We travel between two shifts of dark storm clouds as we make it over the border to Maine. With thunder in the distance, we curve around Denmark and cross over the bridges of Naples. Rainbows appear, and with sprinkling rain, it feels like an adventure. Small ponds dot the landscape as we pass meadows of roadside daisy, and soon, we are pulling into Wolf Cove Inn, on Tripp Pond, and it is an oasis of calm. Except when Lucy, our 3-year-old yellow Lab, wakes up and runs straight into the pond, disrupting a couple on a “babymoon” getaway.

We “check-in” by picking up our keys in the “room mailbox” at the entry. We also receive two wrapped, homemade cookies, a welcome note, and a check-off menu of wood fired pizza choices and wine selections for “on-the-lake” dining. Our room sports white quilts, a separate living room, and a soaking tub, but we head back outside, where Lucy has befriended the “babymoon couple,” who now throw sticks in the lake for her.

“She’s so cute,” the mom-to-be says, smiling at Lucy.

Lucy runs up to us and shakes, water flying. “Not all the time,” I say, as we laugh. We load Lucy up into the Old Town Saranac canoe and decide to paddle across the lake to give the couple some peace.

My husband spots the eagle first. It sits on a dead tree limb. We glide closer and it stares down at us. Lucy doesn’t notice it; she’s more interested in staring at her reflection in the water. We paddle to a wooded cove empty of houses, but full of lily pads, flowering into summer blooms. A loon calls, and across the cove, another answers. As we listen for more loon cries, three snapper turtles, balancing on a log, pop their heads up. We try to imitate the loons (poorly) and the turtles disappear.

With dusk turning the pond pink and purple, we drift to the dock and Lucy jumps out for another swim. I join her. The eagle still sits on the branch, a sentinel. With two Adirondack chairs pulled into the boathouse, aptly named the Boathouse Bistro, and with a couple of candles lit, we devour two wood-fired pizzas. Lucy sleeps at our feet, as stars dot the sky, and fireflies light the night. We sleep with the window open so we can hear the loons’ songs.

The next morning, after walking with Lucy part-way around the pond, we sit for an elegant breakfast on the porch. Fresh fruit, yogurt, homemade bread, local bacon, and two eggs over polenta and asparagus; it’s a gourmet feast for two, plus a dog wanting a snip of bacon. After hearing some jokes from Roy, the owner, and getting an extra piece of bacon for Lucy, we take one more swim, the three of us, and pack up for the day.

We’re taking Lucy, in a canoe, down the Androscoggin River, this afternoon. No clouds in sight, and with the sun shining, there are more adventures to be had during the middle of the summer. Take a swim, skip a stone, chase a dog – the woods and lakes are waiting for you.

Wolf Cove Inn. 5 Jordan Shore Drive, Poland, Maine. www.wolfcoveinn.com. 207-998-4976. Ask for the Relax and Rejuvenate special: King room, with soaking tub, specialty pizza dinner with salad/dessert, a choice of local wines, and an amazing breakfast on the porch. Kayaks, canoes available.

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