The Siberian American: Five Things

Showing posts with label Five Things. Show all posts

Monday, January 14, 2019

Five Best Coastal Towns to Visit in Maine

If you’ve read my travel posts in the past, you know that Maine is one of my favorite places in the world. Chris and I constantly talk about how much we want to own a summer home there in the future (because we definitely don’t want to deal with those winters!). Now that I’m back to travel blogging, I thought it was only appropriate to kick off my travel posts with more Maine talk! One of my favorite parts of our Maine babymoon was visiting all the of the adorable coastal towns, so today I wanted to share five of my favorite spots with you.

Kennebunkport
Kennebunkport is the town that made me fall in love with the Maine coast. We first visited Kennebunkport on our fall colors cruise in 2014, and I knew we had to go back. Kennebunkport is full of adorable shops, historic mansions, gorgeous views, and amazing lobster rolls at The Clam Shack. If you want to swim, there are also several beautiful beaches to visit.

Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor is the gateway to one of my favorite national parks: Acadia National Park. Like with Kennebunkport, we first visited Acadia on our fall color cruise, and we loved it so much we knew we had to go back! Bar Harbor itself is special too. We loved walking along the water, going on a lobster boat cruise, and dining at the many delicious restaurants. You must stop for ice cream at Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream and grab some wild Maine blueberry muffins at Jordan’s Restaurant.

Camden
Camden is known for gourmet dining and the gorgeous Penobscot Bay. One of my favorite memories from our babymoon was our sunset cruise on the Penobscot Bay: it was absolutely stunning! Camden Hills State Park, a short drive outside the city, is also worth a visit. Mt. Battie (inside the park) offers gorgeous panoramic views of Penobscot Bay.

Boothbay Harbor
Boothbay Harbor stole my heart. It was the cutest little town with the most beautiful, clear water. It might just be a top contender for that vacation home of ours. I loved walking the Footbridge and just exploring all the fun shops along the water. It was absolutely charming and felt a bit like going back in time. I can’t wait to go back!

York
I included York on my list because it’s one of the easiest towns to get to from other states if you are driving. York is located on the southern tip of Maine and is full of fantastic beaches and gorgeous mansions. My favorite part of York, though, was the Cape Neddick Light (most commonly referred to as the Nubble Light)—one of the most photographed lighthouses in Maine.

This is just a taste of some of my favorite places in Maine! I'll be sharing more in-depth guides in the future.
P.S-If you know me, you know why all of the photos I showed y'all today are of the water and not the towns themselves-the water is my favorite part!

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Five Reasons You Should Visit Maine

Our trip to Maine was a dream. I loved every moment of exploring the coast, and I could have been happy spending another month in the area. Before I get into all the details of our trip, I wanted to share five reasons why I think everyone should visit Maine.

Lobster
Let me let y’all in on a little secret: I’m usually not the biggest fan of lobster. I prefer crab to lobster any day, and I think lobster tastes like whatever sauce is made with it (most of the time butter). That’s not the case with East Coast lobster, especially Maine lobster. It’s sweet and absolutely delicious. For one meal, I had lobster cakes, lobster fettuccini alfredo, and lobster and corn clam chowder. I still prefer warm lobster to cold lobster, so lobster rolls are hit or miss for me, but lobster is definitely a must when you’re in Maine!

Rocky Coastline
We spent most of the time heading up to Bar Harbor on Coastal Highway 1, and it was simply breathtaking. I might have convinced Chris we had to do three boat tours just so I could see the coastline from the water. It’s just that beautiful.

Maine Blueberries
I feel the same way about blueberries as I do lobster. I don’t hate them, but they are by far my least favorite berry. I also don’t like anything made with them (blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, etc). Maine blueberries are a completely different variety, and boy are they good! I even liked the blueberry muffins I tried, but my absolute favorite was fresh Maine blueberry lemonade! Even Chris, who is not the biggest lemonade fan, loved it (though his favorite was the Maine blueberry soda). Now I just need to figure out a way for them to ship some to Texas!

All the Cute Small Towns
There is nothing cuter than coastal towns, and Maine is full of them! When I was working on my list of towns to visit, I had such a hard time narrowing down where to go. We had so much fun walking (and driving) through all the adorable downtowns and stopping at all the interesting little shops.

Lighthouses
If you’ve read any of the posts from our Lake Michigan Circle Tour, you know Chris and I love lighthouses. I thought we wouldn’t be able to see many lighthouses on this trip, but there were so many great ones, we ended up seeing more than we planned! I’ll be sharing exactly how many in my Maine by the numbers post next week, but I must say those beautiful lighthouses made the trip even more special for us!

Have you been to Maine? What was your favorite part?

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Five Things You Must Do in Marseille, France

I’m back today with another post in my five things series! With the weather warming up, I’ve been dreaming lately about the gorgeous days we spent in Marseille. Marseille was a city that completely surprised me. One of my college French professors put it on my radar, and when we did our big tour of France, I put it on our itinerary, not really knowing what to expect. Marseille completely blew me away, and I dream of going back someday! I am excited to share five things I think you must do in this gorgeous city.

Vieux Port
The old port of Marseille has been around for 26 centuries. It’s a beautiful area to walk and is lined with bars and cafes, so you can sit outside and enjoy the view!

Chateau d’If
The Chateau d’If was made famous by Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Unlike Edmond Dantès, no one ever escaped the prison, but we loved taking a boat ride to see just how isolated it was. Not only is Chateau d’If an interesting historical landmark, but the views from it are stunning!

Basilique de Notre Dame de la Garde
Getting to the top of the Basilique de Notre Dame de la Garde is a bit of a climb, but the view you get is absolutely worth it. The basilica is the highest point of the city (at 162 meters) and offers panoramic views that took my breath away. The inside of the basilica is gorgeous, too!

Les Calanques
Speaking of things that took my breath away, Marseille’s calanques weren’t even part of our itinerary when we first arrived in the city. Thankfully, I saw an advertisement for them and realized we had to change our plans to include them. Let’s just say they made my top five favorite European memories ever. The hike up to them wasn’t bad at all, and the view was simply incredible. I loved seeing them from the top, but I would love to go back and see them from the sea someday!

Take a Boat Ride
As a gorgeous city on the Mediterranean, I think it’s important to see Marseille from the water! We opted to take a longer boat ride to Chateau d’If, so we could enjoy the beauty of seeing Marseille from a boat.

Have you ever been to France? What's your favorite city?

Monday, January 23, 2017

California Road Trip: Five Things You Must Do in San Diego

Lately, I’ve had a new series of posts I want to do on my mind. I know many of us don’t get to spend as much time traveling as we’d like, so I want to share five things I think you must do in my favorite cities, starting with San Diego. San Diego was such a nice surprise on our California road trip. I had been to California many times, but it was my first in San Diego. Now all Chris and I talk about is how much we would love to go back! I’m so excited to share five things I think you must do in San Diego with y’all today. It was hard to narrow it down to just five things because I think San Diego has so much to offer!

Old Town San Diego
We loved visiting Old Town San Diego with its historic buildings and amazing restaurants. To really get a feel for Old Town San Diego and the rest of the city, I recommend taking the Old Town Trolley Tour. It was such a great way to get an overview of the city in a short amount of time.

Related Posts: Exploring Old Town San Diego and Old Town Trolley Tour

La Jolla Cove
A trip to San Diego isn’t complete without a visit to La Jolla Cove to see the sea lions and the gorgeous views!

Related Post: La Jolla Cove

Coronado
We didn’t have much time to explore Coronado, but it’s high on the list for a return trip. The area is full of cute shops and the beautiful Coronado Beach.

Related Post: Old Town Trolley Tour

Balboa Park
Balboa Park is full of gorgeous Spanish-style buildings and amazing museums. I really want to visit the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Japanese Friendship Garden, and the Museum of Photographic Arts.

Related Post: Old Town Trolley Tour

San Diego Zoo
I must admit that I am not the biggest zoo person in the world, but the San Diego Zoo is absolutely worth a visit. I loved seeing the pandas and had the best time on our private tour of the zoo.