It’s been a long time since I updated! I’ve been busy with work and derby obligations, and I’m taking a summer course in Abnormal Psychology (which I’m loving), so I haven’t had a lot of time to write. I have about a dozen half-finished posts on my desktop that I’ll try to get around to finishing in the next few weeks.
First, I wanted to give you all a short recap of the New England road trip that Andrew and I took in May.
Days 1 and 2: Utica, NY
Utica wasn’t a chosen stop, but it was the reason that this road trip materialized. I saw that my team, the Dutchland All Stars, would be playing the Central New York All Stars on May 15th, so I thought, hey, let’s continue north and make a full-on vacation out of this derby trip! I can’t say we had time to see much of Utica and the surrounding area, but I do have two awesome restaurant recommendations: Symeon’s (Greek) and Minar Fine Indian Cuisine (self-explanatory). I’d also recommend Holland Farms for baked goods of all kinds. Our Airbnb hosts were absolutely wonderful people and even made breakfast for us one morning!
Day 3: Burlington, VT
I’d been to Burlington before, but I didn’t remember much about it, so I was eager to re-visit the city. Our first stop was the famous Prohibition Pig in Waterbury for some lunch and a few beers. Then, we headed into downtown Burlington to settle into our Airbnb lodgings. I cannot say enough good things about the experiences we had using Airbnb on this trip. It’s so much cheaper than a hotel, accommodations are typically much nicer than a hotel, and you meet interesting locals along the way. But I digress. Andrew and I walked along Lake Champlain, explored downtown, and checked out shops until dinner. We ate at Duino Duende, a street food concept restaurant, and feasted on the incredible (and vegan!) Volcano Fries (pictured below with a can of Heady Topper, of course) and vegan tacos. We continued to walk along the Lake until long after dark.
Days 4 and 5: Bar Harbor, ME
We left bright and early for our 6.5 hour drive to Bar Harbor. The drive was so gorgeous that it didn’t feel like it took that long to get there. We arrived at our host’s house in the afternoon and had time to explore the town before dinner. Bar Harbor is a charming and relaxing resort town of shops, restaurants, and outstanding views of the ocean. We had dinner and dessert, walked around some more, and called it a night.
We didn’t get up early enough to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain to see the sunrise, but that’s okay, because we had the best breakfast of my entire life at 2 Cats. With full stomachs, we entered Acadia National Park. We first drove up Cadillac Mountain to get a stunning look at the island. When we descended, we hiked various trails in Arcadia until we decided it was time for lunch. We ate inside the park at the fabulous Jordan Pond House, and even had a view of Jordan Pond from our table! We spent the next few hours exploring more of the park, especially along the coast. We ate dinner at Lompoc Café, where we had fried beets for the first time (incredible!) and tofu bahn mi.
Days 6 and 7: Portland, ME
We hit up 2 Cats for breakfast again, and then leisurely departed Bar Harbor for Portland. Portland is a little bit of everything: it’s a small city with a big-city feel, it’s hipster, it’s bourgeoisie, it’s poor, it’s artsy, and it’s fun. It’s everything I love and hate about “cool” cities. It reminds me a lot of Lancaster, in some ways. We grabbed lunch and a few pints at The Great Lost Bear, and then headed downtown to explore the area before we checked in with our hosts (again, if you want Airbnb recommendations, I have a knack for picking the best hosts to stay with). We grabbed dinner and explored some more. We ended our night at Novare Res, a bar that just happened to offering a huge selection of Belgian beers on tap as part of a Belgian beer festival. I adore Belgian beers, so to luck into a tap list like this was more exciting than Christmas morning. I wanted to try them all!
The next morning, we walked just down the block to The Holy Donut for some vegan potato donuts. After killing some time, we had an early lunch at Local Sprouts Café, and then left town to go on the Allagash Brewery tour. Allagash is one of my favorite breweries, and they brew (you guessed it) primarily Belgian-style beers, so I was really looking forward to it. The tour was totally free, informative, and thorough, and we got generous samples of four excellent beers. An added bonus is that right across the street from Allagash are the lesser-known but impressive Foundation Brewing and Austin Street Brewery (Bissell Brothers also used to be there, but has since moved to downtown Portland). The Portland Art Museum is free on Fridays from 4:00-8:00, so we spent several pleasant hours perusing the collections. Dinner was a truly divine and deep-fried feast at Silly’s, a part-vegan, part-omnivore restaurant. The menu is unbelievably large, and there’s something for everyone. We ended up back at Novare Res because we had to try more of the delicious Belgian beers, of course!
Days 8 and 9: Cambridge and Boston, MA
We returned to The Holy Donut for breakfast before taking off for Cambridge. This is the only stop that we didn’t use Airbnb, as we were able to crash at David’s apartment. David is Andrew’s friend from college, and it was great to finally meet him after hearing so much about him! We then met up with two of my college friends at Veggie Galaxy for lunch (I highly recommend the pulled jackfruit sandwich). Andrew’s friend showed us around MIT, and then we returned to the apartment and stayed in for most of the day, just talking and hanging out. We did make an evening excursion to a pop-up vegan ice cream spot, FoMu, and it was the best vegan ice cream I’ve ever had, hands down.
In the morning we were treated to avocado toast, and then caught the T into Boston. We followed the Freedom Trail, more or less, and walked from the North End to Chinatown. We stopped at the unassuming (but fantastic) Cuong’s Vegan Sandwiches for lunch, hung out on Boston Common, and then grabbed a few afternoon pints. We headed back into Cambridge for an Eritrean dinner at Asmara, and then grabbed a few more drinks with David and his girlfriend.
Day 10: Home
It was an ambitious vacation, and I was pleasantly surprised that it worked out so well. Delicious vegan food, fantastic beer, and the majesty of New England – what more could I have possibly wanted?
Metaphorically Speaking 