, this is the place to go. I didn't see a single girly,umbrella drink on the menu. We left the city around 6:30PM thoroughly convinced to quit our jobs and move up there.

The drive back had more idiot drivers on the road but on the upside, radio stations had excellent music. All in all, it was a great exhausting trip. That night we sipped wine, watched the Sox and did a couple Mad Libs.