Somewhat unintentionally, this past weekend became an “Orvis” weekend. Well, I guess every weekend with us becomes an Orvis weekend, and this one just stood out as “exceptionally Orvis”.

On Saturday morning Michael and I woke up craving our new favorite danishes from Boulangerie, and to help justify the trip in our minds, we ended up swinging by one of the dog-friendly beaches in Kennebunkport, Gooch’s Beach. At low tide there was an unbelievable amount of space for Orvis to stretch his legs, and even though he got a good run in, as we were leaving we passed another stretch of completely empty beach just down the road, and couldn’t resist letting him back out for another round of fetch.

After a quick stop at Snug Harbor Farm, we decided to extend the beach-going adventure and swing by Biddeford Pool on the way home. Watching Orvis run down a beach will always be one of our favorite memories, but with the tide low, the beaches empty, and the sun shining bright, it truly felt like these beach romps were special.

With a tuckered out pup on our hands we spent the rest of Saturday lying low. On Sunday we visited my family’s farm in Alna to let Orvis explore some more, this time accompanied by my family’s dogs, and that evening we ate way too much junk food while we watched the Super Bowl with my step-father.

Our day trips up and down the coast this weekend served as such a nice break from work and the planning of the house projects we’re starting in the coming weeks. I’m already looking forward to our next bit of weekend beach-hopping… and probably a few more of those danishes!

Photos by Meredith Perdue for Map & Menu.