Maine Vacationland

Maine is the vacationland state as the many road signs indicated upon entering the state. It was indeed a beautiful vacation and one that I would absolutely love to visit again someday. My first view of the Atlantic ocean in Portland, ME. It is such a great small city on the coast. After gaining a few traveling friends earlier in the day we checked out a great bakery in Portland called Standard Baking Co. and made our way to Skowhegan for The Kneading Conference. 

We were so very blessed to stay with some wonderful hosts outside of Skowhegan. They blew us away with their great off the grid home, amazing hospitality, humor, and wonderful conversations. Here is a great shot of the view of the mountains as we made our way into town.

The Kneading Conference was a great organization of home bakers and professional bakers from all over passionate about great bread and quality grains. We listened to speakers and attended workshops all centered around the age old tradition of baking artisan breads from natural grains and quality ingredients. We also ate some really great food at the conference that was all local. Check out my first plate. Yes, I ate all that and enjoyed every moment of it. So many fresh veggies and fresh goat cheese. Add some yummy bread and that's all I need!

The conference also highlighted several methods of baking in different ovens. There were even workshops on creating earth and brick ovens. Being used all over the conference were these amazing copper covered wood fired ovens. Simply amazing! Wish I could have hooked one up to my car to drag home. Only about $15-20,000.

We enjoyed our tour de ice cream while in Maine as well. Gifford's ice cream would have to be the most popular and we enjoyed it several days in a row. Our first evening we managed to come home with four quarts of hand packed ice cream. My favorite would have to be Maine Deer tracks which consisted of coffee ice cream with caramel and chocolate swirl and Heath chunks in it. We also had some great Moose Tracks: Vanilla with chocolate and peanut butter cups in it. Also great was Berry Tracks: a combo of fresh Maine fruit.

Our host, Susan, took us to the most beautiful lake I have ever swam in, Lake George. There are so many lakes up there and they are so breathtaking. We swam in crystal clear water that was remarkably warm and the view simply amazing.

Have I mentioned the weather in Maine was simply fabulous? We were wearing sweatshirts and pants our final evening out, and enjoyed sunshine everyday. Our stay in Maine was a short three day stay, but I do believe I will have to return someday. I would love to bring my family back here for some more vacationland experiences.