Road Trip: Maine's Mid-Coast

Even for non-fishermen, life on the Maine seashore revolves around the water--and you don't need a lighthouse to find a view worth marveling at

I've always hated lobster. My memories of childhood vacations in Maine are clouded by recollections of sitting grumpily at the picnic table of lobster shacks, morosely longing for a hamburger. My girlfriend, Frances, was of another mind. She prepared for our drive up Maine's Mid-Coast--from Portland to Penobscot Bay--by trying to work out ways to incorporate lobster into every meal, including breakfast. I was far more eager to revisit the Maine I loved from my past: offshore islands, Victorian fishing villages, the gargantuan L.L. Bean flagship store, and meandering drives along the narrow peninsulas...

  

Don't Leave Your Pictures Trapped In Your Camera Forever

New programs let you create cool DVD slide shows and coffee-table photo albums

Used to be, when you came home from a vacation with 5 or 10 rolls of film, a quick trip to the Fotomat and a blank wall were all you needed to bore your friends with a living room slide show. These days, you return with memory cards filled with hundreds of digital images to dump onto your hard drive. Before you know it, your computer is crammed with thousands of files, all unhelpfully named something along the lines of DSCN970116b.jpg. Your photos are stored in a maze of subfolders, half of the images are sideways, and for some reason all the shots from the trip to Tuscany are tinted orange. Face it: You need help...

  

Secret Hotels of the Caribbean: Jamaica, Bahamas, and More*

Finding your own affordable but fabulous tropical hideaway

Jake's. Sitting alongside rocky shoals washed by the warm surf of Jamaica's South Coast, Jake's Easter egg-colored guest cottages are funky boutique versions of the Caribbean shack. The two dozen buildings overflow with odd, endearing details that are an exercise in culture-clash chic: Indian minaret-shaped windows, driftwood door frames, glass bottles embedded in plaster walls, Arabian-influenced domes, hammered-tin doors, Mayan-inspired weavings....

* Jamaica coverage.