The weekend started out with a headache. It was Friday morning, Hurricane Bill was fast approaching New England, and I was rushing to get packed and get out of town before the storm.

For the past nine years, ‘the girls’ make their annual trek to Maine for 48 hours of nothing but ‘girl time’ – and I was not about to miss this year on account of a migraine and a category 3 hurricane.

The rules are simple:

• Husbands, boyfriends, kids and pets stay home.
• Grab a bottle of something on your way up.
• Sleep in. Stay late.

While our lives have evolved over the years we have one thing in common: friendship. As our individual journeys take us down different paths we all continue to converge at one point: the Barn Cottage in York Harbor, Maine.

Picture it: Wrap-around porches shaded by apple trees that overlook the harbor. In the early morning, you can hear the water ripple through the rocks. Lobster bakes, ice cream cones, naps, and sometimes, if the weather works with us, a day at the beach. Given the chaos of our daily lives, these 48 hours sound like heaven – and they are.

Located only a little over an hour’s drive from Boston, but tucked far enough away that you feel like you’re years from the city, York Harbor is a community rooted in its past. Generations of families gather every summer to kayak, fish, clam bake, BBQ and spend endless nights catching up with old friends and lost relatives. While there’s no blood relation, few can argue the connection of the bond between girlfriends.

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