if you are looking for a good old fashioned steak house on your travels out of boston, be sure to stop by hilltop steak house on u.s. 1.

besides serving great steaks since 1961, hilltop also has this amazing vintage sign out front that is worthy of the vegas strip!

here is their menu.

– ryan & gub

hilltop steak house

855 broadway
US 1 south
saugus, ma 01906
781-233-7700

a big part of any new england trip is eating lots of fresh seafood, preferably from a shack right on the dock! while in freeport, maine, we highly recommend heading down the road (3 miles) to south freeport for some delicious fresh seafood at harraseeket lunch and lobster company.

this dockside restaurant might not look like much, but it has some amazing food and offers great views of freeport harbor while you eat. you can order lobster fresh off the boats, or go with a delicious fried clam roll and seafood chowder (filled with lobster, haddock, scallops and more) like i did!

check out their menu and our previous post from a couple of summers ago.

– ryan & gub

harraseeket lunch and lobster

36 main street
south freeport, me 04078
207-865-4888

before there was rei and bass pro, there was l.l. bean. it was the go to place for all things outdoor/hiking/camping/fishing/etc, and everything had a lifetime guarantee. it’s still around, but it’s mostly an online/catalogue company with a handful of actual stores in the new england area.

during our maine adventures, we often visit the ginormous flagship l.l. bean in freeport. in fact, ryan has been visiting this store with his family since he was a little boy; his mom love’s their canvas bags.

there’s lots to do and see in the massive 100 year old flagship l.l. bean. from aquariums with live fish and running streams to a cafe & coffee shop, you can find yourself wandering the store for awhile. it’s also open 24 hours 365 days a year, so there’s plenty of time to squeeze a visit into your trip. and even though rei and bass pro have spoiled some of the novelty, it’s still quite an impressive place!

by the way, the l.l. bean kids department was super fun! they had lots of great books, including local maine selections, and an amazing faux-forest where the kids could run around. we loved the design of leaf mobiles hanging above the tree stumps in this room.

– ryan & gub

flagship l.l. bean

95 main street
freeport, me 04032
877-755-2326

when traveling in maine, you should save at least an afternoon to visit downtown freeport, the adorable little town filled with great shops and restaurants! most of the businesses are in renovated historic buildings, ie. abercrombie is in the super old library, so everything still has that old-timey new england feel. freeport is also home to the flagship l.l. bean store and other boutique shops like the abacus gallery, where we found lots of great treasures!

– ryan & gub

abacus gallery

36 main street
freeport, me 04032
207-865-6620

we recently went on another maine adventure, this time bringing clementine along for the ride! we flew into boston and then made our way up the coast via us 1, stopping along the way for some fun side trips.

one of the first places we generally stop on our maine adventures is newick’s lobster house in dover, new hampshire. this great seafood shack has been open since 1948 and offers scenic views of lobster fishing on great bay while you enjoy fresh local seafood! the sterritt’s have been going to this dockside restaurant for ages.

newick’s offers all sorts of options for trying fresh lobster. this includes steamed lobster, stuffed & baked lobster, lobster pie, lobster rolls, fried lobster tail, lobster stew and more. they also have a great draft beer selection and all sorts of other seafood treats, so you should definitely try and eat here if traveling to maine.

here is newick’s full menu.

if you ever find yourself in the new hampshire area and have time, you should also drive through historic portsmouth, new hampshire, which is only a few miles from newick’s. this beautiful seaside town and has the look and feel of an an old english town and is totally worth visiting!

keep checking back for more new england travel posts!

– ryan & gub

newick’s lobster house

431 dover point road
dover, nh 03820
603-742-3205

happy 4th! we just got back from visiting maine, so expect lots of fun travel posts to come!

– ryan & gub

today is our 4th anniversary! wow! last fall we visited ellijay, ga for some fall festivities and took little clementine to the field where we got married. here are some photos from then and now. our friend miguel took our wedding photos, including the great group shot above!

check out a time lapse video of our wedding ceremony!

– ryan & gub

i recently drove by the big chicken in marietta for the first time. how did i not know there was such a cool 50s relic in marietta? the eyes and beak even still move!

– ryan

we spent a nice winters evening in charleston last night!

– ryan & gub

we took a day trip to tybee island over the thanksgiving break. somehow gub had still never been, even after all of the years we’ve been visiting savannah. a friend described tybee to us as a “down and dirty beach town.” we love that description and it is fitting. we hope to get back there in warmer times…

– ryan & gub