There were two very specific reasons I moved to Maine. The first, as I’ve mentioned several times before on PTV, has to do with the relieving of my overabundance of mind melting stress.  The second is, of course, the silence. So when The Girlfriend and I took off for a day of hiking fun, my hopes of finding some pure [...]

It’s the early 1950s in Waterbury, a mid-sized mill town in western Connecticut, known affectionately as the “Brass City.” While the city’s occupants go about their daily routines, one man decides a tribute to his Lord and Savior is desperately in order. So he begins to build. For the next several years, John Baptist Greco (attorney and evangelist) organizes hundreds [...]

As a card carrying crazy coupon lady, I get a whole lot of side eyes and skepticism when it comes to the prospect of buying healthy food on the cheap. I think that people associate high quality low preservative foods with fancy high end health food stores (I’m talking to you Whole Paycheck), or the jacked up prices that the [...]

My lovely girlfriend and I are on a mission. The state of Maine has implemented a fun and challenging game for their 75th Anniversary this year. It involves collecting stamps in special passport books, available free at all state parks in Maine. Challenge 1: get to a state park and find the passport station. Challenge 2: look up the park [...]

I kind of hate the word staycation.  Maybe it’s because it’s been incredibly overused in the last few years of financial crisis. Or maybe it’s because what it implies is a little on the depressing side.  It gets you all excited with the “-acation” part of things, but then demands that you stay put. Unfortunately, due to some poor pre-planning [...]

Uh oh, it’s that time again. Uncle Harry’s breaking out the video camera to take along on his annual vacation to Disney World. Which means you’ll have to suffer through 2 hours of shaky, underexposed footage, mostly of people’s feet and loud carnival music. Harry may love his stuff, but you know you can do better. The next time you [...]

I love abandoned places. Ghost towns, decaying hospitals, former amusment parks. There’s something both beautiful and grotesque about a building that has been left behind, subject to the elements, with no humans to make repairs to it, care for it, live in it, that I can’t get out of my head. When I look at an abandoned place, I wonder [...]

I am supremely happy today to announce the first official writer to Part Time Vagabond (other than myself). Alexandra Munier runs the blog Broke207, and has posted to PTV before. She’s a fantastic writer with a biting wit and sharp sense of humor, knows a ton about having fun while living on the cheap, and loves exploring places most people [...]

Portland, Maine is one of those cities you’d never imagine having a food scene. Yes, a scene. Yet, Portland was named the Foodiest Small Town for 2009 by Bon Appetit Magazine. That’s right. Foodiest. I swear, I did not make that up. With Portland being the foodiest town in the U.S., it stands to reason we’d have the best in [...]

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends! Enjoy the day and be safe, wherever you are! I’m taking a couple of days off, but I will be back to posting later this week. Thanks to all my Part Time Vagabonds! -Chris