Wintering Over Like a Maine Islander
I’m often asked, “How do you manage to get through the winter up in Maine, let alone on Peaks Island?” It’s not easy, but it’s not as hard as you might imagine either. My three-prong philosophy: embrace, plan, escape.
Embrace It
Instead of fighting the cold temperatures, we embrace them and find moments to spend outside when bearable – and even when quite unbearable, tbh. Our restaurant scene has adapted to the ongoing pandemic with stride, and in my opinion, excelled with some incredible outdoor dining innovations. Streets have been closed in the city, propane heaters are ubiquitous, and an ingenious Mainer named Colin Greig invented a completely new, game-changing category of outdoor heat: the bum warmer. Colin’s Hüga heated seat cushion is the star of the outdoor dining show, popping up at some of my favorite locations like Portland Hunt + Alpine Club and Terlingua.
After chowing down, Mainers like to burn off the calories with a wide variety of winter sports. Like the mighty Norwegians who are raking in gold medals at the Olympics, islanders (and city-dwellers alike!) tend to embrace outdoor sports. There’s never bad weather here, just poorly chosen equipment (read: the opposite of thick coats, Bean boots, and hand warmers). As an avid skier, I try to get to the slopes as often as I can – and this year I’m helping my little guy Quinn learn the ropes – although at this point I think he’s more interested in the snacks and après-ski scene. God bless him.
Alpine’s not the only game in town. The dirt trails and access roads behind Battery Steele, when covered with a blanket of fresh snow, are great places to lay down fresh tracks with cross-country skis. The pond behind our island home is an ice skating and hockey-puck-slamming destination on Peaks Island. And I’ve yet to see it, but Trout Pond must also offer plenty of fish for the novice ice fisherman or -woman.
Plan Around It
If outdoor dining and powder chasing isn’t your speed, then look to the second part of our winter routine: plan your next move. Winter is a great time to plan and prep for Maine’s epic – although often far too short – summer. As I mentioned in a previous post, we’ve put our boat away for the season, but that doesn’t mean it’s off my mind. There is a lot of winter maintenance work to get the Mighty Quinn in ship-shape for May.
Planning also extends to summer activities and the inevitable influx of friends from away. Quinn likes getting out his calendar and plotting the various weekends friends and family plan to descend on the island. For us it brings many excuses to indulge: in a local lobster roll, in a cold beer, in a boat ride out to Jewel Island, on a beach day at Sandy, and of course, hours and hours of time outside.
Escape It
When all else fails, run. In our case, run as quickly as you can to Florida (or really anywhere where the sun shines more than 4 hours a day – kidding, not kidding). We’re taking a couple jaunts down south to avoid snow and bitter cold – and perhaps more importantly, soak up sunshine which is in short supply in the winter at our latitude.
Many a Mainer know this page of the playbook well. March, in particular, is a month worthy of escape. March is the unofficial start of mud season, an odd northern New England shoulder season where the earth thaws and then collapses in on itself. The roads are gunk. Basements flood. People grumble. March is a good time to escape, recharge, and rest up until May brings the smell of fried fish, sunscreen, and ocean spray.
Peak Season
While I’m not looking forward to March, I can feel positive changes around the corner. The days are getting longer and the sun hangs in the horizon later and later each day. The ferry ride back to Peaks feels lighter and just a bit more hopeful.
If my philosophy fails to resonate, there are options! My island friend Mira Ptacin wrote a great piece in Down East magazine about us hearty islanders and how we weather the winter. As Mira hints at, community is perhaps the fourth pillar of a wintering over strategy. Stay warm!