Lake Sebago Maine
LAKE SEGABO, Maine – As soon as 11 year-old twins Allie and Zach Von Reitzenstein cross into Maine , the two New York City tweens declare “We are going to the best part of summer.”
“And they do a lot of other fun things,” says their Mom Caroline Greene. But for the past five summers, the twins’ like Migis Lodge the best (www.migis.com).
“You do something and the next day you want to do It again because it was so fun,” says Zach.
“In the city you can’t run around on your own like here,” adds Allie. With other friends, they made a human pyramid while moms played tennis, headed out in kayaks and to water-ski, hunt for frogs, and watch a movie while their parents linger guilt-free over dinner. “We eat and then run off,” Zach says.
Eleven year-olds can’t do that at a lot of places, much yet younger kids. “We feel completely safe,” says Michelle Kassner as her six-year-old races off.
Caroline Greene laughs that being here for five seasons sometimes makes her feel like a newcomer, with families who have been returning for a decade or more.
Her family comes the same week with the Kassner-Gallagher family, who also are from New York with daughters who are six and seven. “They really get their first taste of independence here,” says Michelle Kassner.
The cabins are of varying sizes and have names like Moonrise and Southwind and Daybreak and Raven. We’re in Cliffside overlooking Lake Sebago with a big front porch complete with outdoor fireplace (there’s one indoor too, leather coaches, knotty pine paneling and plenty of room for two couples enjoying an empty nester weekend—Migis Lodge, we decide, works as well whether you have kids with you or not.
I confess I’m glad to be here rather than helping my youngest move in for her sophomore year at college. For the record, she told my presence was not only not required but not especially wanted. So I’m here guilt –free and enjoying every minute.
We’re at the cook out area, eating breakfast overlooking the lake on picnic tables. Did I mention the fresh apple cider donuts, the blueberry pancakes and crisp bacon? Did I mention that not only do I not have to cook the eggs or flip the pancakes but I don’t have to clean up? All I have to do is decide whether I want my eggs over easy or scrambled and enjoy my coffee while the eggs are cooked.
I could get used to this! It’s jacket weather and windy but no one cares—least of all the moms who didn’t have to make breakfast or clean up.
Libby Whittier, who is from Portland, Maine, about an hour from here notes that her family has a summer place nearby but they booked here for the weekend so their nine-year- old son and seven- year- old -daughter could take advantage of all the water sports—water skiing, knee boarding and more. She and her husband and her parents can all relax, celebrating their birthdays.”Everything is here,” Whittier says. “It’s so easy for mom and dad.”
“An old fashioned family place with great food and all the good things of a luxury resort,” offers another mom, Cheryl Forchilli, here with her husband and seven year old daughter from Tampa, Fla. The couple visited for a wedding last spring and now are back with the bride and groom for a long weekend and already talking about returning next summer.
“It’s a whole culture we don’t know where people return year after year,” adds her husband Bernie Campbell.
The best part: They just arrived yesterday and Sophia, 7, declares, “I’ve already made friends.
