Weekend Getaway to Brunswick

It's always so depressing to hear the buzz of an alarm on Monday morning to remind you the weekend is over, and you have 5 more days to go until you can sleep in again. No? It's even worse when it's 30 degrees out, and your car is covered in frost.

Speaking of frost, Brent and I spent our (chilly!) weekend up in Brunswick, Maine, and we had an absolute BLAST! Brunswick is a very quaint town with a lot of history. We arrived to the Inn at Brunswick Station just in time for check-in, and we were treated to welcome cocktails and an appetizer in their Tavern (part of the Groupon deal I purchased). The Inn is fairly new, just having opened in June 2011, and it is very well maintained and extremely clean. Their lobby hosts a gorgeous double-sided fireplace with a cozy seating area, where Brent and I lounged every morning to read the paper do crosswords after breakfast.

Brent enjoying his pre-breakfast coffee | our welcome cocktails
sun over the water at Wolfe's Neck State Park | lounging by the fireplace reading the Sunday paper

Friday night, we opted to brave the cold and walk down to Tao Restaurant, after seeing rave reviews on Yelp. Tao did not disappoint. They specialize in Asian fusion small plates, and they change their menu frequently. This was the perfect meal for someone like myself who tends to eat small portions and likes to try a plethora of foods in one sitting. We chowed down on their Pan-Fried Dumplings, Brussel Sprouts, Sauteed Long Beans, Hanger Steak, and our absolute favorite, Chicken Tom Yum (the coconut broth was out of this world!). After dinner, we headed back to the Inn Tavern for a nightcap.

Our Groupon deal also included breakfast each morning, so the next day, we fueled up for our long day ahead with a fruit and yogurt parfait (for me) and eggs + bacon (for Brent). After breakfast, we bundled up and hit the town for a morning walk. We strolled through Bowdoin College campus, which kind of reminded me of Hogwarts for some strange reason - the old architecture was absolutely beautiful! We walked around the Brunswick downtown area, but it was too early for the shops to be open, plus it was like 10 degrees with wind chill, so we headed back to hang out by the fireplace at our Inn until Brent's massage appointment.

Bowdoin College campus

 After Brent's massage and my spur-of-the-moment mani, we geared up to go snowshoeing for the afternoon. We drove down to Wolfe's Neck State Park in Freeport, which is kind of a neat park because it's located on a peninsula, so I was hoping we would get some nice water views. Well, this place did NOT disappoint. And woah, can we just talk about what a great workout snowshoeing is?

We covered about 2 miles until I started to get hungry, realized it was almost 3pm, and we never ate lunch. So we somehow managed to navigate ourselves back to the car and headed back into Brunswick to have lunch at Lion's Pride Pub. This place is a fantastic Belgian brew pub, and we thoroughly enjoyed the recommendations given to us by the knowledgeable bartender. I now have a new favorite Belgian beer! I stuck to a light salad knowing we would be eating dinner in just a few short hours.

We had dinner at the Inn Tavern, and I finally got my pan seared scallops! Wow, they were amazing, but what was surprisingly my favorite part of the meal was the carrot + parsnip "fritter" - I even came home last night and tried to recreate it myself for dinner!

Tao restaurant dining | fruit + yogurt parfait
pan seared scallops with citrus vanilla aioli, sweet potato mashed, and carrot parsnip fritter | french toast with blueberries

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we spent some time hanging out by the fire one last time and relaxed until we began the drive back down to Mass.

If any readers live in the New England area and are looking for a nice winter getaway, I highly recommend Brunswick, ME. It's only 20 minutes from the Freeport Outlets (L.L. Bean, anyone?) and 30 minutes from Portland. We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend here!