Seaside Seduction

Surrender to indulgence at Maine’s White Barn Inn.

- KRISTY ALPERT

The smell of pine needles, brine and campfire smoke released into the air as I lifted my sweater over my head, and the scents are once woven into the woolen fibers now lingered faintly on my bare skin. I had spent the morning searching for sea glass along the chilled sands of Maine’s shoreline, the sounds of seagulls accompanying the rhythmic crashing of the waves as I watched my toddler fill his cup with the tiny treasures and pour the contents back out in sloppy piles along the sand.

A few sips of hot herbal tea warmed me immediately upon entering the spa, and now each scent from my clothing acted as a reminder of how I had spent the last few days of our family vacation in York County’s former fishing village, indulging in pots of sweet lobster and briny clams before shrouding ourselves in blankets during nightly campfires. I saved my ultimate indulgence for last and would soon luxuriate like an Egyptian queen in a Cleopatra-inspired treatment within the spa of Kennebunk’s quaintly opulent White Barn Inn.