Staying close with friends from childhood can be hard. You change and grow over the years and maybe someone you were close with as a kid is no longer someone you feel aligned with as an adult. But the friendships that stand the test of time, the ones that ebb and flow with age, those are worth holding on tight to. Shelly and I met in 5th grade in Mrs. Cleaves homeroom and we became fast friends. While our adult lives have taken us in different directions, we’ve still maintained our friendship. For many years, Shelly was settled in the Midwest (check out the blog post about my 2021 visit to see her in Kansas City here), but eventually, she made her way back to New England and bought a charming house in coastal Maine, not too far from Acadia National Park. In April 2024, I finally had a chance to go visit!
From where I live in New Hampshire, the fastest way to get to Shelly’s was to take I-95 through Maine, but knowing the route the way I do, being on the highway for that long seemed painful…so I decided to take the scenic route up coastal Route 1 for most of the way. It was definitely more scenic, but took me a while to arrive. I got there in time for dinner and to hang out with Shelly’s kids for a bit, but after that, we all turned in pretty early.
During the time of my visit, Shelly’s family had just gotten a bunch of ducklings. Spring weather in Maine is unpredictable so at the time, the ducklings were kept in a small section of the house for their safety, which wasn’t ideal for Shelly, but was a lot of fun for me and her kids. The ducklings were so cute! After waking up Saturday and playing with the ducklings for a bit, we started our busy day.
The first place Shelly wanted to take me was an amazing spot called Big Chicken Barn Books and Antiques. It’s literally a huge old chicken barn full to the brim with, you guessed it, books and antiques. The first floor is wall to wall with antiques of all kinds, plus a small room dedicated to books by Maine authors. I found an original copy of Charlotte’s Web, which I thought was pretty cool. The second floor was all books, as far as the eye could see. They were sorted by topic but it was still very time-consuming browsing them all. At one end was a section of collectible old magazines and the like. We were here for quite a bit, but I could’ve stayed the whole day. It was such a cool place and I’m dying to go back!
After working up an appetite shopping at Big Chicken Barn, we stopped at the Blue Hills Co-Op for lunch. I was surprised by how good my burger was! Once we finished our lunch, we went to the Blue Hills Library, where Shelly’s kids had some artwork on display. Then we walked around and went into a few shops. My favorite shop was Leaf & Anna – Blue Hills. It’s a charming gift shop with lots of unique items. I bought some gifts there and Shelly found the cutest coveralls there for gardening.
Once we were done shopping, we headed to a spot out of town where Shelly was volunteering for a citizen science program counting alewives, a type of native fish. One of her colleagues was counting when we went, but she wanted to show me the project. It was really fascinating learning about the alewives and why they needed people to help with the counting. The alewives have declined in number over the last few decades but there are attempts to restore their numbers, which is what Shelly was assisting with. It feels important to note that both Shelly and her husband Ben are scientists and are incredibly smart. Every time I spend time with them, I feel like I’m learning so much!
When we arrived back to their house, the rain we had dealt with all day cleared up. Shelly, the kids and I walked around outside. The tide was out so we could muck about in the tidal flat. I was scared of getting sucked in but it was fun. We checked out some big pieces of seaweed, found some crabs and enjoyed playing along the shore. We ended up having a beautiful sunset so I stayed outside for a long-time taking pictures. It was a really nice day.
On Sunday morning, Shelly and I got up at dawn and headed to Acadia National Park so we could watch sunrise from Cadillac Mountain. Perks of going on an April morning meant we didn’t need to worry about timed entry into the park and we didn’t really have to worry about crowds. Luckily, Shelly brought blankets because it was COLD and windy, but the morning was clear and we had a beautiful sunrise. Shelly is the cutest and packed us a fun breakfast to eat once we got back in the car to warm up: a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on a bagel with fresh fruit and a cheese stick, oh, and a warm thermos of tea too! After we ate, we drove through the park to enjoy it without crowds. We ran around Sand Beach, which brought back memories of the time we did that for her birthday when we were kids. It was such a beautiful morning. After returning to her house, I packed up and hit the road back to New Hampshire.
It was a quick trip but getting to spend time with someone who knows me so well, through all the good times and the bad, always fills my cup.
Have you been to this area of Maine? Let me know below!
📍I acknowledge the lands mentioned in this post are the ancestral lands of the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Wabanaki (Dawnland Confederacy) and N’dakina (Abenaki/Abénaquis) people.
The Adventures of Suze 
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