Category: Vacations in Maine

How Much Does It Cost A Day To Vacation In Maine ?

How much does it cost a day to vacation in Maine?

Plenty if you beeline to a tourist trap along the coast. I know, I know, those lighthouses, sliding on a bib to crack a steamed Maine lobster venues are a lot of fun. But they can set you back some serious money. Being planted in the Old Port section of Portland Maine is a little pricey if you spend a serious amount of time there.

This blog post explores the question of just how much it costs a day to vacation in Maine.

Outdoors Hiking, Taking In The Natural Beauty Of Maine. The Best Low Cost Maine Vacation!

The advice on where to vacation is often written by a media specialist many moons away from Maine.

The hired pen “suggestions” are hired out ones to strongly suggest to the audience this is how to should vacation in Maine and where, when, why. But what if you don’t own the hospitality business being highlighted in the write up? The outfit or chamber of commerce touting this location as the only place to consider staying and spending lots of money while you do is not trying to save you money. Not giving you options on how to vacation cheaper in Maine so you can visit more than just once a year.

This Maine blog post explores other cheaper ways to get away from the tourist trap high expenses and to see more of Vacationland without the unnecessary extra costs.

The Million Dollar View Does Not Have To Cost That Much With Low Cost Maine Vacation Planning. Ask A Local Insider Where To Stay, How To Save Money On Your Next Maine Vacation.

For starters, what time of the year are you planning vacation travel to Maine?

Remember the “shoulder seasons” are your best value. The periods just before and immediately after the busy summer Maine vacation season save a lot of bucks. Plus not so many people on the sidewalks of those quaint Maine harbor town locations.

Way less traffic on the narrow streets networked around the Maine coastal harbor town locations in the shoulder season. You don’t see the cruise ships double parked out front. The big tourist buses from Canada and beyond are not casting a shadow in the restaurant parking lots.

And the people who work the restaurants, run the inns, hotels, bed and breakfast locations along the coast are less stressed, more friendly during the shoulder season.

Collecting Maine Lighthouses. One Low Cost Maine Vacation Thing To Do For Fun.

The daily grind serving the public is not so intense or fast paced for the Maine motel and restaurant, the amusement business operators.

Everyone is more laid back and enjoyable like the surroundings that are not to capacity and beyond for tourists. Just my suggestion as a local native Mainer in my travel experience.

So how much it costs per day to stay during a Maine vacation depends on the time you arrive.

Winter can make the lodging rates even cheaper and you’re right. Not every place to stay is open when snow piles up outside the Maine tourist establishment. Many motel, cabin, hotel and inn owners take off for the sunny south to spend the winter months. To unplug and recharge for another Maine summer tourist seasons ahead without blisters from operating a snow shovel.

But winter stays at popular Maine tourist destination offer something else besides savings.

Solitude, smaller groups, no lines and everything in the tourist mecca returns to simple small town Maine existence sans the tourist dollars. Take Wells Beach Maine for example during the winter months. Winter at Sunday River or Sugarloaf USA is not cheap but sure is fun. The cost to maintain that many downhill ski trails, especially when Mother Nature does not cooperate with the snow flow all takes money. Plenty of snow in this Maine Sugarloaf ski video getaway over one New Year’s Day a few years back.

Sugarloaf USA In Western Maine To Ski, Stay, To Getaway Video

The ski areas in Maine have to make the long dollar because despite the myth, winter is not six months or long .

The added golf courses, hiking and biking trails and fall leaf peeking tours on the chairlifts all help the ski area’s bottom line financials.The smaller Maine ski mountains with lots more volunteers and less paid staff can weather the overhead easier to survive. Plus the cost of area lodging is much lower to the ground. The entire day in and out local economy in smaller rural communities is so much less.

The how much does it cost a day to vacation in Maine can be $250 a night and up or the coupon rate of $59 for the lay your head in the bed.

When traveling to Boston MA living in Northern Maine, stopping in York seems to be the line to not cross for motel room rates. Way cheaper, no charge for parking or any other add ons happens getting off exit 7. Because once you go further south, open your wallet or purse wide happens for the cost of the stay. Parking is never a problem in Maine for vacations. You can not say that when hemmed in a city like Boston with lots of one way old cobblestone streets.

The Boy With The Leaking Boot. One Local Houlton Maine Tourist Attraction.

The cost per day of a Maine vacation room, suite, cabin, where you stay depends on the season, the region, what events are happening.

What do you like to do for fun and is the vacation around your kid’s school recess break? School basketball tournament week or a labor day, 4th of July long weekend are prime time when vacancy rates are low. Dead of winter changes everything on the lodging bill and the meal deals to expect. If you tow up a camper trailer and go the RV route on a leased lot with hook ups, when you pitch a tent. The overhead is different than a five star resort with all the overhead.

Getting a lean to at Baxter State Park or renting a house on the beach or a lake and splitting expenses with your loved ones that jointly vacation as a group.

Any Season, Any Angle, Mount Katahdin Captivates A Person Any Age.

There are many approaches to hold down the how much it costs a day to vacation in Maine.

But do you snow sled, downhill or cross country ski, ice fish or snowshoe and is outdoor winter hiking up Katahdin your idea of fun? Are you more of an apres ski kinda person and want to curl up by a crackling fireplace blazes with a blanket as you gaze out onto the Maine winter landscape?

The problem with average costs per night for vacation rates in a state as large as Maine is the extreme. The $250 a night in Kennebunkport does not match up with the $59 motel rate in Presque Isle or Fort Kent, Rumford or Eastport Maine. The average them all together for around $160 a night is not what you would expect to pay everywhere in Maine. More on Downeast Maine.

Save Your Money. Low Cost Maine Camping Vacations Up Into The Interior Sections Of The Pine Tree State.

What do you spend for meals? That’s like asking what is the electric bill going to be in this Maine home each month.

Do you hang your sheets out to dry on a line or do you wash Suzie’s one favorite pair of jeans for the big high school dance that is suddenly only a few tense hours away? Are the household showers long and never ending or do what you gotta do and get in, hop out to dry off? Still in the one Saturday night bath whether you need it or not mode? Your habits and preferences dictate how high or low will the household bills go month to month. We live cheaper in rural Maine so how to vacation, what to do for fun is lower cost too!

Do you like picnic lunches and outdoor dining by a stream with a Maine mountain view?

By The Water, Is A Maine Sandy Beach Your Ideal Of Now We’re Talking For A Vacation Setting Location?

Or do you think taking advantage of a family meal special is cheap not instead a way of freeing up vacation funds for something else fun?

Your best Maine vacations are the ones that did not cost an arm and a leg going into debt to pay off for months to come. In small town Maine, pre-COVID, tonight’s meal at the local farmers museum for $8 gets you everything from new potatoes and fresh peas, ham, baked beans and home made bread and biscuits. To the same room for later. To take your pick of created at home just a few hours ago fresh pies of all kinds. Whip cream or ice cream on that generous slab of pie?

Local Farmers Markets In Maine Are Low Cost, Tasty Fresh And Friendly Venues To Meet Your Veggie Grower.

The earlier breakfast down at the local Maine snow sled or fish and game club is even cheaper.

Plus there was a family discount. The land owners dinner is free to those letting local sledders run a groomed, market trail across their property. The breakfast ploys, pancakes, steak and eggs with fresh juice, hot coffee and muffins, toast again served up by the volunteers you know by first name in small Maine towns.

You can rent a cabin on a Maine lake for around $80 a night at a place called Tall Timber Lodge in New Limerick.

Or tap into the many vacation rentals where owners offer their places dirt cheap. Airbnb rentals, VRBO cost of and home away from home travel sites make the Maine vacation way more affordable. So you have money left over for more than one trip to Maine a year from the savings.

Sampling The Local Maine Location On Your Cheap Vacation. Learning What Life Is Like Here! What Living Here Full Time Would Be Like To Compare To Where You Hang Your Hat Now.

The same people rent the place they buy for vacations in Maine too.

That lake camp or woods cabin owner started off sampling Maine on vacations. Then decided to invest and become a local property owner because of the positive vacation experience. The vacation second home up in Maine is put up for rent. Everywhere, the same one or two weeks, folks look forward to another leased piece of Maine in the same spot. If you don’t buy a property in Maine, you are more likely to explore other areas of Vacationland. When you have the investment, working on it and returning to the same base to explore a section of vast Maine happens.

So the cost per day of your vacation in Maine for meals does not have to be an average of $40 a day when you go deep local.

The thinking that the trip to Maine for a couple for one week will cost over $2200 does apply in so many cases. When you hit a church supper meal, you dine with the locals and they take you in like you lived there. Sharing the experience of living in their small Maine town and if you ask, volunteering how best to spend your vacation. Pointing out what to make sure you don’t miss out seeing while you are staying in this part of Maine. Isn’t that a more memorable Maine vacation that won’t set you back vast sums?

Maine Coastal Vacations, Usually Water Is Somehow Attached To Your Stay In Vacationland.

Agri-tourism where you visit a local Maine farm or learning about the state’s rich lumbering history with museum tours.

The trip out with a lobsterman, someone fishing for a living is the real deal. It’s way more than mini golf and go karts or whale watching and lighthouse tours to make your Maine vacation memorable. So much extra to squeeze out of the vacation time when you approach it like a local who lives here. That is your best guide on what to do for fun.

Fishing, hunting, kayaking, hiking, biking, camping or glamping up in Maine.

Parked On The Waterfront Somewhere In Maine. Is That Your Idea Of A Memorable Maine Vacation? Cooking Outside, Talks On The Deck, A Nightly Fire With Chairs Surrounding It?

Are you planning to crack lobsters and munch on butter dipped steamed clams or trail mix and open grill sizzling steaks or BBQ lathered chicken?

Pass the potato or macaroni salad please. The cost a day to vacation in Maine can be just a tank of gas, a stop at a grocery store for grub and hanging your hat at a simple woods camp.

Just listed a 60 acre woodlot in Washburn Maine that would be one ideal simple vacation destination.

Just got a call just now from a Maine land buyer in Lisbon, down country who has relatives in the Presque Isle area. He and a friend are thinking seriously of going in 50-50 to buy this well wooded property. The one that is more than just a source of income when trees get selectively harvested to open up recreational trails.

Buy Some Maine Land, Put Up A Simple Camp Or Haul In The Travel Trailer Camper. Ideal Low Cost Vacation Location In Maine.

The Washburn Maine land for cheap instate vacations fronts Pettingill Brook.

And the town shows 72 acres, more than the 60 acre estimate in the warranty deed. If this Maine land buyer builds a simple camp, it could be rented out when not being used for profit.

Wood stove, playing cribbage and cards, having wildlife for neighbors uptah the rustic camp in Maine.

Is that all you are looking for in your Maine vacation? Is the Maine land on snow sled trails and four wheeler ATV pathways? Yes it is and building restrictions, heavy duty HOA’s? Not in Aroostook County or most of rural Maine is what you find for building permits. No people, no hassles, that’s Maine. Where common sense still rules the day.

Camped Out Near Mt Katahdin,In The Baxter State Park Area. Priceless. Owned Properties Pay For Themselves In Savings Shelled Out At Places To Stay And Eat.

Dial in your type of Maine fun.

Is your Maine vacation outlet shopping and are the kids going to be blue screen reflection silent during meals, and on couches plugged into Internet devices like the back home routine? Or unplugged and hitting the trails for a family adventure to learn about a new area of Maine? Show of hands, who wants to hike up to the top of Mt Katahdin tomorrow? Better get to bed early and pack lots of water, trail mix and quick energy snacks for the climb up and down Mt “K”, Maine’s mile high tallest peak.

Thank you for following our Maine In Maine blog posts faithful reader.

Reach out with blog post topic suggestions. It is all about helping you find your way around Maine and sharing what it is like being a local insider living here in Vacationland.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

April 2, 2021
Maine Maple Syrup Sunday | Sugar Houses In Maine

Maine maple syrup Sunday, sugar houses in Maine.

Every year Maine maple sugar house farm producers open up their woodlot operations. The public gets to sneak a peek. Go behind the scenes for how the maple syrup actually gets collected and refined. To sample and see all the work to transform clear watery liquid sap into what gets boiled down into the honey amber golden syrup.

Maine maple syrup Sunday where the forty to one boil it down maple syrup production woodlot sap collection happens.

The long hard process gets explained by local Maine woodlot tree farmers. To get what you drizzle over tall towering stacks of flap jacks, my by far favorite Maine maple syrup application. Pancakes, ploys taste better with Maine maple syrup. Swimming, drenching Maine made food items in the liquid topping we all love so much.

Maine Maple Sap Bucket Collects Clear Watery Sap To Boil Down To Thick Amber Maple Syrup. Covered Lid To Keep Melting Ice And Rain Water Out.

You can not stop spring desperate to be sprung in Maine.

The seasons change with or without you. The pandemic kinks the hose a little in how the Maine Maple Sunday operations will flow this year on March 28th. But the sap is on tap and it’s almost showtime. You can not stop Mother Nature pair up with Jack Frost. Where the two tag team to yearly produce another batch of highly addictive amber gold Maine maple syrup.

Over 100 Maine Maple Sunday syrup collecting sugar bush tours ahead in this 38th annual event.

All the family friendly entertainment to sample the maple syrup products coming to a sap collection venue near you. From York to Aroostook County, Maine maple syrup tree tapping demonstrations are going to happen ready or not. The fun activities to sample the all natural syrup sweetener await. Mark the date, please circle March 28th a couple times in red on your kitchen calendar. To make sure not to forget. That it’s that time again. For all the Maine maple syrup producers statewide to join together and promote some great maple products.

Let’s check in with Ed and Pat Jillsons to see what a Maine Maple Sunday open house looks like pre-pandemic with the magic of video.

Here’s the Maine Maple Sunday map of sugar houses to find one or more near you “celebrate approaching spring” open house tours.

To protect the public adhering to the state’s COVID 19 safety protocols, Maine maple syrup farm producers will step back. Spacing it out to creatively and safety do the show and tell sugar bush demonstrations. But nothing can stop the excitement surrounding Maine maple Sunday when spring syrup is collected from tapped trees around Vacationland.

While out on the McIntyre Road touring a Maine river front land property listing last weekend, I spied with my little eye the hanging galvanized buckets. Hooked securely to sap taps on maple trees across the road, the inspiration for this next Me In Maine blog post clicked. Like a minister looking for the next week’s sermon, why not ask folks out in the audience what comes to mind from two words, maple syrup?

And do you think log cabin maple syrup or the lady with the bandana smiling at you?

Or Maine maple syrup no matter what the price of the supermarket jug. Pure, natural Maine maple syrup, woodlot to your family table please and thank you. There’s your sign, that’s your brand. Settling for nothing but the best, forgetting all the rest of those light weight, watered down imitations full of fructose and God only knows what else that we all know if bad for your body right?

The Sweet Stuff, Rock Maple Sap That Boils Down 40 To 1 For The Golden Mixture To Ooze On Your Maine Blueberry Pancakes.

New England maple syrup, do you thick of log cabins and the state of Vermont?

Maple Shade Trees Are Full Of Syrup Sap When Above Freezing Days, The Other Way Below Zero Nights.

Well move over Bernie Sanders and Ben and Jerry’s, the state of Maine produces more than 575,000 gallons of maple syrup yearly. Over $27 million dollars from Maine maple syrup production flows into the state’s economy. More than 560 full and part time jobs generate the sugar shack sap house excitement.

If there were no Maine maple sugar houses, it would produce a gaping hole cavity of over $17.3 million in worker’s wages.

Does it hurt a maple tree to tap the sap? Is there a right and wrong way to vampire the live giving fluid? Isn’t natural tree sap needed to jump start the new buds that create the green hardwood solar collectors to continue forest stand growth?

How would you like a high speed drill coming at you from all angles to look for a mainline sap artery to slow drip into the hanging bucket weighing you down?

You know drilling out a tooth cavity is not the most enjoyed Maine recreational activity. But like a colonoscopy, Maine humorist Tim Sample says you’ll get through it like a Maine winter.

What maple trees can be tapped for the best syrup? Maple syrup can be made from any species of maple tree. Trees to tap for the sap are sugar, red, silver, black maple and box elder varieties. But the highest natural sugar concentration maple syrup is from the sugar maple.

Many maple species lack a high enough concentration of sap sugar… kinda anemic and not your super donors. Like down at the Red Cross lay down, roll up your sleeve and give the gift of life.

These light weight minor league maple trees mean you need even more watery sap to collect and boil down for syrup magic. With up to 60 gallons of maple tree sap needed to produce just a gallon of that precious golden syrup.

Here’s one video on tapping Maine maple trees and how to do syrup sap correctly.

I first got the bug about what if there was a local sugar bush maple trees to tap the sap for rich tasty syrup from my Dad.

On the Maine farm my four brothers and I grew up on, the long driveways of stately maple trees were tapped yearly. For way smaller but sweet treat syrup production on the farmstead kitchen gas stove. Sometimes using a wood heater to boil it down. But something larger scale was always on the back burner in my Dad’s thoughts. When just a little shaver of about seven, my Dad fired up the 1966 Snow Jet to head to the maple tree heavy woodlot. The sled were rode on purchased from my Uncle Carl Hagan who was the blue snowmobile dealer in Cary Mills, Maine.

Together, Dad and I made the trek to the 100 acre family woodlot in Ludlow Maine. To weave the snow machine around the ridge of tall hardwood maple trees. To survey them for the best plan if we ever created a sugar bush, a sugar house to create the maple syrup from our own Maine woodlot.

The Solitude, Peaceful Feeling Of The Maine Woods In Winter. Don’t Miss Maine Maple Sunday Sugar House Open House Demonstrations Nearest You This March 28th.

Dad had lots of irons in the fire and was quite the entrepreneur.

With little free time already spoken for to kick off the sugar house maple syrup dream, it did stop him from the mental layout of just how he would do it. To create an intricate series of tubing for sap collection up in the Ludlow Maine woodlot where we yearly gathered firewood to heat our homes. Lack of enough hours in the day to pull it off, Dad still had a vivid detailed vision he shared with me of a large sugar bush maple syrup operation. The one he saw in his head where just everything would go from his life long study and passion for the heavily wooded maple tree forest terrain.

Complete with large long hand made wooden tables with picnic style benches to slide along to find your place for the celebration of a new maple syrup batch.

Walls that open out and up to let in the natural light. Open sides of the forest dining room utilized for fresh frosty air. Served up with baked beans, pancakes, sizzling bacon strips, smothered corn fritters, sweet breads, sweet glazed donuts all with a common ingredient of Maine maple syrup. A communion ritual to invite in all your friends, family and neighbors to celebrate the approaching spring renewal of life. To quell the hunger for new Maine maple syrup infused in the yearly event up in the Aroostook County woodlot.

Maine Maple Sugar Shack Sap Production. No Network Of Tubes Gravity Feeding Into A Tree Sap Reservoir. Just A Simple Bucket Brigade ME Syrup Collection.

To introduce young and old to the sound of the crackling fire under the steaming maple sap evaporator woodlot scene.

As they pushed food around their tin plates in the sugary maple syrup for the bath before open up the hatch and down the gullet. Dad saw maple syrup as one more agricultural endeavor to sponsor to get Maine farmers away from mono-culture thinking. Of potato, potato, potato with a little grain in the crop rotation on small family Maine farms. The one that desperately needed to diversify to avoid having all the eggs in one basket. Income on a small family Maine farm has to come from many sources. To assure you stay on the family patch of dirt passed down through the many generations. To assure someone is around to feed the rest of us that don’t farm.

After a long Maine winter, even Pa Ingalls touted the medicinal health benefits of maple syrup used in the Little House in the Big Woods too.

The all natural elixir that requires a lot of hard work to collect the sap. Then the fun part of maple syrup making of collecting it bucket by bucket. To pour the clear watery sap into an evaporator for the boiling it down. Tending the wood fires to steadily reduce the maple tree sap into the 40 to 1 evaporation. To distill the amber gold slow moving liquid used so many ways. The alternative to white sugar, do you add Maine maple syrup to your fresh brewed morning coffee? Is the Maine maple syrup used in your cooking or to make candies? Are you planing to take in the sights this Maine Maple Syrup Sunday and support the local producers?

One more old fashioned Maine sugar house maple syrup production video.

It is a family day where Mainers bring their kids, can get a horse drawn sleigh ride. To sample some Maine maple syrup candy. Get out, shake off the winter mental cobwebs and break free of cabin fever. A little sugar shack shock of the taste buds does a body good and these open house demonstrations are healthy from many angles. And sure beats sitting on the couch and killing time inside . When you are missing out big time on a worthwhile sugar house demonstration in your own backyard. That supports local Maple syrup producers and the local communities around them.

Another pre-COVID Maine Maple Sunday sugar house operation video to stir the bug to attend one.

I remember seeing an old sugar house up behind my Mom’s home place on Benn Hill in Hodgdon Maine.

When all the cousins rotated our home locations week to week to play Sunday after church. While the Aunts and Uncles all socialized and caught up on local events. Thank you for the stopping by today to read, watch and learn about Maine Maple Sunday that has happened for the last 38 years and getting bigger and better than ever.

These Maine maple syrup sugar house open houses can provide up to 50% of the operation’s golden profit.

Highly important and more than ever this year to recover from pandemic losses as everything we know as normal went through a blender and got reconstituted. This is what’s happening around the “Crown of Maine” for Maine Maple Sunday plans . Up here in Aroostook County, the garden of Maine when talking maple syrup production this year. A lot of Maine maple syrup producers add honey to what they produce and sell like Spring Break operation in Smyrna Maine.

Please make an effort to attend a Maine Maple Syrup Sunday open house sugar house tour or two near you this year.

Remember, no farmer, no food. Think about that when you enjoy whatever is served up three times or more a day. Wherever you hang your hat when the dinner bell rings. The support for the local Maine maple syrup farm producers. Support for the local sugar bushes, the Maine maple Sunday syrup producers is more important that ever this year as we come out the other side of the pandemic tunnel.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

March 17, 2021
Snowshoeing Maine Trails

Snowshoeing Maine trails, one more winter outdoor option.

Strapping on a pair of snowshoes, zipping up the jacket, pulling on a pair of warm gloves or mittens. Hitting the snowshoe trails for lots of fresh air, eye candy on a Sunday morning in Maine. Blogging about the snowshoeing across Nickerson Lake and up the Crescent Mountain Trail loop today for you Me In Maine readers. Radar and Archie, the two dogs acting like kids equally excited about the trek along the north shoreline of Nickerson Lake in New Limerick. Before veering sharply south to snowshoe straight across the frozen Maine lake ice. To start the gradual climb up the winding, weaving hillside trail using snow Mother Nature and Jack Frost provided us.

Snowshoeing Nickerson Lake, New Limerick Maine!

Cobalt cloudless blue skies, bright sunshine and social distancing snowshoeing Maine trail exercising.

Hints of spring higher temperatures in the air. The mix of stronger sun rays mixed with the snow crust crunching under foot made me thing of maple syrup operations. Got my COVID shot this past Friday and feeling pretty good about that. How about you? Rolled up the sleeve yet? Stay tuned for a blog post on that end of winter, here comes spring ritual in Maine in a future blog post. Today on Nickerson Lake it is ice shacks for fishing, I counted seven huts in the section of Nickerson Lake that our party of five snowshoers and two K-9’s passed.

Winter Outdoor Fun Snowshoeing Maine Trails.

Cleared sections of the Maine lake exposed for pond hockey ice skating games in front of one log waterfront cottage.

The smell of bacon grilling and sizzling from one ice shack owned by Frank McPartland, my classmate and plumber. When you snow sled, stopping into the ice fishing shanties is fun. Frank and I and about twenty other die hard sled heads used to pack up this time of year. To snow sled into Bowlin Pond Camps in the Shin Pond area of Penobscot County. Those trips went on for about twenty years until families started the same tradition.

You see a couple snow sleds drift in and shut down beside the ice fishing shacks. To check in, shoot the breeze and visit before back on the way to a Poker Run. Or to hit a sled trail diner dotting the map around Maine. Maine winters are not meant to be spent on tramped inside. Mainers are outside all year long and simply make the appropriate clothing adjustments to match the temperature conditions.

Maine Ice Shacks Get Trailside Snow Sled Visitors Stopping By To Say “Hi”.

Heading up the Hand family section of the Crescent Mountain Trail, the snowshoe pathway groomed, smooth, wide.

High, wide and handsome is the Maine expression. We met about eight snowmobile sled machines on the ITS section of the Maine trail. Simply stepping to one side as you hear their approach while they slowly pass, smile, wave. Without words, all of us sharing the same thought. Isn’t it a beautiful day to be in Maine, out on the trails? Gotta do this more, why don’t I make this a habit? Snowshoeing is low cost, the lightweight gear packs up and stores easy in your car or kitchen mudroom entry closet.

This time out on snowshoes for us to explore and discover one more trail experience.

Ice Fishing On A Maine Lake! Small But A Mini Waterfront Island On A Frozen Sheet Of Ice. Some Swanky And All Decked Out. Others Pretty Basic And Tiny Tight Quarters To Get Out Of The Cold.

It’s like a video game where something different is ahead on the Maine winter snow trail.

Leaving the wide easy opening to funnel into a narrow less traveled trail that snow sleds avoid. Not wide enough for the front ski expanse of the snowmobile trails today. Years ago, snow sleds were narrow tight skis upfront and not so wide beds. Because there were not many trails and you had to squeeze between trees to make your own path ahead.

Kneeling on one knee, throwing your weight into the corners to help the snow machine go where you needed before oh oh. You are sinking and heading up hill. Good luck getting out of this mess of bottomless soft snow with not end in sight. Great exercise if you get sucked off the trail and brought to a sudden halt. Snowshoeing means anything area covered in white is fair game to explore and way less energy sapping. You set the pace alone or in a pack of snowshoers on the slew of Maine trail choices.

Some snowshoeing trails take more planning and are more strenuous.

Snowshoes Open Up Maine Wnter Woods And Lakeside Trails!

Like what if you want to snowshoe Mt Kineo for one example.

Not just the incline but the winter temperatures and wind that make it simple or requiring more thought and preparation. When snowshoeing, doing anything outdoors in Maine winter. Winter camping at Mt Katahdin. Ever done it or only visit Maine’s highest mountain wearing a t-shirt and for a one day up and down summer hike? Toting your water bottle or camel pack and some trail snacks. In and out, quick and easy. Pass the Gorp please. Watch those slippery sliding trail rocks, especially heading down when slow down. You’re going too fast kids.

Watch a video that outlines what snowshoeing Mt Kineo in the Moosehead Lake region of Greenville Maine involves.

Past blog posts have highlighted small downhill skiing Maine trails, others snowmobiling them.

Hiking, biking, so many ways to put the trail loops to good use year round. Snow covered or iced over Maine lakes do not stop you when on cross country skis. When you ride a sled or wear snowshoes with the easy adjustable snaps. Drilling a couple holes to ice fish and clearing sections to flood with lake water to create your own Zamboni like smooth solid skating surface. Outdoor pond hockey ice skating is so different than being on artificial indoor Maine hockey arena ice. Lose the puck easier too outside when someone lifts it with too much flex. And the game stops until the black rubber disc is retrieved when you play outdoor lake or pond ice hockey. When your buckle of extra pucks runs out and like golf balls, time to retrieve.

Ice Hockey On A Maine Lake. Your Rink As Big As Your Snowblower Or Snow Shovel Wants To Make It For Pond Hockey And Ice Skating.

The smell of the pine and fir wood trails as we leave a clearing and go up, down, sideways snowshoeing.

The lake residents that do use their places along the shoreline show a plum of wood smoke trailing upward overhead. You study the wildlife tracks as you leave the lake community to head into the Maine woods. Radar a beagle and spaniel mix curious about a hole under some tree roots. Archie a special breed of yellow like golden retriever more of a light platinum blonde color and much bigger doing the same sniffing. To rout it out and convinced something just scurried down that hole in the crusty trail side winter wonderland snow.

Snowshoeing Maine trails is something all ages can do easily, affordably through out winter.

The snowshoes are not like your great grandfathers with hand carved wood of brown ash or other pliable timber. Missing animal parts strung together for the webbing to keep you on top of the snow and from sinking. The harness to attach your foot to the snowshoe is not make of leather and laced to secure it these days. Lightweight aluminum, adjustable to your foot and with lots of ways to increase or tighten the custom fit. Smaller less bulky design to fit to the shoeshoer’s weight and height describes the snowshoe fit today. With or without adjustable telescopic poles, your choice. I think with poles adjusted to your arm length and height that you use upper body muscles to propel the trails. The lower legs get a work out snowshoeing but why ignore inviting the arms and upper body to the exercise outdoors in Maine right?

On The Maine Lake It’s Breezy. On The Snowshoe Trails More Protected From Winds.

A couple hours outdoors hitting the trails using snowshoes.

This is one easy option to get your daily fix of Maine outdoors when you already live here. Still thinking about the trail sights, the wildlife tracks and how much fun the two dogs had on the snowshoe outing as I hunt and peck today. Can’t wait until the next time but also, thinking I want to downhill or cross country skiing soon. How much fun snow sledding the trails this time of year would be. It is hard not to think about should I buy a new snowmobile and would I use it more than the one I have that has a few years on it?

Maine Snowmobiles, Snow Sleds Way More Sophisticated. No Boogie Wheels, Better Suspensions, Four Cycle Less Gas Guzzling. I Grew Up With Ski Horses And Snow Jets. There Were 50 Flavors Back In The 60’s!

The snow sleds today come from four brands and feature much improved suspension systems and less trips to trail side gas pump stops needed.

Since the days of tinker for two hours to enjoy them for one sixty minute time interval. Smelling like two cycle motor oil mixed in the fuel and it was not like the four cycle quieter experience snow sledding today! Plus the trail system is so much more expansive and developed with strong local Maine snowmobile clubs working hard to add new ones. To build bridges to cross waterways and remove the sharp curves for safety sake. As new trails are cut and groomed for local and out of town snowmobilers to enjoy. Winter recreation is really a shot in the arm for the local tourism economy. Especially during the COVID pandemic when the virus makes hitting the trails so safe and easy in vast, rural low population Maine.

Snowshoeing Maine trails.

Snowshoeing In Maine, Signing The Crescent Park Trail Loop Registry. Meg Signs Us In Today.

Signing in on the Crescent Park Trail shows you folks use this loop year round like you do.

Snowbirds that today are in the sunny south are thinking of spring, summer, fall walks on the same pathways. The trail ones snow covered not green. And with sparkling snow crystals today causing the sunshine reflection magic. Getting outdoors in Maine any season really energizes and excites your insides. Those inner places where you remind yourself again and again how lucky I am truly am to live in Maine. More on Maine snowshoe trail options if you have the bug.

Thank you for sticking around to read to the end of this blog post and imagery on one snowshoeing trail hike up and down the Crescent Mountain trail. Across Nickerson Lake in Aroostook County Maine one winter Sunday morning wearing snowshoes to experience the great outdoors.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

March 8, 2021
Small Maine Downhill Ski Areas

Small Maine downhill ski areas. Quoggy Jo Ski Center Presque Isle Maine is one in Aroostook County.

Family friendly, low cost Maine ski areas turn winter snow into outdoor fun. Skiing in Maine does not have to be expensive or limited when stepping into the downhill boards.

Small Maine Downhill Ski Areas, Quoggy Jo Presque Isle Maine

This blog post about small Maine downhill ski areas.

The visit to Quoggy Jo ski center in Presque Isle Maine this past Sunday made me think about small downhill trail facilities.

The small Maine mountains need lots of volunteers because the volume of skiers is smaller just like the lift ticket price.

And throw in a couple no show snow Maine winter weather droughts. When zip for consistent supplies from up above of new fresh powder snow. And well, then your small friendly area ski area in Maine can find itself reeling on the ropes.

The Air Is Thinner, The Clarity Greater On Top Of A Maine Mountain Or Steep Hillside Ski Slope.

Too cold, no snow, any pull back on local financing help. Or the loss of volunteers who pitch in while their families are young, etc. There is a lot stacked against the small Maine downhill ski areas. Insurance liability is one of the biggest expenses. Combined with power to run the mountain ski lifts, a profit for payroll, to keep the lights and heat on in the base lodge.

Maine Small Town Ski Areas! Ideal For Beginners, No Double Black Diamonds.

Quoggy Jo started as a registered non profit ski area in December 27th, 1957.

The history of the Quoggy Jo ski center . Dating back to back to 1932, today the downhill area is owned and operated by the Quoggy Jo Ski Club. Through fundraising, corporate business partners and generous donations from local Maine community members, Quoggy Jo operates 11AM to 4PM. That’s providing there’s plenty of snow and no hazardous weather conditions. The ski center provides rural Maine families with an affordable outdoor winter downhill recreation experience.

Free Lessons, Low Cost Ski Equipment Rentals. That’s Small Town Maine Affordable Mountain Skiing.

You can’t beat the $10 lift tickets, $12 rental packages, and FREE lessons small Maine downhill ski areas provide.

Quoggy Jo Ski Center offers a full service snack bar, ski rentals and if you don’t have fun, it’s your own fault. Patrons and those working at Quoggy Jo all try to make sure everyone enjoys their small Maine downhill ski area experience. To get them to keep coming back for more skiing on the groomed Maine ski slopes.

The Quoggy Jo downhill ski area offers beginner skiers a vertical drop of 215′. Slow and gradual, no blistering speeds tucked in and racing down this small Maine downhill trail slopes. No one is training for the Olympic speed trials at Quoggy Jo. There is one ski lift, a double t-bar. No snow making, just what ever Mother Nature supplies to trail groom and maintain. There is night ski riding and terrain parks with some mild jumps. The phone number of Quoggy Jo Ski Center is 207-764-3248. Quoggy Jo’s small Maine downhill ski area located at 420 Fort Road, Presque Isle ME 04769 in Aroostook County. This is close to home for Aroostook County and New Brunswick Canadian residents.

Small Hills, Mountains Are The Best For Learning To Maine Skiing. To Catch The Ski Bug For Life.

When Loring Air Force Base in Limestone was operational, many of the stationed families took advantage of Quoggy Jo’s Maine downhill skiing facilities.

Affordable, everyone in the family had fun and something to do besides ice skating, sliding or ice fishing. Winters in Maine are not spent on the couch hibernating. Snowmobiling is another big recreational pursuit. Snow sledding really jump starts the Maine winter tourism economy along with skiing.

There is no better atmosphere to learn to ski than a small Maine family friendly local downhill mountain or hillside operation.

Close to home, lift tickets and ski equipment rentals won’t break the bank. Everyone’s love for their small Maine ski area is great. Because all pitch in to support it from fund raisers, blog grant writing and taking turns with other parents to man the stations. The fire in their belly passionate ski volunteers are on fire invested so kids get introduced to beginner level down hill alpine memory making.

Hungry From All That Fresh Winter Air And Up And Down The Slopes Maine Skiing?

There’s Marge working the snack shack with your cousin, her granddaughter. Your Dad is helping a beginner figure out the best length of skis for their skill level. Your brother is hot dogging and showing off for his teenage friends on the small hill’s steepest run called the Bomber.

There is nothing like riding up the t-bar being pulled along with music, laughter, under the light night skiing too.

When you are a kid, looking back as an adult increases your appreciation of all the volunteers that keep the small Maine ski area mountain open for another downhill season.

Fireworks, BBQ’s, Something Always Happening At A Small Maine Ski Area To Keep Local Families Coming Back For More Than Just Downhill Skiing.

In college at the University of Maine at Orono, winter downhill night skiing at Hermon Mountain was one low cost close by option.

Sure planning a trip and pooling the resources to head over to Sugarloaf USA was an downhill ski slope adventure too. But small local Maine ski areas to get your fix of downhill fun and exercise hit the spot quick and easy. Something more personal and home grown happens in the small Maine downhill ski areas. Maybe it’s because your visit is more appreciated by those volunteering at the slope or due to many visits to downhill ski. Not just once a year or less due to the distance away or high cost to subsidize mountain operations. Small Maine mountain ski areas are popular places and so low cost, so nearby to visit for another perfect winter day.

The Lift Line At a Small Maine Ski Area. How Many More Runs Can You Fit In Today?

In my small Houlton Maine home town, Hovey Hill had a rope tow.

Lots of runs down the slope and just as much time spent pulled up the hill and gliding down it. Out in Colorado, when you ski in the Rockies you get lifts up to the top of several peaks with a series of gondolas and lift lines. On a small Hovey Hill ski area, a re-purposed Maine farm tractor jacked up with the big rear tire removed and the engine running the continuous rope tow. The Hovey Hill small Maine ski operation long gone run by the local parks and rec department. The downhill trail slope was near Houlton International airport’s glide path from the southern runway approach on dead end Hovey Hill’s elevation very handy to the Canadian US international boundary line.

No double and triple black diamonds and all the down hill trails at a small Maine ski area are green circle safe and easy.

The Ski Center For Quoggy Jo, The Trail Lodge In Presque Isle Maine.

Ideal for beginners skiers to avoid a trip to the hospital emergency room with a broken leg or two. Way way less stressful for the parent(s) shepherding the downhill family beginner skiers. When you live in Maine, you are just glad to have a small mountain or nearby hill ski area in your own backyard. For the kids and their parents to bundle up with clothing layers to swish swish carve the snow. Your support the small Maine mountain downhill ski area anyway you can to keep it up and operational.

May Mountain in Island Falls Maine was another small family ski area that I took my four kids to when it was open.

When I brought along my oldest brother Stephen’s three kids, the volunteers at May Mountain were awesome. Taking the never skied before newbies by the hand to show them each the ABC’s of this is how you ski. Now when I ride by May Mountain on US RT 2 on the way to list or show a Maine property listing, I think about the small downhill ski area experience. The big cable wore out, the mowed slopes grew up to brush. The base ski lodge had a second floor added and is now a re-purposed single family home with one long driveway, tremendous views, a killer sized parking lot.

At The Top, Ready To Ski Down After Letting Go Of The T Bar Lift Handle.

The kids skiing May Mountain grew up and moved on to other slopes in Maine and beyond.

Those kid’s parents were the life blood of May Mountain, Hovey Hill, other small Maine ski areas. Local small Mom and Pop businesses all pitched in their support for the love of downhill snow skiing. Just like they do to underwrite little league teams and local school musical and sporting programs.

Another small local ski area beside Quoggy Jo in Aroostook County is Big Rock in Mars Hill Maine.

Just across the border into Canada I used to book a room at the Holiday Inn in Edmunston so the kids could ski Mont Fralagne in New Brunswick Canada.

Usually the boys had a hockey team game in Plasterock or Grand Falls and we were close enough to stick around an extra day. To step into the snow skis for family fun on another small but Canadian downhill facility. The American dollar being stronger than the Canadian loonie helps subsidize the small mountain skiing fun. Lonesome Pine Trails in Fort Kent Maine is another small ski operation in Aroostook County.

Crabbe Mountain in Upper Haynesville New Brunswick Canada is another affordable family ski mountain folks in Northern Maine use.

You don’t have to race to get to Crabbe Mountain ski area either.

Open until 10 PM Canadian time meant after church, we all piled in the Jeep or Excursion to beeline for the Crabbe Mountain slopes an hour away. Lift ticket options beyond just full or half day meant you got your money’s worth downhill skiing at Crabbe Mountain.

Sugarloaf USA and Sunday River ski areas are Maine’s two biggest facilities.

The Top Of The Maine Mountain Or Hill Ski Area. Looking Out Over The Expanse Clears Your Head.

Large enough to be more than just put into operation for winter downhill skiing, the condos and resort hotel rooms at the summit used for year round group meeting conventions.

I’ve had Maine REALTOR state MAR association conventions at both Sunday River and Sugarloaf USA ski resorts. Over the years MAR has rotated where the continuing credit and guest speaker sessions will be this and next year.

It’s different coming into the base lodge without any snow, not wearing ski boots when you visit A Maine ski area off season.

The Maine ski areas not just put to use when snow is on the ground. The Maine ski resort operations expanded to offer golfing, biking, hiking the green not white colored trails. Leaf peeking the brilliant fall foliage colors with chair lift and gondola rides up the larger mountain slopes. Wondering about local Maine comfort food pub style cuisine choices that go hand in hand with the vacation recreation.

Snow Skiing In Maine, Lots Of Big, Medium, Small Size Mountain Downhill Options. Kids Start Out Best At Simple, Low Cost Small Hillside Ski Areas.

An off season mountain visit causes one to wonder and dream about new snow, groomed trails and down hill winter skiing to come.

And fond memories of past time spent on the Maine ski slopes flood the gray matter. More Maine ski area information. Check out these other Maine ski area locations and try out some new slope set up beyond your personal most visit favorite downhill mountain venue location.

Do you ski and which Maine mountain slope is the closest to where you life in or outside Maine? Getting you out of the house and on a set of skis or snowboard. Hope this blog post on small Maine downhill ski areas was helpful to get you headed to one or two this winter.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

February 23, 2021
In State Maine Mini Vacations | Maine Staycations

In state Maine mini vacations, staycations.

This instate Maine staycation blog post hits the highlights of a weekend getaway vacation to the Wells Beach, Ogunquit, Kennebunkport Maine area of Vacationland.

Freedom On A Maine Beach. Winter Helps The Pandemic Spacing On The Sand.

With COVID, social distancing is key to play it safe. Maine winter is the ideal time to visit cooled off tourist hot spots for a staycation close to home. To have plenty of elbow room, no lines, no black flies. No bumper to bumper slow moving traffic. The kind with a slew of multi colored many state vehicle license plates surrounding you.

You see the guy with the metal detector looking for some jewelry lost by a beach tourist lathering up last summer with sunscreen protection who left something behind in the sand.

No More Cramped, Stuffed Inside. Instate Maine Staycations In Winter Give Your Deals, Space, Fresh Air And Lots Of Eye Candy.

Listening for a beep on the headsets as he wands slow and methodically around the Maine beach.

The couple or single person with the dog who has the most fun. Total freedom to run full throttle without being tethered with a leash rope.

No four walls to fence you in. That’s Maine.

Come and go easy. Something cabin fever and pandemic hunkered down does not allow. The pandemic drove many inside and lots of folks are waiting for the “coast is clear” memo. Fresh air, wide open space, true Mainers are outdoors living and loving it every day. Staycations for the lucky locals are underway. No matter what the weather. Just dressing layer on or off accordingly as Maine weather temperatures rise or fall. In case your forgot, every Maine license plate reminds you where you are, Vacationland. Ready for an instate Maine staycation mini vacation?

Heading Down Mile Road To Wells Beach Maine. See The Rentals Ahead Lining The Sandy Beach?

Wells Beach Maine is a personal favorite to visit especially when the temperatures are high.

But instead of summer sand, sea breezes and blue green ocean surf, change it up with a winter visit. Same place, different season for your staycation in Maine. Shoulder seasons for Maine visits just before and right after peak tourist traffic vacations. Those are the more economical and less crowded too. Supply and demand. When motel rooms and cottage cabin rentals are plentiful, the price drops to lure in Maine instate vacationers especially. Have you taking instate staycations jaunts in Maine?

The Dog Having Even More Fun Than His Owner. Freedom. Winter Opens Up Maine Staycation Vacation Possibilities. Lower Cost Too In Shoulder And Off Season When Rates Get Shaved.

Instate Maine mini vacations are way easier when you live here.

Take off a little early on a Friday afternoon, maybe combine the weekend stay with a Monday holiday. Just a few days away from the daily grind and the change of scenery does a body and soul good. To see how the rest of Maine lives and look back at where you live from an out of town perspective.

Misty Harbor Hotel Resort Where We Instate Staycationed This Past Winter Weekend.

With no cruise ships parked off the coastal tourism dependent harbor towns, no bus loads of Canadians rolling in to shop and gamble, Maine resorts feel a tad lonely. Helping instate tourism venues and practicing safe social distancing because the vacation numbers are slashed to new record lows with continued low stay numbers. Instate Maine mini vacations, staycations are win win win from many angles.

Meg and I stayed at the Misty Harbor hotel resort.

What’s neat about the Misty Harbor hotel resort location in Wells Maine is how easy the dining is. Fewer tables, extremely well spaced dining in practice. We ate Verano’s Italian Restaurant Friday night.

One Suggestion Eating At Veranos In Wells Maine On Your Staycation.

You get to sample the local Maine coast cuisine.

That’s a big part of the pleasure of getting on the road to explore Maine as a lucky native who already lives here. Could walk to Billy’s Chowder House Saturday night. The two popular eateries in the dead old man winter have no lines, no need for meal time dinner reservations. When you live in Aroostook County, any trip out of this Crown of Maine means let’s order seafood. I had the mussels, then chopped Maine clam and noodle entree arrived. Meg the medley of fresh Mane sea scallops, shrimp, haddock marsala.

Both meals smothered in special secret sauces that just thinking about them make me almost drool on the blogging keyboard. It was Meg’s birthday present to high tail it out of Aroostook County for a few days.

Billy’s Chowder House Wells Maine. In Winter, You Are Not Dining Out On Picnic Tables Or On The 3 Season Porch.

At Billy’s Chowder House we met the brother of the current Wells Maine restaurant owner.

He told us 33 years ago his brother purchased Verano’s where we had dined Friday night. A full day of walking and gawking along the beach and coastline worked up a sufficient appetite for round two Saturday night. Billy’s Chowder House has the same owner as Veranos. From Misty Harbor, we’re talking a very short walk to and from Billy’s Chowder House. Verano’s is parked at the entrance to where we booked a neat two room apartment like suite. Shoreland zoning today would make the unique, all by itself location on the Mile Road in Wells Maine impossible for any restaurant or other business to hang a shingle here.

Lodging prices in instate Maine mini vacations go down down down in the winter and the pandemic has slowed the tourism traffic over the big green bridge.

Everything You Need For Your Home Away From Home Staycation Mini Vacation In Maine.

Meg had booked a place on Wells Beach Maine for two weeks in the end of July for this summer.

Since her family’s childhood, spending time on Wells Beach Maine is a big portion of the album of photo vacation memories. Her grandfather Curly did vacations in style and reminded everyone on them there is no clock. Time stands still and enjoy the stop the World when it’s Maine vacation time.

Heading Out On The Wells Beach Sand For Another Summer Day In The Sun.

We drove by this corner lot house location that is so handy to Wells Beach by foot where she booked a two week summer rental .

Her sister and Mom booked another Wells Beach Maine rental nearby and we checked out that location. Half the fun of vacations in Maine are planning them, looking forward to their arrival right? If you want advice for a Wells Beach Maine vacation rental, call Garnsey Brothers real estate and rentals. These guys are the best. Neat property names like Moody Madness, Pineapple Palace, Saums on Cranberry, Sea Breeze, Life’s Dream.

Me In Maine Author Andy Mooers Without The REALTOR Pin, Sports Coat And Tie.

Walking on the beach but without the crowds, with just the wind not people talking on your Maine staycation.

Face masks on and having pretty much the beach sand and surf to yourself. Meg and I walked up and down the beach, around the neighborhoods that were not clogged with people or traffic. It’s a lot like being at Disney Land or World without the people. No lines, no delays, no sweating temperature degree heat.

After spending the morning walking for hours, we had to visit Reny’s. Don’t know how they do it but bargain prices on a neat location for a wide variety of just about anything. When you have grandchildren, it seems to be a constant hunt for something to take home for a present. Bought the cutest yellow bathing suit for Penelope and checked out the wooded toys for Octavio.

Taking Something Home To Remind Of Your Fun Time Maine. Not As Many Outlets To Tap The Cash In Winter.

Saturday afternoon we looked at some Wells ME property listings for sale, avoided one open house that had three cars with Massachusett plates for safety sake.

With mobile phones and pretty easy real estate apps to one by one scope out the current Wells Beach Maine area real estate listings, you can accomplish a lot on your own. As a Maine real estate broker, it is always educational to make believe I am the buyer in a new area of Maine and try out the ease of mobile tap tap, slide and swipe.

We ended up over on Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Walkers Point Kennebunkport Maine Where The Bush Family Hangs Out When They Fly Into Vacationland.

Had to stop and walk to see the Bush family Walker Point compound one more time.

There was a breeze and the hood, hats, gloves and mittens were put to good use. There is nothing like salty sea air, cold but fresh Maine coastal oxygen to remove mental or physical cobwebs.

Hear The Surf, Feel The Breeze, Smell The Maine Salt Air. Winter Sharpens The Senses. Walking The Marginal Way Trail In Ogunquit Maine.

Big second, third and more Maine oceanfront vacation homes dark, some with windows board up tightly.

No one home in most and as a Maine real estate broker I wonder about each house’s unique history. Who built it, who owns it now and wonder hot steep the property taxes are or what it costs to heat. Those questions roll around in a person’s head as we clipped right along. Grazing on eye candy of the ocean surf sight and sound on one side, the high priced real estate on the other.

More seafood extravaganza at Billy’s Chowder House Saturday night.

Can you ever ever consume enough steamed clams, mussel or Maine lobster in one short lifetime?

Breakfast at the Maine Diner Sunday morning.

Every Maine Town Has A Diner. Maine Diner Wells Maine For Breakfast All Day Long. Excuse Me While I Eat My Spanish Omelette.

We decided let’s walk the Marginal Way in Ogunquit and I was surprised to collect another Maine lighthouse. I’ve lost count but am approaching 50 of the sixty four from past visits and photo / video collecting so far. But Lobster Lighthouse, somehow missed that one in the Maine collection. Most of Maine lighthouses are cared for and lovingly maintained with donations from non profits dedicate to keeping them up to snuff. You see stuff like this on your Maine instate mini vacation, staycation.

Not Lots Of People At Your Winter Maine Tourist Spots. Off Season, COVID Makes Folks Scarce.

If you have only taken a Maine vacation in the summer, every place you visited will hit you so so much differently if you try a winter visit.

Tourist heavy popular Maine vacation venues don’t have as many restaurants open, the go carts and gift shops are closed for the winter. No ice cream take out or mini golf competitions. But the folks who own and work at the ones open are more relaxed, less stressed or pushed. They are enjoying the lull and sane pace and miss the tourist that were not as intense this past summer season thanks to the pandemic worries and state regulations.

In winter, you feel like a local, not a visitor or tourist when you take an instate Maine mini vacation, staycation.

No Rows Of Deck Chairs, No Life Guard On Duty Or Outdoor Waiter For Drinks To Cool Off. Flower Gardens Sleeping. It’s Winter Staycation For Mainers At The Colony In Kennebunkport, ME.

When the Maine coastal natives find our we are from the northern county of Aroostook, just as many questions come flooding like the incoming tide our way.

Getting to know a big state like Maine takes a life time. These blog posts on a simple staycation visit to the Wells, Moody, Ogunquit, Kennebunkport are from the average Joe and Jane out in the puckerbrush Maine vacation audience.

Cut To The Chase, Maine Frankness Keeps It Simple And Honest To The Point.

Today, I don’t know about you but I find one of the best source of information is from someone online who is not trying to spin.

That just shares here is what Meg and I did and if you are up for it, you might want to sample the same. You over due for an instate Maine mini vacation, staycations time away? Saving time, sharing what worked for us could be fruitful for others. It is encouraging to bump into at a six feet or greater distance folks who are enthused not snarky about Maine. I am just high living in Maine, excited about how lucky I am to be here full time. So don’t keep it a secret. Just why I put time into this hunt and peck blog about what we do for fun, what it is like living here in Maine.

What’s it like living on the Canadian border up in “The County”?

Heading Up I-95 In The Move To Maine. Mt Katahdin Greets You Proudly.

And how’s the sleddin’ or ice fishing or where should we make sure to visit if we beeline up I-95 toward the New Brunswick or Quebec border?

No matter where you are from in Maine, the conversation with wherever you hail will turn up someone mutually known by both. Lots of perks being a Maine border town with Canada.

Skiing Together, All Ages In The Maine Family Can Take To The Slopes.

Instate Maine mini vacations, this blog post about the one last weekend in Wells Beach, Ogunquit, Kennebunkport Maine.

I did get a cell call from my Me In Maine webmaster who hosts this blog you are now reading. Prisca Poi had upgraded to higher speed, more bullet proof secure servers and needed my changed password. She invited us to visit her at Cape Porpoise Maine which would have been an adventure but time alone as a couple took priority.

Where are you thinking about an instate Maine mini vacation staycation ?

Bring Your Snow Sleds, Rent A Snowmobile Up In Maine. Hit The Groomed Trails Either Way!

Maybe a quick trip playing it safe away from crowds in the Millinocket Maine area?

Here’s an earlier blog post about an instate staycations, Maine mini vacation on Millinocket Lake at the New England Outdoor Center. Think winter, Maine, less people, more safety staying clear of virus with self directed, help yourself on your own mini vacations, staycations. Need an instate Maine mini vacations staycations ?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

February 10, 2021
Mini Vacations In Maine

Mini vacations in Maine.

During COVID, the ability to venture up into Maine has been tougher on some states than others. I always remind anyone planning to cross the big green southern bridge to check with www.me.gov . To know for sure who’s on the naughty or nice list and gets a travel pass depending on your state’s high or low coronavirus numbers .

When you live in Maine, vacations closer to where you live in the state happen a lot.

Hearty Lunch, All Fueled Snowmobilers Ready To Hit The Trails! Riding And Exploring Hidden Communities In Maine.

You are already here. Being socially distant and practicing safety pandemic protocols is not so hard due to our small Maine population. No traffic or grid lock slowing travel down in Maine. Outdoors any season is the reason we hang our hat in Maine over any other location.

This past Martin Luther King weekend, a quick trip mini instate vacation to Millinocket Lake happened.

The New England Outdoor Center is a hidden facility ideal for couples, families, small groups to tap into some Maine recreation.

My first experience with NEOC was white water rafting the Penobscot River.

The flow of water out of hydro electric dam controls the speed of the watery ride through Exterminator and other creatively named river locations.

Paddling hard, digging into the rushing cold river water for right, left or lift directions hollered out by the guy or gal sitting on the back of your bright yellow colored raft. Sometimes it’s “HOLD!” shouted out which means one arm raised high holding your paddle. While other reaches for the short rope secured to the raft floor as a wall of water enters your boat and hits whoever sat up front the hardest of river ride companions.

My youngest son Elliot was a river guide on the Penobscot River for Northern Outdoors during college summers.

Working in the River’s Edge Restaurant nights, helping tourists with wet suits and water vests work up an appetite and to stay in the boat days.

River Driver’s Restaurant To Fill Your Stomach After Spending A Winter Day Outside.

Heading To Eat After Tramping Outside On A Maine Winter Day. The River Driver’s NEOC Lodge.

This weekend no climbing into a raft or holding a paddle. It’s winter which means snowmobiling, cross country skiing. To hike up and down twisting groomed woods trails wearing a pair of snow shoes. Everyone well distanced on the trail. Being a ways up I-95 into the belly of real Maine means less campers, more Maine all to yourself.

Sections of Millinocket Lake cleared of snow and flooded with water from a couple ice fishing size holes to make it smooth and polished.

Ice Fishing, Snowmobiling, Pond Hockey, Snowshoeing And Cross Country Skiing. The Frozen Lakes Get The Winter Traffic.

No Zamboni used to erase the cracks from the outdoor ice surface between spirited pond hockey periods. But I could hear the “he shoots, he scores” from across the lake as my party snow shoed out across it.

The crunch of snow mixed with the sound of a light wind as fresh clean air fills your lungs. While admiring the Maine’s highest mountain and the supporting cast of foot hills around Mt Katahdin. That rise up and populate Baxter State Park’s forever wild legacy created by one smart, unselfish Maine governor.

Any Season, Any Angle, Mount Katahdin Captivates A Person Any Age.

It was Percival Baxter who knew best the perfect gift to leave behind for the many generations to come to enjoy.

Outdoor enthusiasts who would make the yearly pilgrimage to the Baxter State Park area via the quickest route available. And for as many times possible to sneak up into Vacationland to unplug and recharge in Maine.

New England Outdoor Center has other Maine sporting locations too.

Have stayed in The Forks to paddle down the Dead and Kennebec Rivers. Those trips white water rafting are a change of scenery. But those boat rides don’t begin to compare with the thrill of the maneuvering around rocks and water pockets. Hang on for a fast ride excitement no matter how many times you float fast down the Penobscot River. Check out the New England Outdoor Center (NEOC) website for lodging, meal plans, vacation packages.

Hang On, Get Sprayed, Rushing Through Maine’s Penobscot River Rapids.

Here’s a quick video of New England Outdoor Center lodging, the setting in Millinocket Maine run and gun collected to share from last weekend’s visit.

Needing a mini vacation in Maine and way over due?

Are you getting a little stir crazy and developing cabin fever from the weight and length of the pandemic?

Moose And Loon Lodge At The New England Outdoor Center, Millinocket ME. One Option To Run Away To Vacationland For A Maine Mini Vacation.

Need to fill your lungs with fresh clean Maine air?

Your eyes and ears and nose with the sights and sounds and smells of outdoor all natural Maine?

There are plenty of options to rent a cabin or stay in a lodge trail side for whatever your favorite outdoor recreation up here in Maine. Maine sure is the way life should be. Pick an area and see the options in your Internet search.

Space Inside, Outside For Your Mini Vacation In Maine. Moose Lodge, Millinocket Lake At New England Outdoor Center.

Mini vacations in Maine.

The sheer size of Maine makes the statement sound like an oxymoron. Because travel tiime to get to and from Maine can eat up a big chunk of your small window of time that you wished you could spend in Vacationland.

Just Shy Of A Mile High, Mt Katahdin In Winter Fly Over.

It’s like a flight to the moon or a distance planet and so much of the resources of fuel and time are eaten up in the Maine vacation travel mode element.

I see it when say a real estate buyer from Rhode Island is eight hours away. When they are up to their small camp on forty acres up in Maine and it’s Sunday morning. They are well aware if we don’t get on the road to start the trek back to their home state, it’s going to be a hard week ahead. You can hear the clock ticking as soon as you wake up and have to think about breaking camp up in Maine.

Where To Stay On Your Maine Vacation? Google It, Lots Of Choices Like The New England Outdoor Center in Millinocket Or The West Forks In Maine.

The older you get the more difficult it becomes to make long road trips.

Mini vacations in Maine don’t allow enough time and involve a lot of prep work. Gearing up, staying awake, getting all packed up and leaving before the crack of dawn. To race up to Maine arriving very late on a Friday night and trying to jam in as much fun as possible while road weary. Then tearing home, arriving dog tired and exhausted. Trying to rise and shine to get up Monday morning to begin another work week where you lost the weekend to properly prepare for the nine to five. To function on all cylinders in following days back in the dog and pony grind. Trying to get stretched back into their routine. The one all shook up by how long it takes to get up in, around and down hill back out of Maine.

Bring Your Snowsleds, Rent A Snowmobile Up In Maine. Hit The Groomed Trails Either Way!

Living in Maine full time still means travel to access all her goodness.

But when you can shave off four, five or more hours of travel time it means an extra refreshing mini vacation. Out of the car and not pinned behind the wheel plying the trails. Seeing the sights, sampling the local food and traditions. Tickling all the senses. The folks that appreciate Maine most often have something very different to compare it to where crime is high. Just like the cost of living. The price you pay in populated centers where folks are not the friendliest and just too many in number on all four sides.

Winter Fun On The Groomed Wood Trails. Do You Own A Pair Of Snowshoes?

What’s your favorite spot in Maine to return to through out your life?

What do you hope to do in Maine that is on your bucket list to cross off that you dream about doing? I long for the Canadian US border to open up for free traffic to resume. As a Maine border town on the boundary line, the locals miss how easy it is to leave the country for a day. Winter is a season like all the rest, we are outdoors and not stuck inside. Ever taken a mini vacation in Maine over the winter months?

Just Hanging Around At Home? Needing A Mini Vacation In Maine?

Maine, our lower population and big supply of open space awaits to create safe pandemic sensitive vacation options.

Itching to head north to switch into mini vacation in Maine mode? Quick trips up into Maine. The further you go, the more space and lower the Maine vacation costs you enjoy. Not everyone gets to all four corners of Maine to discover the special places that don’t get the ink. The Maine coastal tourist traps get most of the press and winter recreational fun is lost on snowbirds that beeline out of state to warm climate locations. But for those of us who hang around, that are nestled in the cozy corners of Maine small town living have a blast. You have the trails pretty much to yourself.

Even The Puppy Comes Along On The Cross Country Ski Trails. Winter Fun Outdoors On A Maine Mini Vacation.

Mini vacations in Maine, is that part of your New Year’s 2021 resolution in the months ahead?

This past weekend saw lots of folks with the same idea to hole up up in Maine at a sporting retreat. Mini vacations in Maine to cure the suffering of cabin fever. Don’t waste a Maine winter and take advantage of the lodging and meal deals. Exercise outdoors on your mini vacation up in Maine. Lots of options, does not have to cost an arm, leg or duplicate organ. Maine, the way life should be.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

January 21, 2021