Photographing Maine in the winter

My husband and I will be arriving in Portland after New Year%26#39;s and want to spend 3 days in a comfortable %26#39;little place%26#39; with hopefully a fireplace. We are interested in photographing some winter scenes and perhaps doing a little cross country skiing. Any suggestions? The Lake district looks interesting....

Photographing Maine in the winter

The Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth has fireplace rooms. www.innbythesea.com

Photographing Maine in the winter

The Kings Port Inn in Kennebunkport has lovely rooms with gas fireplaces and huge two person showers and whirlpool tubs http://www.kingsportinn.com/ you can walk around Kennebunkport and to the shops and resturants and to some lovely ocean veiw.

About a fifteen minute drive from this Inn is great Cross Country Ski area the Harris Farm Stand http://www.harrisfarm.com/xc-skiing.html

There%26#39;s a nice place in Norway, called Hillside Cottages:

http://www.hillsidecottages.com/index.html

You can cross-country ski at Carter%26#39;s in Oxford, and can also ski at Shawnee Peak in Bridgton. Norway is in the heart of the Oxford Hills area, not far from Bethel%26#39;s ski areas as well.

If you stay with southern Maine, I second the suggestions of skiing at the Harris Farm.

Thanks so much for the information. The cottages in Norway look wonderful. We wanted to make reservations last week and reserved with Wolf Cove in Poland. I%26#39;m a little sorry that we didn%26#39;t wait. The inn also recommended Harris Farm. We%26#39;ll just have to return and try the King%26#39;s Port and Hillside Cottages on our next visit. I%26#39;m sorry that I didn%26#39;t post earlier....

Any suggestions for photographing winter scenes...lakes, waterfalls, etc...

You mentioned that you are arriving in Portland. If you get to spend some time in that area I would recommend photographing the coast. Two Lights State Park, Cape Elizabeth, Yarmouth and the waterfront in Freeport all offer amazing opportunties for photography, especially if there is still snow and ice on the ground.

Check out the pictures on Norm%26#39;s site - http://www.mainedaytrip.com

He%26#39;s got some great shots there. Plus if you%26#39;re looking for someone else to do the driving while you take in the scenery, he%26#39;s your man!

The Poland area is a good central location. One day you should drive north to the pretty little town of Bethel and a few miles north of there to the Sunday River covered bridge. (Even further up the road is the the Andover Covered Bridge.) Also in that area is the Grafton Notch State Park with the Screw Auger Falls. On the way up be on the lookout for ice fishing shacks on frozen lakes. There is one lake up that way, it%26#39;s on the right if you are headed north, maybe around Bryant Pond, that had a very lovely lineup of fishing shacks when I passed thru several years ago.

Another day you can just tool around the New Gloucester (next town over from Poland) area trying all sorts of back roads. There are oodles of lovely barns and farmhouses in that town. The Sabathday Lake Shaker community is right off of Route 26. Also, cruise over to Pineland Farms and you might find kids skating on a frozen pond.

You can also easily drive down to Portland, but if there isn%26#39;t a whole lot of snow on the ground, your best bet is to head north, not south as the Western Mountains will likely be snowy.

Winter photography on the coast, e.g., here on MDI can be great: see, e.g., the winter albums at

http://tinyurl.com/2w873s

However, if you are only going to be in the area for a few days, it can be a crap-shoot. For example, about a week ago we received 14 inches of snow and everything was beautiful; since then we have had warm (above freezing to the low 50s) temperatures, high winds, and rain, so most of the snow, save in the deep woods and very shaded places, is gone.

As others have noted, the north and especially northwest is your best bet this time of year.

Thank you for the info...we know it%26#39;s going to be cold...hope it snows %26#39;just a little%26#39; and warms up after we leave. Any waterfalls?

If you are asking about MDI, there is only one waterfall that I know of---the Hadlock Brook waterfall at the bridge on the Hadlock Loop carriage road. It can also be accessed by the Hadlock Brook Trail.