Maine Places

Gray Area

Maine Places

Toggling between my real life and my Facebook feed last week, I felt like Dorothy opening the door that separates Kansas from Oz. On my side, the world was a dull, drizzly gray and where everyone else seemed to be (Florida, California, a Caribbean island), it appeared practically Technicolor. Pre-kids who needed their own pricey airplane tickets and pre-kitchen renovation (so basically eons ago), my winter survival strategy often included a warm-weather trip. But since that hasn’t been in the cards for us the past few years, I have made a habit of leapfrogging through the bone-chilling months on a series of weekend getaways. Last week, we bookended our older son’s school break with trips to our friends’ ski house in Madison, New Hampshire, and the Samoset Resort in Rockport, where, thanks to its affordable, off-season rates and general kid-friendliness, we have sought refuge for the last three winters. Testing the limits of how many little humans could fit in a house, and hotel room, added to the excitement. Here’s a portion of our eight-kid group atop Mt. Tohkomeupog in Madison — because the best thing to do with children who are exhausted from skiing all day is to take them snowshoeing up a mountain in the dark and feed them sugar! — and the whole nine-kid crew at the Samoset.

campfire
Samoset sleepover

I’m thinking I need one more excursion — maybe two — to keep me going through our kids’ next school vacation in April. Where should we go? Send me your (affordable!) ideas and I might feature them in an upcoming column! Have other thoughts on how to survive a Maine winter? Please share those too!

Cover Photo: This is pretty much what Maine looked like for most of last week. On a brighter note, how adorable is the cliff-top Flume Cottage at the Samoset? It’s available to rent year-round.