My wife and I were looking for a last minute place to get away, far away, after a hectic spring and early summer work schedule that left us in need of a complete change of scene and change of pace, with no time even to think about planning a vacation in advance. As a VRBO owner, myself, I went to that website first. I don’t know what I even typed in to the search bar, but Marc Poirier’s “Artist Retreat” was the first possibility to pop up on the screen. I read the description: “post and beam open concept home,” “dead-end street in a quiet fishing village,” “five minute walk to…a lobster pound that will cook and serve you up some lobster and clams right on their deck.” “Beam me up, Scotty,” my heart sang as I checked the calendar and discovered that it was available for the dates I needed.
The “Artists Retreat” did not disappoint. It was, indeed, a great and gracious home base for us to regroup and refocus, and enjoy the central Maine coast, from Wiscasset to Bar Harbor, from its many art galleries, museums and antique shops, to its breathtaking coves and coastline. Though the house came with a full kitchen, we found ourselves on the road most evenings at dinner time feasting harbor side in one town after the other on some of the best seafood I have had in my life.
But, most special for me, was sitting at the kitchen table at 7 a.m. every morning, savoring my first cup of coffee, looking out the window at the cove beyond shrouded in mist, watching as the sun slowly rose burning through the haze to reveal the lobster boats riding at anchor and the islands beyond. It couldn’t have been any better.