Most of my weekend adventures are close to home in Maine. Once the snow’s gone, we try to get out as much as possible. I have family Downeast, so I’m able to do longer trips up there, on occasion. (Someday, when I win the lottery and have all the time in the world, it’ll be more often.)
Favorite Places to Visit
Cumberland County
- Crescent Beach State Park, Cape Elizabeth
- Two Lights State Park, Cape Elizabeth
We also have friends and family throughout New England, so I’ll also feature posts from our trips further afield. (Northeastern Mass to Boston can be a day trip, but any further afield is probably going to be overnight.) Upstate New York is just over the border from my parents in law, and we can easily drive to two Canadian provinces, so I’ll include those in here as well.
Recent Posts for Maine
- Cutler Coast Reserved Land – Cutler, ME
I’ve been wanting to the Cutler Reserve trails for a while now. And I really do need to go again. It was a lovely walk, and the fog kept it cool. I very much enjoyed the botanizing. But the view at the end was a little disappointing. What we could see was impressive, but I’d… Read more: Cutler Coast Reserved Land – Cutler, ME - Jasper Beach – Machiasport, ME
We headed Downeast this weekend, which ended up being a hilarious counterpoint to the heat and humidity of last weekend. The coast was socked in by fog both days we were out and about. (This is not a complaint – this is much more my speed for a day out wandering around.) The only other… Read more: Jasper Beach – Machiasport, ME - Kettle Cove and Two Lights State Parks – Cape Elizabeth, ME
A couple short walks to play with the new camera on an absolutely glorious day. We’ve had too few of those so far this year (and the weather’s only holding out until tonight). - Winter Notes
We got a white Christmas, for the first time in a while. This entire December has been weird. For the portion of the month that was still technically Fall, we were treated to unusually cold temperatures – down to single digits overnight. I actually had to bring my dahlias in from the garage for a… Read more: Winter Notes - Gilsland Farm – Falmouth, ME
We made it to my favorite stand of witch hazel today. Normally, it also features winterberry, but the berries were pretty sparse at this point this year. But it was nice to see a flower still hanging on, now that our temperatures have dipped precipitously, seemingly overnight. - Wharton Point – Brunswick, ME
Recent Posts for New England
- Rhode Island Troll Trail
Here’s the reason for our seemingly random traverse of Rhode Island – we decided to do the Rhode Island Troll Trail and track down some of Thomas Dambo’s New England trolls. Weirdly, even though my mother was born in Rhode Island, and I went to collage right next door, I haven’t done a lot there.… Read more: Rhode Island Troll Trail - Weekly Wildflowers – Acton Arboretum, Acton, MA
This is a bit of a cheat entry – there’s a carefully tended section of the woods that has wild flowers. Some are natives, some are natives of the area but were added here, and some are natives of neighboring regions, but are not native here. I actually came here because I knew they had… Read more: Weekly Wildflowers – Acton Arboretum, Acton, MA - Acton Arboretum – Acton, MA
- Spring Preview – Lubberland Creek Preserve, Newmarket, NH
This preserve was an accidental find. We were trying to visit the hepatica at the Adams Point WMA, and missed the turnoff. We realized our mistake and decided to turn around just as this Nature Conservancy preserve came into view. We were on the way south, so didn’t have unlimited time, so chose the Jeff’s… Read more: Spring Preview – Lubberland Creek Preserve, Newmarket, NH - Ipswich River Sanctuary – Topsfield, MA
Slowly but surely, spring is coming! - Marconi Beach – Wellfleet, MA
Last weekend was in-law family Christmas, down on Cape Cod. We did manage to sneak away for one day, and while out and about, found our way to Marconi Beach. It was cold, but lovely, and the chop was good. There is a surfer in one of these pictures, if you squint.