Road Trip Review Day 4: Boston, Gloucester, Portland

Mike started off our fourth day of honeymoon bliss in Boston. We went to a great little cafe near Boston University called the Crispy Crepes Cafe. It specializes in classic French crepes but also has a great traditional American breakfast menu and a variety of Mediterranean lunch offerings. I went for a Nutella, strawberry and banana crepe that was easily one of the best I've ever had. It was a great college cafe and I highly recommend it to anyone in the Boston area looking for a delicious and simple meal!

Then we headed to Fenway Park for an official tour of the nation's second oldest ballpark. It was definitely a beautiful stadium and witness the unique, diehard Red Sox culture firsthand. Though our tour guide left a bit to be desired in the narration department, we enjoyed ourselves, learned a few things, and got quite a lot of photos and footage of the park. Mike was all smiles while we wanted Fenway and I couldn't help but enjoy myself too!

Teammates statue outside of Gate B.

A view of the stadium from atop the Green Monster.

Glorious and classic Fenway Park.

After concluding our tour, we hurried out of Boston to go whale watching in Gloucester. It's something I've always wanted to do and I saw a pamphlet for it while browsing a visitor center. Unfortunately, the woman working the whale watching ticket booth did not seem the least bit sorry that the 1:30 pm tour which was advertised on all promotional materials and for which we showed up was instead a 9:00 am tour. So that plan fell a bit flat.

We made the most of our visit to the unique shore town of Gloucester. There was a nice historic Main St. full of shops, restaurants, and galleries. Though the area was a bit more of a tourist attraction than some of the other historic districts we had visited already, it was still a great place to browse around. I especially enjoyed all the consignment shops, and then we had a perfect lunch at Topside Grill and Pub. Despite the disappointing change in plans, I'm glad it added Gloucester to our itinerary!

Mike posing with my Kiwi Melon Bellini at lunch.

A delicious Gloucester Main Lobster Roll made up for missing the whale watching tour.

Then we headed up north. A little 5-mile stint through New Hampshire through us into Maine. We stopped at a nice hotel just outside of Portland and spent the latter part of the afternoon in the gym, the jacuzzi, and the indoor pool. It was nice to relax and do some more traditional honeymoon things for once, even if it wasn't at a fancy resort or spa. But our accommodations at the Fireside Inn were lovely, affordable, convenient, and came with complimentary Whoopie Pies!

Then we headed out for the city. It just happened to be First Friday in Portland's art district so a bunch of the galleries were open late and the streets were packed. We saw bikers parading the streets, local artists selling their fare, wannabe troubadours belting their tunes, and breakdancers drawing traffic-stopping crowds. Among others, we visited the SPACE Gallery which was hosting a "Draw Your Face Off Event." The center of the space was set up with tables and local artists brought all their tools to the gallery. The walls were hung with string and clips so that the artists could churn out work after work to hang on the walls. Then patrons could select whatever pieces they liked straight off the wall for a flat fee of $20 a piece. It was an interesting concept and a crazy crowded event but I loved seeing the artists, watching them create in the midst of so much chaos, people-watching amongst the artsy hipsters of Portland, and viewing all the final products from such a wide range of skilled creators. Mike and I left with a pencil drawing of a hillside of Portland buildings and a quirky painting of a pig. Though this was by far my favorite art space, it was also great to stop in the Portland Museum of Art and see their biennial exhibit.

It was a slightly overwhelming time to be in Portland so we didn't stay out amongst the crowds too late. A quick trip down to hear the live entertainment in the bar at the hotel sent us back up to our room for a quiet end to our Friday evening enjoying free whoopie pies and planning for the next few days.