Morning Ritual

  • Wake up around 6 (or whenever your internal vacation clock allows).

  • Make coffee — Speckled Axe Bird Dog if you want to get serious about it — and sit on the deck to watch the sunrise.

  • Slide into the hot tub with grand plans to “map your destiny,” but realistically just scroll the weather app.

Second Coffee (because the first never counts)

  • Drive over to Round Pond Coffee. Order their breakfast sandwich with red pepper jelly. And another coffee.

  • Stare at the pastries. Lose the inner battle. End up with a something you’ll definitely regret but it’s so good.

  • Sink into the leather couch and pick up the Etch-a-Sketch. Draw something vaguely lighthouse-shaped so the next person thinks you’re a genius.

Mid-Morning Wander

  • Pop into the antique store across the way. Debate buying things you don’t need and you can’t afford anything in there anyway. End up with an antique French leather billfold that convinces you you’ll suddenly become organized because the months are in French.

  • Forget to stop at King Ro Market (again). Promise yourself “next time.”

  • Oh- and the icecream store by the antique shop- home. made. waffle cones.

Ocean Therapy

  • Head to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. Find the Adirondack chair with the Emily Dickinson quote, and contemplate your existence in the universe with waves as background music.

  • On the way back, swing into LaVerna Preserve for a hike. Reward: sweeping ocean views and the smug glow of being outdoorsy.

Nap O’Clock

Return to the deck. Pretend to read. Fall asleep. This is non-negotiable.

Lunch Decision (a classic Maine behavior )

  • Option A: Broad Cove lobster roll, eaten on a picnic table with sea breeze seasoning.

  • Option B: Rising Tide Co-Op in Damariscotta. You don’t just shop there — you “own a grocery store” for $10/year. Settle for vegan chili, kombucha, and a cookie that costs more than gas.

Optional Extras

  • Broad Cove sometimes has live acoustic sets on Saturday nights. Lobster + music = vacation brag rights.

  • For Euro-Maine fusion, check out Morse’s Sauerkraut. Buy things you can’t pronounce and tell people back home you had “authentic European provisions” in Midcoast Maine.

  • Go to Muscongus Bay lobster at 4, not 5. Trust us. Order the double soft shell with clams and broth and cornbread. Then turn 180 and head to the tiki bar for some local draft be a little sad in your head that they don’t have that awesome sour from last week.

There is a ‘secret’ bathroom inside the screened overhang.

Try the Alna Store if you can.

I’ll add some more as I think about it.

In the meantime see if you can book a trip to and from Monhegan- 7 or 10 am boat and only one boat comes back at 4:30. Call Monhegan boat line first before booking online. Don’t miss the return trip because it’s the only one - or you’ll have to sleep under the stars on a rock somewhere.

Monhegan is hard to explain and you’ll be wow-ed. Just don’t forget the boat.