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I could sit and stare at the ocean for hours, and I got to do just that this week up in Ocean Point, Maine. I traveled to the coast for a girls’ weekend with a group a ladies I refer to as “Poetic and Noble Land Mermaids.” We all worked together at Southern New Hampshire University back in the day, and there’s no bond quite like the ones formed on a cross-country bus tour. They are the type of friends that enjoy a glass of wine (or four), playing Scrabble, and watching Parks and Recreation. They also appreciate a good discussion around topics like photography and Instagram engagement. #squadgoals
We weren’t very lucky with the weather during our stay. There was a lot of fog (as seen in the lead photo taken by @heyrinehart) until the heavens opened up on Sunday morning as we were preparing to leave. All it really meant was that we got to enjoy a lightning storm while watching movies and that we found alternative activities to going to the beach. At the top of the list was a visit to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens—-295 acres of tidal shoreland that welcomes more than 100,000 visitors a year.
From the visitor’s center entrance all the way down the hill to the meditation garden, every inch is gorgeous. Even on a busy Saturday, the grounds did not feel overly crowded. It was tranquil and quiet through most of the walk. That is until we got to the children’s garden, and the fairytale vibes were perfect for a pod of mermaids. There was a cute cottage, which I’d move into if the furniture was sized for adults, and a pond with a pier where kids can lift fake lobster cages out of the water. It’s very whimsical. As you can tell we had a field day photographing every nook and cranny of every section of garden. The theme of the weekend was basically, “Do it for the ‘gram.”
If you make a trip to the gardens, you’ll work up an appetite walking around and you can head to Boothbay Harbor for lunch. We always go to a place calledMcSeagull’s. It’s a ridiculous name and a wonderful place with outdoor seating and quite possibly the best clam chowder I’ve ever had. And because no trip to Maine is complete without lobster, we hopped to the other side of the harbor to get fresh catch to bring home for dinner. I recommend going to Atlantic Edge Lobster where you can pick up shelled and cooked lobster to make your own tasty sandwiches. I mean just look at those lobster rolls.😍 Shout out to @instafly and @nikki_lazos for hand modeling.
Throughout all these adventures in Maine, I was also cooking up something else: an entry for The Ad Club’s annual Brandathon. I was asked to be on team W-9, a first-of-its-kind team of freelancers taking on Boston agencies in a pitch off. It’s a 72-hour, all-out sprint to create a wonderfully creative campaign for a start up. The live pitch is on Aug. 17, and that’s when our team leaders will be able to share our concepts with the world. So, periodically throughout the weekend, I was contributing to that team doing things like coming up with social media ideas. Brace yourself, that blog post is coming after the pitch.
As with most weekends, the hours were fleeting and eventually, we had to trek back to the real world, leaving whimsy behind. Until next time, here goes nothing.
