Best Family Trips: The Maine Coast – By Joel Centano
Parents with young children, take note: Youth is fleeting, and summer in Kennebunkport is sublime.
Happy childhoods and summers on the Maine coast have much in common. Both are bright, beautiful, and carefree. But both pass way too swiftly and are over too soon.
It’s this imperative – coupled with warm memories of my own childhood travels to “Vacationland” – that compels me to put my laptop down and point my compass toward Kennebunkport for a long weekend with my 6-year-old daughter, Anya. Time, I’m now comprehending in a very adult way, is truly our most valuable asset, and the number of our remaining summer vacations together is far too finite. With my wife and youngest daughter visiting family in California, our trip also allows for a rare opportunity to connect one-on-one. … Read On …
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Beyond sweets and seafood, families frequent Kennebunk’s Brick Store Museum (117 Main Street) for insight into the region’s maritime history (plus beach and walking tours in the summer). A 45-minute ride aboard Intown Trolley (kids get to sit up front and ring its bell) offers an insider’s look at village streets, local beaches, and historic homes along Ocean Avenue. If the ride resonates, children can also hop aboard restored vintage streetcars at Kennebunkport’s Seashore Trolley Museum (195 Log Cabin Road).
For a respite from the village bustle, trek along a one-mile education trail at the nearby Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge (321 Port Road) in Wells, drive six miles northeast along Route 9 to the village of Cape Porpoise to see its lighthouse, and visit Kennebunk’s Snug Harbor Farm (87 Western Avenue), where kids can commune with miniature ponies and peacocks.
