Maine may not be the best state for relaxation and recreation in the whole country, but can we help it if everyone else thinks so?

We don't have the biggest ocean, the most lakes or the tallest mountains, but we have all of those features in perfect proportion, and all within easy proximity should your time be limited and your need for variety great.

It probably helps to have spent your younger years here, maybe even gone away to sleep-over camp to get the whole picture. Sobbing away in my sleeping bag (homesickness had hit me hard) I still could appreciate the sweetness of the pine-heavy air, and be awe-struck by the starry night. When morning came, the coolness of the lake chased away any sense of melancholy as I enjoyed the first swim of the day.

Surrounded by the beauty of the Maine woods, I made it through the week, and proudly carried my popsicle stick, clay, and gymp creations home to be admired by all.

Families seemed to vacation more at home then. There were day trips to Sebago, Kettle Cove, and the much anticipated annual day at Palace Playland with its celebrated pier fries; all of these attractions still available to our kids and grandkids. Hot days and cool nights were the norm, but when it rained, we could run outside in our bathing suits if there were no thunder,  and it was as good as swimming.

A blanket thrown over the clothesline made a handy shelter, and we could play board games or improvise plays to while away the afternoon. When the rain stopped, we'd  weed the garden, admiring the "nightcrawlers" which had risen  to the surface.

As a high school teacher, I once heard a new student from "away" exclaim "I couldn't believe we were moving to Maine; I thought that was just where people went to camp! I just smiled; he had so much to learn.