450 miles

When you mention you have a cottage on the scenic rocky coast of Maine, the general reaction is something along the lines of "Oh, how wonderful."

If they only knew.  It is a 450 mile drive.  I have a BMW with a gazillion horsepower, and it is a 9-hour drive no matter what.

It is not like whining to get to your place on the Jersey shore, which on really bad days is 50 minutes away.

So the aura of people thinking of the beauty of owning a place in Maine is not quite the same as, well, actually owning one.  

And when everything is, like, 100 years old, you consider yourself lucky if all is well.