Free 1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die by Patricia Schultz Page A

the 40-foot tumble of Allagash Falls. Campsites are available along the route.
    Northern Maine also offers prime canoeing on the St. John River and the Upper West Branch of the Penobscot. The St. John is aclassic weeklong trip, with many Class I and II rapids and two stretches of Class III. The best time is in spring, soon after the ice has melted and the water is high. The Penobscot is a calmer passage with few rapids, none difficult.

    The Allagash Wilderness Waterway is part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
    W HERE: About 90 miles north of Bangor, beginning just west of Baxter State Park.
Visitor info:
Tel 207-941-4014; www.maine.gov/doc/parks . H OW: Allagash Canoe Trips in Greenville (tel 207-237-3077; www.allagashcanoetrips.com ) offers guided trips May–Oct; weeklong trips from $750 per person. W HEN: May–Oct. B EST TIME: early Oct for solitude, lack of bugs, and moose mating season.
    A Beautiful Place by the Sea
O GUNQUIT
    Maine
    Back in the day, Maine’s native Abenaki Indians came to this spot on the southern coast, liked what they saw, and gave it a straightforward name: Ogunquit, “a beautiful place by the sea.” What had caught their eye was Ogunquit Beach, a 3.5-mile stretch of pristine white sand that’s generally regarded as New England’s most beautiful. Non-native vacationers discovered the stretch in 1888, and town residents, fearing it would be bought up and privatized, talked the state legislature into ceding it to the town. It was a wise and prescient move. Over the next century much of the 4,342-mile Maine coast did in fact fall into private hands, limiting public access, but you can still go to Ogunquit. In summer the village and its adjoining sands can be very busy. A little farther north is a stretch catering to Ogunquit’s large contingent of gay vacationers.

    Called Marginal Way because it skirts the rocky cliffs and beaches of Ogunquit, it’s a lovely spot for an afternoon walk.
    For a scenic stroll, head south along Marginal Way, a footpath that hugs the coast for 1.25 miles from Beach Street to Perkins Cove, a small anchorage whose pedestrian drawbridge raises to allow sailboats through to the ocean. Once a vital part of the fishing economy, today the cove is rimmed with boutiques, restaurants, and art galleries, the latter a testament to Ogunquit’s century-long history as an artists’ haven. Just west of the cove, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art is considered one of the nation’s best small museums as well as one of its most beautiful, situated on 3 landscaped acres looking toward the horizon. Opened in 1953 by painter Henry Strater, the museum today holds a collection of more than 1,500 works, including paintings by Marsden Hartley, Reginald Marsh, Robert Henri, and Charles Demuth and sculpture by Carl Walters and Isabella Howland. Its galleries have an open feel, offering wonderful views of the coast.
    Nearby, the Cliff House has been open as a resort since 1872, but those early visitors never conceived of some of the treatments availablenow at the on-site Cliff Spa—the Organic Maine Blueberry Body Wrap, for instance. Both the spa and the guest rooms look out over the sea from their perch atop Bald Head Cliff. For a postwrap meal, head to celebrated Arrows Restaurant, an 18th-century farmhouse offering regional ingredients and produce from its own gardens prepared with a subtle Asian influence.
    W HERE: 37 miles southwest of Portland.
Visitor info:
Tel 207-646-2939; www.ogunquit.org . O GUNQUIT M USEUM: Tel 207-646-4909; www.ogunquitmuseum.org .
When:
July–Oct. C LIFF H OUSE R ESORT: Tel 207-361-1000; www.cliffhousemaine.com .
Cost:
from $165 (off-peak), from $210 (peak).
When:
Apr–Dec. A RROWS R ESTAURANT: Tel 207-361-1100; www.arrowsrestaurant.com .
Cost:
dinner $70.
When:
Apr–early Dec. B EST TIME: early morning for the smallest crowds on Marginal Way and the beach.
    Picture Postcards of Maine Maritime Life
T HE T OWNS OF P ENOBSCOT B