Believe it or not, travel journalists often make bad decisions, like the decision to become a travel journalist. Or, for example, the decision to plan a New England road trip during a fucking snowstorm. Someday I'll learn. Someday. Today, however, I'm stuck in Kennebunkport, Maine, a charming beach town you wouldn't necessarily want to visit during the winter time. More than half the shops are closed, tumbleweeds in the form of snowballs roll through the streets, and the beaches are basically frozen. When we arrived last night it was like driving into the setting of a horror movie (in the best possible way), no faces to be seen in an everyone-knows-your-name kind of town. But the real horror set in when we woke up this morning to 14 inches of snow hampering the already slow progress of our road trip. It's a good thing we checked into White Barn Inn.

Like our last place, White Barn Inn is also a Relais & Chateaux property, and was recommended to us by the folks at Windham Hill in Vermont. It's only three hours from Vermont, and we passed through gorgeous, snow-capped landscape via two-lane, no-cell-phone service interstates, ending up in Maine. Even though it was first opened in the late 1800s, White Barn Inn (also an Andrew Harper award winner) is a little more modern and contemporary—we actually have a flat-screen TV in our room.

And since we're stranded here, we've made the best of it -- and the complimentary brandy in the common area. I also checked out the award-winning spa for a Kennebunkport Stone Massage, and the TV came in handy, as I happened to have a copy of A Nightmare on Elm Street on DVD handy. The viewing took place after soaking in a huge Jacuzzi tub in the awesome bathroom, which has heated floors and a fan in the shower to suck up the steam, if necessary. Their AAA Five-Diamond, Forbes 5-Star restaurant was closed for this short winter break—bummer—but we did venture into town for amazing Italian at Grissini.

Anyway, Sam and I are waiting for this storm to blow over. Probably not any time soon, but then again, we're not exactly in a hurry. More soon.