Four days in Midcoast Maine (Georgetown)

The best thing was just having time to spend talking quietly to my husband and working on one of our hobbies together. It felt great to be together, without having to worry about talking about contractors, or plans, or what the realtor said about our last showing. We read, snuggled, sat by the fire, chatted, and had a very peaceful time of it.

Quick Tips:

Be prepared to drive a ways for dinners and lunches. Georgetown is out a ways on an island and most of the inns/motels in the area don't have restaurants. You have to drive into Bath, Brunswick, or Wisscasset for meals (roughly half an hour to 40 minutes, they're all not too far away) Oh, and bug spray. Get used to wearing it.

Best Way To Get Around:

Either driving to Maine yourself, or flying in and renting a car is a must. There is no bus service, there are no tours or taxis, and the inns do not have limosine service. It's truly a rustic experience, and well worth it.

If you're looking for isolation, romance, quiet, and a hearty breakfast every morning, this is the place.

We had an ocean view room with a king-size bed. The room was rather small; it was mostly taken up with the bed. The bathroom was also very small, with only a shower stall. We also had to climb up some stairs to get to the third floor, but the view out the window, the isolation, the quiet, and the fresh sea breezes all the time made up for it.

We didn't stay in the room during the day except to nap. The lounge on the first floor had plenty of space for sitting around. We read in front of the huge stone fireplace, and snuggled up on the comfortable sofas.

Every morning they started cooking breakfast early, and delicious smells wafted all the way up to the third floor. They served breakfast buffet style from 8-9 every morning, and it was quite a spread. Fresh baked muffins, breads, a variety of perfectly ripe fruits (the largest, sweetest strawberries I've seen in years), cereals, toast, and various egg-based dishes. While we were they served quiche, frittata, quesadillas, blueberry bread pudding, and french toast. All were tasty and appealing. Hot coffee, tea, orange juice, and milk were available to drink. The coffee was excellent.

Another plus for us was that they indicate on their website (www.greyhavens.com) that the inn is not appropriate for children under the age of 12. Not having younger children running around really encouraged a sense of romance.

They don’t specifically bill themselves as a "gay/lesbian" retreat, but I have a hard time imagining that anyone would be made to feel uncomfortable here. Also, an interesting thing, the inn is mostly run by women. We only saw two males working there during our stay, and they weren’t there long (one was doing some work on the grounds, the other was bringing in firewood and talking to the desk clerk). The staff was polite, responsive, and friendly without being intrusive.

I heartily recommend this place for escaping phones, computers, faxes, city noise, and bustle.

I haven't had barbeque this good in years.

Beale Street's website

We really went to town here and ordered a lot of food, but you could certainly get a hearty meal between $10 and $20 per person.

For starters I ordered Maine crab cakes and my husband got the buffalo wings. The crab cakes were spicy but not too hot, and served with habanero mayonnaise on the side. I didn't care for the mayo but I'm not fond of mayo. For mayo it was good. My husband said the wings would have been too spicy hot for me to take (always order lemonade, it's a trick we learned in San Antonio for cutting the heat of peppers), but they do serve things mild if you ask for it.

My husband ordered the Double BBQ, two types of pulled meats (he picked pork and beef) served with jalapeno corn bread and a choice of coleslaw, BBQ beans, French fries, or rice. He went with the beans.

I ordered the huge Barbeque Sampler platter that had choice of pulled pork, chicken, or beef brisket on cornbread, with 1/2 slab ribs, 1/4 chicken , smoked sausage & served with BBQ beans, & coleslaw.

There was so much food! I didn't eat but half of it, and we had the rest cold for lunch the next day.

The beans and cole slaw at places like this tend to be treated sort of like afterthoughts, but not here. The beans were rich, slow cooked, and flavourful. The slaw was creamy without being overly sweet, and very fresh. The cornbread was hearty and tasty and it complemented the meats.

We had no room for dessert.

I heartily recommend this place, even if you're on a bit of a budget. The portions are huge and you will have no problem filling up on one of the smaller entrees, or even on the appetizers.