October in Maine

This Friday, Pam, Lucy and I will leave Short Pump for our last trip to Maine in 2021. This time it will only be for two weeks, and this time it will be on a lake we have never stayed on before…Coleman Pond. The long term weather forecast for the two weeks in question calls for mostly sunny conditions, with high temperatures in the low 60’s and lows in the upper 40’s. It should be noted that the value of a long term weather forecast in Maine is roughly equivalent to the value of crypto futures in China about now, but that’s another story. The house is old school Maine campy, which is a compliment not an accusation. The lake is way too small for our taste, but complaining about staying on a too small lake in Maine for the first two weeks of October is like complaining that the deck chairs on your yacht are starting to look dated. Literally nobody wants to hear it.

So, why another trip to Maine when we spent a month and a half up there in the summer? This is a reasonable question. The answer is simple. Maine in October is a completely different place than Maine in July. We started adding a fall trip four or five years ago and were so throughly enchanted by the experience that it became permanent. Some observations:

The leaves. Fall colors in Maine are all the more stunning than they are anywhere else because of the reflective power of lake water. Some of the pictures that Pam has taken while kayaking in October are among the most beautiful images I’ve ever seen. Also, there is something extraordinarily breathtaking about the sight of bright yellow and red leaves flittering in an…ocean breeze.

Sitting around a campfire beside a lake while listening to loons calling out, the sky resplendent with a million stars, can’t possibly be adequately described or documented. It simply has to be experienced. 

The crowds have thinned out in October. Sure, there is the leaf-peeper contingent, but there aren’t nearly as many of them as there are summer visitors. We can walk the streets of Camden and Belfast like we have the entire place to ourselves. One downside is the fact that after Labor Day, lots of restaurants and shops have shut down for the season. But even that has a benefit…no crowds

Drinking your morning cup of coffee with sweater, hat and long pants, sitting here…

…is the stuff of magic.

Here’s the house, which goes by the unimaginative name of Coleman Pond Cottage.

And, here’s the little lake…

Lucy is especially excited to be making this trip. Like the rest of us, she becomes a different dog up there, drawn to the water like a moth to flame.

Lots of things to do between now and Friday, lots of details to button up.

Can’t wait.