Long Island, ME

Maine is one of my favorite states. It is so beautiful there. The weather, the landscape, the people, everything. I took the train up and stayed with my aunt and uncle at their cottage on Long Island.

I love traveling by train. You really get to see the landscape around you. We passed through New York and all the coastal towns in New England. 

{NYC skyline}

The sunsets on the island are breathtaking. 

I learned how to drive a golf cart. woo. 

I spent some quality time with my adorable doggie cousins.

{Tigger}

{Dash}

For the duration of my stay my aunt and I kicked it dorm style.

It was unusually rainy while I was there so I took advantage that time to just relax with some herbal tea, a backlog of blogs to read, and my camera. And when the weather cleared I took a much needed run :)

We went in town to go shopping. Old Port is...you guessed it...the old part of Portland. It also happens to be a lovely collection of stores, boutiques, and restaurants. We hit some fabulous clothing and kitchen stores and ate lunch here:

I love the super vibrant red with yellow and black. It's so striking. We ate out on the back patio since the weather was gorgeous. This is what I ordered:

{sweet potato and kale wrap with a homemade tomato sauce}
[it was wonderful.]

For dessert we headed over to a cute little cupcake store. My cupcake was chocolate with salted caramel frosting.

The cupcake was decent but it was the shop itself that won me over. It was cute and cozy with a vintage sort of feel. 

Riding on the ferry is one of my favorite parts of going to Maine. It takes a bit of time so you can properly relax and enjoy it. 

That Saturday  was the annual wharf street festival. It's a sort of craft festival that they have every year in the community center and my aunt had a table in it this year that I got to help with. 

{the big banner}

{our table}

{a very delicious blueberry white-chocolate chip oatmeal cookie :)}

We went out to half rock to see the seals. It was high tide so we didn't get a chance to see them on the rocks  but we had a good time searching for them in the water and trying to snag pictures. 

{half rock}

{cormorants}

{a wee little seal head :)}

{the endless ocean}

{the perfect shade of blue}

The last day there I took a bike ride around the island and stopped at the beach. It was nice to explore by myself and just be. The ocean is so beautiful and peaceful. 

Later that day we had a little birthday party for my Uncle Craig. It was fun helping my aunt and her sister prep for the party. Lots of good food and lovely people. Debbie and Gary (my other aunt and uncle that live in Portland) came out for the party and brought my cousin's kids (first cousins once removed? haha), Abe and Ezra. They are jems. really. I mean, look at them.

Abe came with my Aunt Debbie to come pick me up at the train station and the first words out of his mouth were: "hey! we have the same haircut". precious. 

At the end of the party I took my aunt and uncle and Abe and Ezra to the dock to catch the ferry home. 

I joined them back in Portland later that night and at the crack of dawn I was on my way home. 

It was a much needed break.