New England Adventures - Day 3

For the longest time, I've always wanted to go to New England.  It's been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember.  Obviously because of its beauty... but also because I happen to know more than a handful of people who live and work in the area.  Friends from long ago, friends who've escaped the scorching heat of the lower Rio Grande Valley and extended family members who came to college on the East coast and never left.  And now I understand why..  It was a gorgeous day with amazing friends.  We couldn't have asked for anything more.  :) 

Before Chad and I were set to meet up with my very sweet friend Mary Cantu-Ramaciotti and her hubby, who were driving up to Portsmouth from their home base in Boston, we took the morning to explore some of the beaches nearby. 

We were only here for about 30 minutes but by the time we left... the tide had come up and all these rocks that Chad had just traversed were covered in water and this incredibly dense fog had rolled in.  

Crazy snails graveyard.. They were EVERYWHERE!!

I'm not sure what I was looking at...but thought this was a funny picture. :)

Here comes the fog.. and the crazy blanket of seaweed over the rocks..

weird... 

Arriving just in time for lunch (and after having some serious trouble finding this little hidden gem of a restaurant) ... Mary, Renato, Chad and I hit up Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier for some grub.  :)  

Chad's lunch!!  Eeeekkkk!! Poor little guy.. :/

Don't mind my swollen, prego face please.  :)

Mary and Renato, having fun with the bib... that quickly became a CAPE!  :)

Beautiful views from the pier :)

Off to our next stop.

As we drove around, with no real place to go, we stumbled upon the Barrell Mill Pond Dam with some pretty amazing views.  

And found ourselves at the York Lighthouse again.... 

Back in Portsmouth for a little exploring on our final day there... 

Church in downtown Portsmouth.. right before dinner :)

Ending our night with some dinner (and ice cream!) before the Ramaciotti's had to go back to Boston (for their long drive to DC the next morning), we hit up the Portsmouth Brewery downtown.  It was almost unfair to take this beer lovin' pregnant girl to this place.  I don't even DRINK that much, but suddenly because I CAN'T, I've been craving beer MORE than EVER!!  They had so many (seemingly) tasty selections on their menu..we must come back one day... lol... 

New England Adventures - Day 2 :)

Day 2 of our New England Adventure took us on a leisurely drive along the coast through the charming little towns of York, Ogunquit and Kennebunkport... finally making our way up to Portland, Maine :) 

It was MORE picturesque than we could've ever imagined...even as menacing looking rain clouds moved overhead.  It somehow seemed perfectly fitting that this was an overcast and unusually cold and windy day in June.. it fit the New England atmosphere and our experience along the coast perfectly. 

Cold and a bit drizzly... but still sooooo, sooooo BEAUTIFUL!

Seeing an opportunity for a pit stop... Chad and I found a beautiful park leading down to the water. 

And just like that... the rain clouds disappeared as we reached the town of York.

12 miles north of York, just off the Coastal Route 1A..

Perkins Cove in Ogunquit, Maine

Our final lighthouse stop for the day in Portland, Maine :)

New England Adventures - Day 1

There are always two major factors to any Kelley Family Getaway...

#1.  Chad Kelley ALWAYS books our flights at the BUTT crack of dawn (why I continue to let him make our flight plans, I'll never really know..;) Actually, I take that back... I DO know why he does it.  He likes to get to our destination as soon as humanly possible to begin our adventure...which I actually appreciate...except not at FOUR in the morning when my stomach and baby belly absolutely DO NOT want to cooperate with the early morning wake up call. 

and #2.  Plans and itineraries are merely suggestions of what we'd like to accomplish during our trip.  How we get there and in which order things are done is all left to chance.  Chance, and a good pair of walking shoes, that is. :)

After a "SOMEWHAT" interesting start to our trip.. (read: I almost went rogue, pregnant, Mexican on this self righteous, SHAMELESS couple and their family of FIVE for trying to CUT in front of at least 150 people waiting to get through the security checkpoint at DFW airport...justifying their bad examples by simply saying "they were running late... and that I was a "bad Christian" for not letting them cut in front of us".  Seriously?!?!?!  We were ALL late and had somewhere to be... that line was RIDICULOUS!!  Basically, words were exchanged..(I was BEYOND livid by this point, showing my apparently "non-christian" colors and was ready to go down swingin'...) when they FINALLY went to the back of the line, where they should've started all along... 

Determined to NOT let this crazy, too-early-for-confrontation, confrontation stand in my way of a great trip, we refocused on the task at hand.  NEW ENGLAND!! First up, our pre-dawn flight took us to Boston to pick up our rental car... where we took to the road and headed north to Salem, Massachusetts. 

Quaint little street in Salem

On our way to the Salem Witch Museum

Creepy entry stones into the local cemetery...

One of the memorial stones for those involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692

There is something creepy, yet intriguing about old cemeteries like this...

Next stop:  Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Our home base for the next three days :) 

On the road again... :)

Right in time for dinner, and with our list of restaurant suggestions from our cute little inn keeper, we headed to downtown Portsmouth to feed the baby belly at River House :)

Dinner with a great view of the water front :) 

With daylight still upon us, we took to the road again to check out the island near by:

New Castle, New Hampshire

back to our cute little hotel for the night.  The Port Inn

Next Up:  We head NORTH to Portland, Maine along the coast