Portsmouth, NH and Maine

We decided to book another night at our Portsmouth, NH hotel because we like it and if we stay here versus Maine, we'll be an hour closer for our looong drive tomorrow!

This was supposed to be a big day for me - we were going to visit the Shaker Village and museum, which I have been looking forward to for almost a year. I hadn't thought to check the website until this morning, but when I did, I discovered they start their open season Memorial Day. I was really upset and sad. Dan tried to keep my spirits up and we drove in the rain to Shaker Village anyway. We found it and drove near it to take some pictures. It's really beautiful and I'm trying to stay positive by telling myself I WILL come back there again!

We headed to Portland Maine to do some shopping and eat lunch at the Green Elephant (lots of green animals here!). The menu here is all vegan and vegetarian! That was pretty nice. I got a really great hot and sour soup and a ginger beer.

The stores were really cute and I bought a skirt and two dresses from resale shops. I've really gotten into tropical prints lately. Is there such thing as too tropical? Hm, maybe in Wisconsin. Oh well.

It was misting rain all day long and I think we might have wandered more in Portland if the weather were nicer, but I still feel like we got a great taste of the place.

On our way back we drove around York, which is a really cute touristy town. It reminded me of an old fashioned boardwalk. We also were reminded of how glad we are that we're here just before tourist season starts! These places would be cah-razy in the summertime!

York is where we found a great place to park and take a walk near the ocean. The rainy, windy day made the ocean really beautiful.

 After freshening up for dinner we drove into Portsmouth to The Friendly Toast. The decor was SO awesome and I wanted to take a bunch of stuff home with me! I ordered the Granny Melt - swiss, cheddar, apple slices and brown sugar carmelized onions on a croissant. It was heavenly as was my side of onion rings. I also ordered a mint cocoa. It came with a CUP of marshmallows and a BOWL of the most delicious whipped cream. So tasty.

Now we rest up for the long drive tomorrow. We're going to stay someplace outside of Pittsburgh.