There are so many things to do in Portland, Maine and I’m sure you’ve heard all the fine dining and fun to be had. But you may not be aware of the best things to do on Peaks Island – a hidden gem off the coast of Portland, Maine.
But before we visit Peaks Island, let’s explore our first landing spot en route to Portland, Maine.
Cape Elizabeth
As we were traveling our way up the New England coast towards Portland, Maine, the kids and I decided to take another detour to see the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse. The lighthouse was not available to tour inside. However, we were able to walk along the coastline embracing the winds from the waters, and snap a few photos of the lighthouse.
The Good Table
It may seem like the kids and I are always eating on our trip and that’s because we are! Hahaha, you can’t vacation and explore new places and NOT try their food. Sure, I packed a cooler of food to include snacks and water. But when in Rome…you get my point. Since this visit to Cape Elizabeth was literally on the fly, finding somewhere good to eat nearby was the next mini-adventure. I was successful in finding this adorable restaurant only 9 minutes from Cape Elizabeth.
Friends, when I say their name says it all. I mean, their name says it all—the Good Table. We were seated fairly quickly and our food came out not much longer after ordering. I won’t lie. The restaurant was packed; yet, they could still seat us, get our orders, and bring us our grub in a fairly quick period. It was a very homestyle relaxed type of setting despite the busy-ness of the restaurant. The staff was pleasant to everyone. All the guests appeared to be enjoying their meals and the atmosphere as well.
My mouth is watering just reliving this breakfast. My gosh mine was so delicious!!! The kids both loved their meals too. Look at how plentiful, fresh, and delish these breakfast meals were!!! Highly recommend a stop at The Good Table if you’re visiting the area!
Peaks Island
Our landing spot was in Portland, Maine. Yet, our exploration adventure was on Peaks Island. It’s probably not the typical adventure that most would think to do when visiting Portland, Maine. However, we aren’t most vacationers and we love to find the hidden gems on our travels. So we did just that. When researching and planning, I discovered this little Peaks Island and thought this sounds so FUN! Our AirBnB was about 15 minutes from the port. Yep. We grabbed ferry tickets and we were on our way!
It’s new, different, and even better…we get to rent a golf cart and drive ourselves around the island. How cool is that?! To top it off, Peaks Island is full of treasures. If you’re curious about what those treasures might be, keep on reading!
Our golf cart rental was for 2 hours. It gave us plenty of time to explore the island on our own and then travel along with our golf cart group to see places on the island we may not otherwise know to look for. We stopped off in what looked like a flea market, as we call it back home, on the side of the street. My kids tried real coconut juice straight from the coconut itself along with buying themselves a couple of souvenirs.
Where To Eat?
But first, let’s talk about food (again). Hahaha. The kids and I chose to try out Jones Landing. We chose this place based on the reviews of the gentleman on the ferry and it was the first restaurant in sight once we got off the ferry. We were looking for more lobster as well and we got just that! It was a great location. Right off the water so we had all the views. Not busy at all as they had just opened and fairly reasonable prices for the food served. Overall, we enjoyed this restaurant.
What’s an island excursion without some ice cream?! It was a whopping 80 degrees while on Peaks Island, ice cream sounded the perfect fit for our day out. We were looking for somewhere to cool off for a bit too. Down Front not only serves ice cream, but it’s a great shop close to the ferry port to buy souvenirs such as t-shirts, magnets, cups, hats, etc. The ice cream was delish and hit the spot.
The Umbrella Cover Museum
I’m sure you’re wondering what on earth, Christine. An umbrella cover museum? Yes, friends! Unique as ever. It’s fun, interesting and the owner, Nancy Hoffman is such a pleasant and fun woman to meet and speak with. The Umbrella Cover Museum is literally just that. It’s a small museum located on Peaks Island with a woman who collects umbrella covers from all over the world!!! It’s incredible just how many umbrella covers she has on display. Some are fun, others vibrant in color, quirky looking ones and then your sophisticated looks are found in this museum as well.
I loved listening to her own personal stories of who, where and when she received several of the umbrella covers she pointed out to myself and my kids. It’s so cool and unique. She also has fun, upbeat music playing during your entire visit. Just take it from me, if you’re ever on Peaks Island visiting, you MUST check out The Umbrella Cover Museum. It’s one for the books! Or maybe one for a rainy day! 😉
A Hidden Gem
I couldn’t let you off that easy by sharing the most fun treasure exploration for the three of us from the get-go! But here we are, friend. Time to share what my kids and I thought was the coolest adventure on Peaks Island. It’s the ENTIRE reason I chose this mini-day adventure for us. Well this and the golf cart fun! The kids and I went on an adventure to find seaglass! If you’re not familiar with seaglass, it’s broken glass that becomes weatherized over the years by bodies of salt water. So think of your salt water beaches. Peaks Island was the perfect spot to find seaglass.
As you can see here, we searched and searched. My son was very lucky and found a rare ruby-colored piece of seaglass. The seaglass we found as a whole was frosted shades of blue, green, orange, and a few gorgeous teal pieces! Peaks Island has several different stops where you can search for your own seaglass which makes it more fun! You never know what you’re going to find – like our tiny crabs while looking for seaglass.
Our entire ride on the island was primarily to find seaglass and then we scooted around on our golf carts with the crew of other tourists to discover beautiful rock cliffs with outlooks into the ocean. It was a very fun and different experience for the three of us.
I invite you after reading through our adventures on Peaks Island where the hidden gems were found, to do something different. Try something new. Explore unknown places for yourself. The experiences had, the memories created, and the time out in nature make it so worth it!
“Come forth into the light things, let nature be your teacher.”
-William Wordsworth
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Follow along to see where we land next on our 12-day road trip to Maine.
See you on our next adventure!
XO, Christine