Hello PF... Since you are on target for this summer, have you decided on a town? I just discovered this post, because I always wanted to move to Maine too. I guess we are all looking for the perfect place and at least for me, I am sure I tend to romanticize it. I think I developed my sense of 'Maine' from books that I read growing up mixed together with a little dash of trips to Maine. :-) Then when our children were small, I seemed to keep finding books for children set in Maine and that just kept the dream alive. lol Blueberries for Sal for some reason sticks in my memory. I have a feeling that the Maine I imagine, doesn't exist any more, if it ever did. I would love the opportunity to visit Maine more and hopefully find that at least some of my imaginings about Maine are on target. I enjoyed reading about the different towns in Maine that have some of the qualities you are looking for. Great thread. :-)

Stumbled on this elsewhere and thought this would be a valuable tool in our planning. "About eight months ago, Mapmuse.com began a project -- the interactive mapping of garden centers and nurseries across the country. They initially researched and populated these maps ourselves, with the idea in mind that the public would subsequently add to, and enhance, the information provided. They mapped each garden center or nursery, and provided space for a written description, photo, and link to a web site. Since this project was launched, gardening enthusiasts have made 100s of additions and enhancements to our maps. If you know of any garden centers or nurseries in your local community that are new or have closed in the last six months, please make those changes to the maps. Also, please feel free to add any places that are still missing. They also have a searchable map and listing of local public gardens and arborerta to visit that gives a good basic listing for our region." The site even has the ability to bring up a map showing the actual location.

So guess what? I've now been to Ann Arbor for the first time in my life! Loved the town! Had some fabulous food there, and just found the entire Main. St. area to be very authentic, very lively on a summer Wed. afternoon, fabulous farmers market going on till 2, just perfect. After traipsing around Main St. for a bit, we drove to the Chain of Lakes area which was just about the perfect distance away, 30 minutes or so from the Main St., and an easy drive. As we drove on, I fell more and more in love with the landscape, which got more and more rural and beautiful as we approached the lake area. We first went to Portage Lake, and then to Baseline Lake. My first glimpse of Portage was perfect. Really liked the size, the setting, everything. It's a little difficult to GPS your way around a lake because I didn't have a specific address, just wanted to explore. The main part we saw had houses much too close together for my liking, though I loved many of the styles of homes. Similar feeling about Baseline. The overall problem was that my mom and sister are not good explorers. They are real homebodies, and don't get out to explore much on their own, so they were completely panicked about finding our way back, driving willy-nilly down roads that suddenly popped up etc. Once I realized I just wasn't going to be able to explore the way DH and I would, I just gave up on truly exploring the area. I did sneak down to the water's edge by trespassing at a house that looked somewhat vacated. The water seemed fairly clear, but there was definitely some algae at the shore. Not sure if that is a once every ten years kind of issue, or ongoing. At least I got to see the area, and assuming we could find a somewhat private waterfront home, it would definitely be in the running. On the other hand, 2 1/2 hours drive time from my sister's home to a lakehouse might prove to be too much adventure for mom and sis.... We're still hoping to get to Sleeping Bear at the end of Sept. so we'll have something to compare to. Thank you all so much for your help getting me there!

I agree that the use of big rocks and boulders around pools where they are not a natural part of the landscape gives a Disneyesque appearance to a backyard. Smaller rocks used in landscaping would be lovely, though. Love the idea of a boardwalk type of decking that could tie into a path to the beach! When we built a pool in a former house the designer told us that we should have three times the amount of decking than the surface area of the pool. I don't know if that is a known metric, but we followed it and were glad we did, as we had enough lounge chairs, tables and chairs for everyone to hang out between dips. Our kids (and their friends) also loved the hot tub. We have a half acre pond DH wanted to turn into one of those natural pools when we first moved here. They are more common in Europe than the states, and we couldn't find anyone within several hours who advises, evaluates and sets up natural pools. Which was perfectly fine by me, as even the IDEA of swimming with a cottonmouth is enough to keep me out of the water forever! I like our pond just as it is, and I prefer the swim spa for swimming, although that would not have been a good solution for a younger family. Mtn, I think you are on the right track with your ideas. Our pool was also salt water and it was easier to care for and much easier on the eyes. Looking forward to construction pix on this new project!