The Maine I Love — Peggy Fitzgerald

Rangeley, Maine: In some ways, the late-March climate in Maine is unique and comes with its own set of challenges. We are collectively anxious to return to a busier pace after the months of quiet spent inside—and limited to the activities we manage to cook up for ourselves. While we know we will eventually return to Vacationland, we also know it can be a long runway before it lands. This year my husband and I decided a “spring-break” trip to the beach would provide a distraction, and so we headed from the midcoast toward the beaches of the Rangeley Lakes. Our getaway trip was a great chance to soak up the landscape in a leisurely fashion, with the roads pretty much to ourselves and no snow cover in sight until we reached Saddleback Mountain. Perhaps our one reminder of the season was in Farmington, where the products displayed along the sidewalk in front of Reny’s were still a full choice of snow shovels. In the end, we embarked on a loop of about 120 miles from Rangeley to Rumford, across to Errol, New Hampshire, through Grafton Notch, and back to Rangeley. Every bit of the way reminded us just how beautiful and diverse Maine is, whatever the season.

Peggy Fitzgerald is a painter living in Spruce Head, Maine.