One of my favorite places on the coast is changing due to the arrival of "cottages." They call them cottages but no doubt these resort residences will cost well into six figures.

This is not surprising. The site of these cottages overlooks the ocean (Glen Cove, to be precise), and if there is one credo of the Cabin Country crowd is that it is fruitless to try to purchase near the Atlantic. Chose a lake or river or stream.

That being said, this photo was taken from the Strawberry Hill Motel in Rockland. It is located on the north edge of town, just past the Samoset, where a hill rises to carry travelers to nearby and trendy Camden.

I've always loved this view, and also the unpretentious nature of the Rockland hotel-motel crowd. They are not Camden, and they don't try to be.

(An aside: Camden is even more beautiful in winter than in summer. Now that the trees are bare and you can see more houses and neighborhoods, you realize (again) what a fine-looking town it is. No wonder authors Richard Russo and Tess Gerritsen headed there when they hit the best-seller list).

Anyway, I enjoyed my escape last weekend to Rockland.

I guess I rationalized all the building I saw: We might be losing seashore but there's an awful lot of ocean still in view.

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