Today, we’re sharing some of our favorite Maine places. An impossible task, I know, since we all have many favorites. We would love it if you would share some of yours in the comments–photos and descriptions. Summer. Winter. Land. Sea. Coastal. Inland. Maine has so much to offer.

Kate Flora: A big part of summer, growing up on the farm, involved agriculture. Weeding the garden. Harvesting and processing fruits and vegetables. My father always knew the best places to find wild blackberries. Mom had a huge raspberry patch. And across the road, we had a blueberry field, where we would pick berries and sell them at a table we’d set up beside the road. Sometimes, at Thanksgiving, if it wasn’t snowy, our after turkey would be an able through the blueberry field. Some years it would be black from the  semi-annual burning to keep down weeds and pests; other years it would be a brilliant red. Once we found a charred wallet. Another time, a deer skull. But it was best when the every other year crop was ready for harvesting, and the undulating open field was a vivid blue that matched the August sky overhead. For my 55th birthday, my husband Ken bought me the blueberry field adjacent to the family field, and I went out and ran through it, a truly ecstatic experience.

Pie from my Union blueberries.

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson: I know it’s boring, but it’s true. My favorite place in Maine is my own back yard. I was just going to use some old photos,  from 2010, and then decided to take a few new ones, since it is a beautiful summer’s day as I’m writing this.

old photo, in fall

part of the same field now with the Christmas trees all grown up

the other field, 2010

and part of it now

That small body of water in the third photo is the original Moosetookalook. It’s very small, just a mini-pond dug to drain off a swampy area, and at this time of year it’s completely dry.

Maggie Robinson: I’m with Kaitlyn/Kathy. I’ve talked about my garden here before. I can’t think of any other place in Maine I’d rather be. But if we’re going for incredible beauty, may I suggest Islesboro? We lived out there for four years while my husband was the superintendent/principal of Islesboro Central School, which is housed in a magnificent former estate. No matter where you look, there are water views, charming antique houses, grand “cottages,” and wonderful gardens.

Island living is not for everyone with its isolation and dependence on the ferry. (Though if you’re buddies with a lobsterman, maybe you can talk him into crossing Penobscot Bay after hours.) It wasn’t for us, but my middle daughter and grandson still live there. Here’s the lighthouse and museum on a chilly winter day.

This is my daughter’s sunset view!

And here’s my three-tiered garden in Farmington.

Brenda Buchanan:  I’m also rather predictable. Regular readers of this blog know that part of my heart lives in Hancock County and another part lives on Peaks Island, two places where I made my home for a lot of years, and where I still spend as much time as possible. Here are some photos of my favorite spots:

View of Penobscot Bay from Barred Island in Deer Isle.

My favorite swimming beach, the location of which I am not inclined to reveal.

Whaleback, on the back shore of Peaks Island

The path through the aptly-named Davies Sanctuary on Peaks.

Sandra Neily here: I love camping by the Penobscot River north of Millinocket. (Husband Bob, relaxing and Raven refusing to come and get in the car when we are all packed. She loves it too.) The bridge shot is from a land trust tail on Westport Island, but I am so grateful for so many Maine land trust properties. Find them here. And my favorite wild flower walks happen in June and July on ski area slopes that are open and sunny and welcoming to so many different kinds of flower. This one is one Moose Mt. trail just north of Greenville (formerly Squaw Mt.).

Maureen Milliken here. While there are tons of places in Maine I love, my absolute favorite is Baxter State Park. Fun fact: You don’t have to hike Katahdin to enjoy Baxter. It seems to be a common misconception that’s the only reason to go there. I’ve written about it plenty here already, so I won’t go into it all.

I will say this: no wifi, no cell service, no leafblowers, no fireworks. Just nature. Before our family went there for the first time in the 1970s, our next-door neighbor told my parents, “It’s a pain in the ass to get there, but once you’re there, Shangri La”

But since I just got back from a visit, where all I did was hike a little and sit by Trout Brook and read, here are some snaps.

Trout Brook, the scene from my lean-to at the Trout Brook Farm campground at Baxter.

My private reading spot outside my lean-to.

That’s me on North Traveler Mountain, I believe in 2015.

My sister Liz kayaking on South Branch Pond in, I believe, 2015.

Me enjoying the wild blueberries in 1975.