Yup, you read that right. Sunday River is open.  Sugarloaf, as seen by this Nov. 5 photo, has begun snowmaking and is targeting a Nov. 20 opening. Saddleback is aiming for Nov. 27. So clean and wax the boards, find the mittens and socks, and get ready for the slopes.

A good place to pick up free tix, coupons, and info on deals and discounts at ski areas nationwide is the Boston Ski Show, Nov. 19-22, at Bayside Expo. Check the web site for a discount admission coupon.  If you want to avoid the parking fees, take the T. The Expo is less than a 10-minute walk from the JFK/UMass stop on the Red Line.

On Veteran’s Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, the PBS show POV will air “The Way We Get By,” the critically acclaimed documentary focusing on three senior citizens who greet every, yes every, plane of U.S. soldiers returning from Irag and Afghanistan through Bangor.

We all talk about supporting the troops. These three seniors have made greeting the returning soldiers the focus of their lives. They battle the weather; they battle disease; they battle loneliness; but they never let those distractions get in the way of welcoming troops back on US soil with handshakes, hugs, phones, candy bars and most of all, an authentic “Welcome home, we appreciate what you do.”

This film isn’t about the war—whether it’s right or wrong, just or unjust—it’s about people fighting battles, both abroad and at home. And it’s about the riches received when reaching out to others by volunteering.

Watching the show will not only put some meaning into the Veteran’s Day holiday,” it also will put meaning into the entire holiday season that’s getting underway. Don’t miss it.

Sniffle, sniffle. Schoodic’s Ocean Wood Campground is now closed forever, unless…

Unless a group of dedicated campground devotees can prevent that from happening. Their goal is to preserve the land and public access to it. If you want to learn more about their efforts, read Marian Barker’s comments on this previous post.

Good luck, and keep me posted, please.

Sure, you can spread holiday cheer, enjoy glad tidings and ring in the New Year, but if you want to do so in a way guaranteed to make family and friends smile, ply them with home-baked cookies. Homemade holiday cookies go beyond the usual butter and sugar confections, they’re often made with more precious ingredients and always include an extra dose of love.

Now family recipes deliver cookies with a story, but if you want easy-to-make, crowd-pleasing goodies, ask the pros: New England’s innkeepers. Welcoming guests with cookies and a warm drink is part of the New England hospitality tradition. It’s a tradition that goes hand-in-mitt with Christmas.

Every December, the Country Inns in the White Mountains, hosts an Inn to Inn Christmas Cookie Tour, and a few years ago I participated. Fueled by butter and sugar and cider and tea, I nibbled my way through the Mount Washington Valley, taking time to tour the inns, all of which were dripping with garland and ribbons, wrapped-up for the season like holiday presents.

I sampled, I tested and I came home with recipes guaranteed to please anyone who knocks on the door or drops down the chimney during the holiday season.

Fryeburg’s Admiral Perry House (left) is one of 15 inns participating in this year’s tour (top photo: blueberry shortbread cookies). For the best deal, book a package that includes lodging, breakfast, and event tickets. One night rates are $189-$221. Even better, make a weekend of it. Two-night packages are $327-$391.

If you just want to make a day of it, event-only tickets are $27. Advance purchase is available Dec. 1-8, 2009 by calling 800-233-8309 or 603-383-9339.  Any unreserved tickets available (they are limited) can be purchased at the Admiral Peary House or New Hampshire’s Notchland Inn and Riverbend Inn.

Here’s a chance to hear renowned author and historian David McCullough. He’ll be presenting an illustrated lecture on The Influence of Paris on American Art, the topic of his current research. The talk, presented by the Farnsworth Art Museum’s Farnsworth Forum, will take place at Rockland’s Strand Theatre at 2 p.m. A question and answer period will follow.

McCullough is two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In December 2006 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. He’s also been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and he’s received more than forty honorary degrees.

The fee is $25 for museum members and $30 for non members.  For details, visit the Farnsworth’s  website.

Here’s some good news for birdwatchers in southern Maine. Congress has approved $3 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the US Fish and Wildlife Service to acquire the 110-acre Timber Point property as part of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. The  Biddeford property is one of the last undeveloped coastal Maine chunks of real estate south of Cape Elizabeth.

It’s not exactly a done deal. The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is working in partnership with the Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, the USFWS, town leaders of Biddeford and Kennebunkport, Maine Audubon, Maine Coast Heritage Trust and other groups to protect the property. The $3 million in federal funding is being leveraged by private philanthropy to meet the nearly $7 million property acquisition cost.  Efforts are underway to raise the matching funding.

A longstanding priority for protection by the Refuge, the Timber Point property includes more than 2.25 miles of rocky coastline where the Little River empties into the Atlantic in Kennebunkport and is adjacent to the Goose Rocks Beach, a popular public swimming area.

Timber Point’s vast undeveloped expanse of coastal property is also a critical stopping ground for migratory waterfowl as they travel the coast to and from northern nesting grounds.  Common Eider, American Black Duck, and numerous other species depend upon this ice-free wintering habitat.  Protection of the property will enhance the refuge’s ability to protect water quality, and further consolidate the fragile habitat that exist on the marshes, uplands, creeks, and the estuaries of the coast.

“Timber Point has preserved abundant wildlife,” said Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge manager Ward Feurt.  “With diverse habitats like shrubby wetlands, early successional thickets, and grassy openings the habitat supports American woodcock, bobolink, willow flycatchers, Eastern towhee, chestnut-sided warblers gray catbirds.  Black ducks winter on the shorelines where sea ducks and migratory shorebirds feed and sanderlings congregate.  The rocky offshore habitat serves as a productive lobster nursery,”  Feurt continued.  “We are planning for visitors to share this land that has been so well cared for.”

Two recent acquisitions have protected some of Maine’s prized wilderness. The Appalachian Mountain Club has acquired and protected the Roach Ponds tract in the 100-Mile Wilderness region, and The Nature Conservancy’s has done the same with Number 5 Bog and the Moose River Bow trip, near Jackman.

The AMC’s 29,500-acre purchase secures the “missing link” in what is now a 63-mile-long corridor of conservation land, comprising 600,000 acres stretching from Moosehead Lake to Baxter State Park. A conservation easement on the property, held by the Maine Department of Conservation, protects the land from development, allows for timber management, and guarantees public access for primitive recreation in perpetuity. That’s an all-around win that will help provide local jobs in the forest products industry and promote nature-based tourism in Piscataquis County.

The Nature Conservancy’s 15,000-acre acquisition protects, in its entirety, the ecologically significant Number 5 Bog, as well as the Moose River Bow Trip, a prized and remote paddling route.

to bring your furry buddy and join him at the pet-friendly Harraseeket Inn. Now plenty of inns are pet friendly these days, but what sets the Harraseeket Inn apart is its use of RD as its spokesdog. Roger is a shelter dog seeking a new home.

Roger Dodger  is quite loquacious in detailing his Freeport adventures and the inn’s pet perks. He sounds like the perfect pooch, and he even shares his bio at the end in case you might want to adopt him or one of his buds at the shelter.

Just a quick note to apologize about the lack of postings. I’ve been on the road in Arizona for nearly two weeks.  I hope to catch up and resume regular blogging next week. As always, I’ll focus on Maine (especially to keep those of you with older editions of my guidebooks up to date), but I’ll share a few of my Arizona discoveries as well.

In the meantime, if you’re a foodie, I hope you’re in Portland this weekend for Harvest on the Harbor.

This weekend, Oct. 17-18, everyone should scream for free ice cream at Gifford’s. Yup, you read that right. Gifford’s is ending the season with a two-for-one special at its stands in Auburn, Farmington, Bangor, Waterville, and Skowhegan. While supplies last, buy one, get one free. Stands open at noon.