48 Hours in Portland, Maine

By: Finance Foodie

While most of the US dressed up as pirates, Snooki, or monsters while bobbling around for candy and/or liquor (age depending) this past weekend, I spent my Halloween holiday dressed as Finance Foodie (aka myself) on a visit to Portland, Maine. After I finished my judging duties for Hood’s New England Dairy Cook-Off, I had a chance to explore Maine’s largest city.

Check out where I stayed, played, and ate after the jump…

~*~*~*~Stayed~*~*~*

Ok, so Inn by the Sea is actually a 15 minute drive away from Portland proper, but when the property’s management team invited me out for a weekend stay, I couldn’t refuse – especially after seeing the Inn’s photo gallery. This luxurious beach front resort is truly the crème de la crème of home-away-from-home accommodations – the two story “spa suite” was as large as my apartment in Boston!

 And if the pimp tight condo styled room wasn’t grand enough, check out this sweet view of the ocean from our balcony. I swear that this is not a painting!

 For me, my most memorable hotel stays have happened when 1) there are small but personalized touches made in each room for the guests 2) someone attempts to break in.  Luckily during this stay, only the former occurred. After a long day of strolling, this lovely personalized note, super useful weather forecast and plates of cute snacks greeted us in our room upon our return.

No qualms about it, this was a top-notch suite!

~*~*~*Played*~*~*~

I didn’t have a ton of time to play (since I was judging the cook-off for a large chunk of the day), but did walk around Portland’s waterfront district (“Old Port”) for a bit during the afternoon. The shops were mostly quaint and charming old-school style stores, with the Stonewall Kitchen Company Store serving as the highlight of my foray. A less corporate feeling Williams Sonoma, Stonewall is an uber cute shop known for their specialty jams and unique kitchen gadgets. As a jam aficionado (Smuckers is not allowed in my house), this store is totally my heaven on earth.

What’s my favorite jam you ask? The Wild Maine Blueberry ;)

Also Don’t Miss: for those art and/or history buffs, Portland has got you covered! The Arts District is home to a plethora of museums for all ages – including Portland Museum of Art, Maine Historical Society & Museum, and Children's Museum of Maine.

~*~*~*Ate*~*~*~

My favorite part, natch! I usually don’t have a huge appetite for big breakfasts, but the lobster egg benedict plate at the Sea Glass restaurant made me dig deep to find that extra hidden pocket in my stomach pouch. The combination of Mr. Locally-Sourced Lobster and Mr. Farm-Fresh Egg with the housemade, butter toasted English muffin was off-the-charts scrumptious. Every bite of the trio had me wishing the plate would never end and that I’d never get full.

Also Don’t Miss: The beignets fried in duckfat at….Duck Fat; Dean’s Sweets chocolate shop for some truffles topped with Maine sea salt; Sea Glass’ Pumpkin Four Ways dinner tasting menu with wine pairing – because nothing says Fall like pumpkin infused gnocchi!