With Covid taking away most travel in our lives recently, it's given us the chance to seek for adventure closer to home. Through our small little travels we are starting to learn that it’s not about flying as far away as possible for the biggest adventure, it’s more about the people you connect with and the small discoveries you make along the way. 

This is what led us to our romp around up to Maine one weekend this winter. My twin sister, Alie, and I decided to spontaneously book an airbnb somewhere in Maine that I had never been to before. It only took a couple minutes to find the perfect space. A little studio apartment with a lofted bed amongst coastal maine. 

To say we timed it perfectly was an understatement. We drove down Friday evening only to see all of the road signs as we head north warn us about the winter storm coming Saturday night…. perfect. Three hours later we ended up in Portland to stock up at Trader Joes for all our cabin dinner needs. We then carried on for another hour and a half and ended up at our destination in St. George! We tried to go all out for dinner and make Spaghetti al Limone with garlic bread and a side salad. Let’s just say that this place did not have a stove and we do not recommend cooking spaghetti in a crock pot. The garlic bread was great though…

The next morning we woke up excited to finally see where we were in the daylight, and quickly got ready to explore. We ventured through lots of beautiful little harbors with picture perfect senses of lobster boats amongst pine trees and long docks piled with lobster traps. After passing through Rockland for some sit down oat milk cappuccinos and window shopping, our final destination for this day was to Camden. No plans, just more exploration. We came across a local natural winery called 'Oyster River Winegrowers’. Let's just say our vision of wine really took a 180. We were introduced to one of their speciality wines which was known as a Pet Nat. If you aren't familiar with what this is either, Pet Nat is short for the French 'pétillant naturel', meaning ’naturally sparkling'. Basically they bottle the wine before the fermentation process is over which gives it a very Kombucha like taste. It's a must try. They even sell it in Newport! We could have stayed there for hours, but wanted to go back to our place and nestle in as the winter storm came! It started to heavily snow on our way back to the cabin, which was the first snowfall we've seen this season!

Knowing to never mess with a crockpot again, we kept it simple for tonight's dinner. Ricotta toast with some locally smoked salmon we found in Camden. We were on quite the ricotta kick this trip…. This cheese is beyond underrated. Oh, and paired this dinner with two bottles of pet nat. It was only right. There was no better feeling than to be cooking a nice dinner with the snow, falling hard, knowing you'll wake up to a complete white out. The rest of the night was spent making a new winter playlist while dancing to these songs for a bit. I really wish the cabin had curtains. Apologies to the whole town of St. George if you saw us. 

Waking up, we peaked down from our loft to see nothing but a fresh winter wonderland! Six inches of new snow, we made it up right before the snow plowers came. The anticipation to quickly get in the car and explore to make fresh foot tracks around town before others was real. With the hopes of views of the Gulf of Maine with snowy backdrops, we drove North to Owls Head Lighthouse. Just east of Rockland serving as an entrance to the town harbor, this lighthouse is an active U.S Coast Guard lighthouse that checked all the boxes for a snowy sunday hike in the woods. 

All in all, a weekend spent in Midcoast Maine was the ultimate way to make the most of what a North East winter has to offer. Embracing the first proper snowfall of the season and making connections with the new people and places that we interacted with. We rediscovered the value in how much there is within reach to explore. A perfect sign to do it for yourself!

Also, shoutout to our mom for letting us take her car. If it weren't for her, we would most likely still be stuck in the snowy and icy streets of Maine with our little 2-wheel drive truck. Never underestimate the temperatures this place can bring! 

Maine copy and photos by Liza Toppa