Winter-Ready Road Trips

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Whoever first called our state Vacationland certainly didn’t have our winters in mind, but don’t let that dissuade you from planning an overnight trip or two this season. We rounded up our favorite wintertime escapes to make the most of these shorter days. From a dip in a cliffside hot tub to dining with views of a snow-covered Katahdin over a frozen lake, these experiences can only happen in wintertime in Maine.

by Paul Koenig Photography by Peter Frank Edwards

1

Western Maine

What to do

Shawnee Peak in Bridgton is a family-friendly ski resort with six lifts and more night skiing than anywhere else in the state. If you’ve never skied before or want to brush up on your form, the mountain off ers a package with a 90-minute group lesson, ski or snowboard rental, and a lift ticket starting at $119. For an animal-powered adventure, plan a tour with the Ultimate Dog Sledding Experience, which off ers a variety of trips on snowmobile trails in Hebron, Casco, and Bethel, ranging from a one-hour ride to a two- or three-day intro to dogsledding package.

Where to stay

You’ll need a place to relax, and the Lovell Center Inn is a classic and elegant setting to unwind after a day on whatever kind of trails you chose. Built in 1803, the Georgian-style farmhouse and adjacent carriage house on Main Street in Lovell has ten guest rooms and historic details throughout, including exposed wood beams and two original fi replaces.

Where to eat

If you’re looking for a cozy, candlelit dinner, don’t go farther than the Lovell Center Inn’s dining room. Come for the fi ve-course tasting menu, stay for the rum fl ight. For a more casual meal, head to Standard Gastropub in Bridgton for dinner and a fi ll-up. Located in a renovated gas station building, the restaurant serves from-scratch versions of your favorites, like macaroni and cheese with bechamel sauce and fried chicken sandwiches made with local, free-range birds.

Millinocket

What to do

There are multiple groomed cross-country ski trail systems in the Millinocket area that are free to use. The Northern

Timber Cruisers Snowmobile and Cross-Country Ski

Club maintains around 20 miles of trails, including Bait Hole trails off Route 11 and another from their headquarters off Millinocket Road. New England Outdoor Center (NEOC) has nearly 16 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails for both Nordic and skate skiing. If you want more speed to go with the trailside views, rent a snowmobile at NEOC.

Where to stay

NEOC is a perfect home base for a weekend getaway to Millinocket, with more than 20 cabins and lodges, including large ones that can fi t up to 14 people. Plus, dogs are allowed in the cabins.

Where to eat

There’s no need to venture too far, with River Drivers Restaurant at NEOC overlooking Millinocket Lake with Mount Katahdin in the background. If you want a more lively dinner scene, head to Blue Ox Saloon in downtown Millinocket for reliable pub food and cold beer.

3

Camden, Rockport + Rockland

What to do

If your idea of a winter escape involves escaping the cold, try a trip to the midcoast’s museums and galleries. There’s no better place in Maine right now to see art. Rockland is the epicenter, with the Farnsworth Art Museum’s vast collection of work by American greats, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art’s unparalleled exhibition space, and well-curated galleries like Dowling Walsh Gallery. In Camden, artist Colin Page’s Page Gallery has a modest but mighty roster of distinctive artistic talents, and Peter Ralston’s iconic coastal photographs can be seen at Ralston Gallery in downtown Rockport (open by chance or appointment in winter).

Where to stay

The castle-like Norumbega Inn on Camden’s High Street is a beacon of warmth come winter. The interior’s intricate wood details are best appreciated while sitting by the parlor’s fi replace (perhaps with a glass of cognac in hand), and the 11 distinctive guest rooms off er a range of amenities to keep you cozy, including in-suite fi replaces and deep soaking tubs (one even has its own Jacuzzi-style tub).

Where to eat

While there’s nothing wrong with warming up with a bowl of noodles at Suzuki’s Sushi Bar, go with the chef’s omakase tasting menu for an extraordinary experience. Just call ahead for a reservation. Chef Keiko Suzuki Steinberger has received multiple James Beard Award nominations for her year-round, seasonally driven restaurant.

4

Ogunquit

What to do

With its miles of white-sand beaches, Ogunquit has long been a summer destination, but a wintertime visit allows you to avoid the crowds and see the coastal beauty in a new, snow-covered light. Marginal Way, the just-over-a-mile paved walkway along the water, is especially beautiful after a winter storm. Just keep in mind: The trail isn’t maintained in the off season, so conditions are at the whim of Mother Nature.

Where to stay

The luxurious Cliff House Maine isn’t cheap but staying there is a singular experience matched by few other lodging destinations in the state. Many rooms at the cliff side resort off er uninterrupted ocean views, and watching whitecaps disappear into the horizon as steam rises around you from the waterfront hot tub is magical.

Where to eat

Northern Union feels welcoming no matter why you’re there. The wine-focused restaurant located in a former home on Shore Road is just as suited for a multi-course romantic dinner as it is for drinks with friends. The food, wine list, and cocktail program are all stellar, and the setting makes you feel like you’re visiting a thoughtful, stylish, and absurdly talented friend.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CLIFF HOUSE MAINE

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HAPPY PLACE

Architect Kevin Browne and his family feel more at home in their renovated, low-maintenance ski chalet than anywhere else.

BY RACHEL HURN // PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF ROBERTS

When architect Kevin Browne and his wife, Heather, bought their place in Sugarloaf’s Redington East neighborhood, the mountain became a huge part of their family’s life. Whether it’s summer or winter, they find themselves hitting the road on Friday after work and school and heading up north, not to return until Sunday. “The kids look forward to it as much as we do,” Browne says, calling Sugarloaf their happy place. They discovered their house eight years ago when visiting friends in the area. “We started skiing at Shawnee Peak when the kids were three and six, but then as they got older, we thought they were ready for a bigger mountain,” Browne says. Initially the couple was looking to simply rent something near their friends. One day while visiting they were supposed to go hiking but it rained, so they drove around looking at properties. The place had been on the market for around a year and a half. They went for it. After many renovations, upgrades, and experiments, Browne says, “I think we’re done now.” Below, Browne shares with us some bits of advice for fellow renovators.

Don’t worry if something is dated. Worry about bones.

“The neighborhood was started in the 1970s—other friends bought a home here with the original shag carpet. Ours was also dated, but the layout turned out to be more comfortable living than our home in Falmouth. The main space is on the second floor, and it’s nice and open, with a woodstove in the living room. We’ve been slowly updating, biting off a little more each year since we bought it—covering over the old textured wood siding (both inside and out), replacing the Formica countertops, the old stove and hood, tearing out nasty carpet and installing new carpet—and now I think we’re finally done.”

Opposite: Before adding a 10-by-10 mudroom, the exterior of Kevin Browne’s family ski retreat was just a three-story wall with a stair that went up to the second-floor entrance. “Adding the mudroom really helped give the house a little more curb appeal,” Browne says. This page: Browne, his wife Heather, and their two kids gear up for a mountain biking session, the family’s favorite summertime activity.

No mudroom? No problem.

“The big thing we did to the original house was to add a 10-by-10 mudroom off the driveway side. Before, it was just a three-story wall with a stair that went up to the second-floor entrance. Adding the mudroom really helped give the house a little more curb appeal. Plus, people would just come in and drop everything—bags and shoes and gear—in the living room. I had a good friend of mine, Brian Stearns of Stearns Woodwork, build it, and he also installed the bench and builtins surrounding it. We use the house just as much in the summer as we do in the wintertime, for mountain biking and hiking, so the room had to be able to hang bikes on the wall in the summer and skis in the winter, and to store all the different boots that go with all the different types of skiing that we do. It’s great, just having that extra entry space and a place to take your shoes off.”

Consider the pantry.

“There’s a space off the kitchen that used to be the second-floor entryway, and we had it converted into a big pantry. We have a lot of family and friends come to visit, and they always bring big bags of food. Rather than having them drop it all on the kitchen counter, that pantry space has been great for getting it all out of the way.”

Go big where it matters.

“We’ve slowly replaced every window in the house with windows from Marvin Design Gallery from Eldredge Lumber in Portland. We’ve also redone the siding—in phases, with the last two sides not going on until last year. They were the expensive sides, with massive windows looking out toward Sugarloaf. The cabinets are original. We just painted them and had new countertops from IKEA put in. The table we got is also IKEA—there’s a lot of IKEA stuff. We were trying to make it a little more Scandinavian with the birch veneer plywood, brighten it up. It was dated and dingy, and it was fully furnished, too. We took a lot of trips to the dump.”

Get a little experimental.

“The changes we’ve made in the house are a little more experimental than the work I normally do because, as I view it, it’s a camp and it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s been fun to say, ‘Yeah, let’s try this out!’ Like the mudroom: We were able to get one of the old ski-lift chairs from the Bucksaw lift that they took down probably five or six years ago. I just luckily saw it on Facebook—they announced they were getting rid of around 100 chairs and were asking like $250 or $350 for them. I was like, ‘I’ll buy one!’ They were gone in half an hour. We integrated it into the bench in the mudroom, with Brian building new chair slats for it, anchoring it in, and then building all the little cubbies around it.”

Opposite, clockwise from top left: The mudroom features racks for bikes and skis, cubbies for boots and gear, and an old Sugarloaf ski-lift chair repurposed into a bench. The owners’ bathroom on the third floor has the best view of Sugarloaf; it was updated last summer from its original 1970s decor, including more storage and better plumbing fixtures. Hanging out around the firepit with friends in the evenings played a big role in getting the family through COVID. This page: Browne says the second-floor family room, complete with a woodburning stove and comfy seating, is the coziest room in the house.

JUSTIN SMULSKI

This was taken last February during a snowshoeing trip to Buckhorn Camps on Jo-Mary Island near the 100-Mile Wilderness. Bud Utecht, co-owner of Buckhorn and a Registered Maine Guide, took us bushwhacking to check his game cams. It’s fascinating to watch the area’s lakes transform into frozen highways every winter.

Justin Smulski is a freelance photographer based in Biddeford with a focus on outdoor/adventure, editorial, tourism, and aquaculture. You can follow him on Instagram at @tidetopine.

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