Cousin Susan, her husband Jim and aunt Helen live in Minneapolis and get to Maine once a year, if that — so their visits are a high priority for me whenever they can come.  Susan’s maternal family has a cottage on Sebec Lake (north of Dover-Foxcroft), so if they come in the summer, that’s where they go.  This year, knowing they would be visiting in July, I decided to take the Little Guy to the nearest state park (Peaks-Kenny) and visit/annoy them for a few days without having to impose (further) on their hospitality by crashing at their cottage.

Peaks-Kenny is on the shore of Sebec Lake and is reached via the small town of Dover-Foxcroft, accessed from the south via I-95 and ME-7, or from the east or west via ME-6.  (If you want to access it from the north, you can’t get there from here!)  The state park is a lovely spot with private, level campsites (some with water and electric hookups) and a beautiful beach on Sebec Lake.

This a great spot for kids as there is a fine playground at the back of the grassy area fronting the beach, which slopes gently into the water with lots of shallow swimming.  The park itself has well-maintained bathhouses along with pit toilets interspersed throughout the camping area, and firewood available for $5/bundle; many of the sites are pull-through and will accommodate large RVs.  Here are a couple of views of my campsite; I (no exaggeration whatsoever!) came within an inch of backing the Little Guy into the trees on the right!

Susan, Jim and Helen graciously invited me for dinner each evening (Jim, it turns out, is a grill master extraordinaire), but I did not want to completely abuse their generosity so I spent the days playing golf at nearby Foxcroft Golf Club.  This is a lovely 9-hole layout with two tees on each hole, giving a varied experience on each “side” of the course.  Sadly, given the persistent drought which has plagued the state, the course was baked almost to a frazzle, with some spots in the fairways blasted down to dirt.  The greens were strange, too — the best word I can find for them is “fuzzy” — very bouncy, bumpy and uneven.  I had the opportunity to speak with the owner, who said that extreme heat early in the season had made it impossible to maintain the greens properly until just a week ago, and they were slowly coming back after being recently treated.  I also felt like the operation was running on a shoestring, with the clubhouse needing repair and an overall air of having seen better days.  But I was glad to have played there as it is a fine course — interesting, challenging and fun.  Here’s a photo from the tee box of what I would call the signature hole, a beautiful par 3 played from an elevated tee — just lovely!

 I hope that the course finds itself in happier times soon.  I was especially impressed by this sign near the first tee:

I thought it said a lot about the kind of people who run this place and play here, that they would memorialize their members who have played their last round on this side of the Divide.  Sadly, there is an additional plaque extending the list of names just near the first tee.

This plaque explains the origin of the course:

I suspect it was Captain Obvious who placed this sign:

Daughter Alli and grandson Jax came up for an afternoon enjoying Sebec Lake:

I remain ever grateful to Susan, Jim and Helen for their outstanding hospitality and kindness, with fond memories of our time together; and I would definitely book another stay at Peaks-Kenny State Park.  This park is something of a challenge to find, but absolutely worth the effort!