“We’re going to Maine.”

“Oh… do you have family or friends out there?”

That’s usually how the conversation went when I informed people of The Williams Family 2016 Vacation plans. It was kind of weird. I mean Maine’s not exactly the hotspot for getaways. There are a bunch of more tropical places. Hawaii, Florida, The Caribbean, Idaho. What’re you gonna do in Maine? Visit Stephen King?

Well, here’s what we did.

Beach time

We rented a place for the week in Old Orchard Beach. It was a nice little beach condo about 100 feet from the ocean. You wouldn’t normally think of Maine as being a beach destination, but it was better than a lot of quite of few of the beaches in southern California I’ve been to. Not too rocky, no giant riptide, water was warm enough (mostly). The waves weren’t quite as nice, but fine enough to swim through and throw small children into.

Weather

The temperature was usually in the low 80’s during the day. The last day was warm, topping 90, which apparently didn’t happen at all last year. Other than that, it was great. It rained a few of the days, but that was a nice change of pace.

Food

I’m on record as loving seafood. If it lives in the ocean I’ll probably like eating it, and lots of things swim in the ocean near Maine. We had lobster, lobster rolls, lobster mac ‘n cheese, crab rolls, crab cakes, and shrimp. Most of it was ridiculously cheap. The best places were little dive type places that smelled of delicious fish. I didn’t take too many pictures because I’m not the biggest fan of taking pictures of food. Perhaps my favorite was a lunch that consisted of two full lobsters, a lobster roll, and a shrimp cocktail. All of that was under $40, which is usually the price for a single lobster at a fancy restaurant out here. Not bad.

Nature

Maine’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The beaches are just a few miles from some amazing forests. I could gush, but I’ll let the pictures sell it some more.

And the rest

Maine also has Lighthouses. This one is called the Portland Head Light.

There were fireworks on the beach one night.

We visited a farm and picked berries. Then ate them.

We rented kayaks and paddled up the Saco river.

And Finally

We had an early checkout time on Saturday, but our flight back wasn’t until the evening. We took the scenic route through New Hampshire and stopped at Cathedral Ledge for a little hiking and sightseeing. It was a good stop.

Written by Scott Williams who lives and works in sunny Phoenix, AZ. Twitter is also a place.