Escapism is not always therapeutic.

Most things in life are a double edged sword, including not having a destination. Flowing freely with the open road is romantic, but Thursday at 1PM we left Boston and did not know what road to take.

Nova Scotia via a ferry from Bar Harbor, Maine was loosely our plan last week. But we decided on the fly to cut the Maritimes out of our trip (simply too much driving) and Bar Harbor suddenly seemed unnecessarily far northeast.

We picked a highway and drove for a few hours, the kids slept and at 4PM we stopped in Augusta, Maine for food and a riverside playground. Two hours later we were replenishing our snack coiffures at the Augusta Target and still did not know where to go. Not having a destination stopped feeling like the perfect escape.

My friend Liane travels to Maine every year. She fortuitously returned my call during our listless Augusta stop. Without flinching she said go to beaches of York or nearby Ogunquin, Maine - BUT - she warned, getting accommodations could prove difficult. We would be driving back towards Boston and York was entirely sold out. We had nowhere else to go. We raided Target’s beach toy aisle, bought a cooler and hit the road. At 10PM we arrived in Ogunquin - 1h22 north of where we had started the day in Boston.

I am writing this from a seaside resort situated between York and Ogunquin. Liane told me about it. We snagged the last available room - an unnecessarily palatial 2 bedroom oceanfront suite. Liane’s local knowledge arms us for our days and she graciously doles advice out real time.

We had planned to hit a beach today but the kids are happily playing together in an infinity pool overlooking the ocean; Mel is enjoying what she described as one of the best drinks she has ever had from the poolside bar; and I think Eleanor just learned to swim. In this moment, eschewing timetables is working for us again.

It’s gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshiny day.Read more