Earlier this week, for the first time since our son was born (so — seven and a half months!) my wife and I both had the day off on a day when our son had daycare. We hardly knew what to do with ourselves.

We also lucked out with the weather. It ended up being one of those rare perfect Maine spring days, warm and breezy. So we ended up having a Wife Day, where I finally got to get out and start exploring Lewiston.

People keep telling me about cool places and things to do here but leaving the house with a 7-month-old requires about as much planning and material as the average D-Day beach landing, so mostly we’ve just stayed in my neighborhood. Which is lovely! Lots of hobby gardeners and there’s a little walking trail that has a pair of ducks living under the bridge. 

First we got breakfast at Forage Market, which is always making the various lists of “best bagels in Maine” and it turns out there’s a good reason for that: they were delicious. Then we walked over to Blue Jay Coffee because I wanted more coffee. (I always want more coffee.) They’re a classic coffee shop, with reasonable prices and a comfortable set-up where they let you hang out for a while. Plus they have a little corner with locally made arts and crafts for sale, and I would have walked out of there with a bag of locally made candles if not for our previous evening’s marital discussion of Sticking to the Budget, Victoria. 

Then we strolled around downtown Lewiston. My wife Bo lived there previously — in fact, we walked past the restaurant where we had our first date (Orchid Thai, if you’re interested, I ordered the Pad Thai, which I always do) — and she did the Maine thing where you point out what everything used to be.

There’s been a lot of changes in Lewiston in the past decade, judging by my wife’s sage memories and also all the construction. We even walked past the “Welcome Immigrants” mural that’s being painted by the artists Ryan and Rachel Gloria Adams on the corner of Lisbon and Ash streets. The artists were there on their construction platform and they were very nice when I squealed “Oh my God, I read about you guys in the paper! You’re doing an amazing job!” I am historically bad at first impressions with people I admire.

Then Bo and I went to Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary. They don’t allow dogs there, and usually I don’t see the point of going on a long walk without the dogs (you just have to walk them again later), but Thorncrag is so gorgeous and peaceful that I didn’t mind at all. We ended up walking four miles, which I didn’t notice until I tried to go down the stairs the next day and ow, my quads.

The sanctuary is beautiful (streams! vernal pools! fields if you’re into that!) and even though it’s right in the middle of Maine’s second largest city, it absolutely does not feel or sound like it. You can get lost in nature, except you aren’t really in that much danger of getting lost due to the trail markings. And also, you know, it’s in the middle of Lewiston. 

After all that walking, we had worked up an appetite. So after a quick stop back home to let the very jealous dogs out to piddle and so I could do a quick breast pump (when you’re a mom the moments of joy never cease), we hopped across the river to Auburn to grab lunch at Mac’s Seafood, all fried of course (fish sandwiches, onion rings) but not to the extent where my stomach hurt afterward.

Finally, we wrapped it all up by going over to Tabers, which is a restaurant/driving range/mini golf course combo, but we didn’t do any of the golfing; we just got ice cream cones and ate them while overlooking Lake Auburn. We also watched a flock of geese that had settled in the middle of the driving range. I do not think geese are the most intellectual of birds. 

To wrap up the day, we got my car registered at Lewiston City Hall. For most people this probably wouldn’t be the most exciting chore but, for those of you who are new here, I’m a government dork, especially at the municipal level. My gosh is the City Hall a classic old building — marble, brick, high tin ceilings and archways and something that looks like an antique hearse displayed in a stairwell? 

Lewiston has a bit of a bad reputation still; with the pace Maine tends to move at it, will take a few more decades to shed. And yeah, someone might ask you for change when you’re walking around downtown, God forbid. But as for us wives, we like it here. Hopefully we won’t have to wait seven months to get out and explore again.