Camp Nashoba North is located next to Crescent Lake, in a little town called Raymond in the most North Eastern state in America, Maine. I spent two summers there (2001 and 2002) as a camp counselor working both as a cabin counselor (looking after a cabin of kids 8-10 years old) and as an activity counselor (I taught pottery).
It was an experience of many firsts:
- visiting America
- trying a lobster roll; lobsters are super famous in Maine
- experiencing the chaotic fun of summer camp
- playing tetherball (and losing badly)
- teaching; I thoroughly enjoyed it despite the challenges and the inexperience
- feeling like an older brother; Iām the youngest in my family so it was really weird to be the āolderā person that the kids look up to
- finding my āpeersā in my kids as we talked about cartoons, comics and evil, smelly girls
- making/eating sāmores by the campfire
- celebrating 4th of July the American way with a BBQ and fireworks
- hearing ātapsā played out across camp as twilight turned into night
It was absolutely magical and I would do it all over again! 
After my summer camp work, I had a month to travel across America so in 2001, I travelled along the East Coast and in 2002, I went cross country and headed to the West Coast.
Unfortunately, this period was when I had a film camera so I donāt have any digital copies of my photos and instead I got my friends to send me some instead. 
My knowledge of Maine pretty much centered around summer camp life so hereās what I do know:
- Amazing countryside and one of the best places to watch the autumn colours. Iāve always wanted to return to experience fall in Maine and itās still on my wish list!
- Has a lot of lighthouses due to the rocky coastline of the state. They are so cute and the one I visited was the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse
- Famous for lobsterā¦ so simple and yet so tasty with the melted butter
- Acadia National Park and the end point of the Appalachian Trail
- Stephen King, famed author, lives in a town called Bangor which is where one of my camp counselors is from. Check out his house on Maps and if you read his books, you would know that a lot of his stories are set in Maine.
- I visited a friend who lived in a little town called Lille, which literally looked across the river to Canada! He shared with me the photo that you see above of the Northern Lights! Absolutely stunning!
Maine has always endeared to me because of my time at summer camp. Life there had a slower pace, the folks are friendly and the nature trails are just amazing!
This post is part of the #StateChallenge organised by @Kwiksatik and @Denise_Barlock . If you want to find out more, check out their post here and here, and you can also find other submissions by searching the #StateChallenge hashtag. There is also a virtual meet-up on Maine coming up which you can sign up to here!
#TeamUK
And thanks for the earlier comment: Iām very lucky and fortunate to have those opportunities. And Iām forever grateful to my parents/teachers for encouraging and supporting my curiosities as I was growing up!
A journalism camp! Wow! Thatās different! I never had much experience with the outdoors so my summer camp was just super as it had so many different activities such as archery, barn animals, horse riding, photography, drama, tennis, soccer, sailing, water skiing, trips and loads, loads more. And I also soon realised just how privileged the situation was when I found out the cost to send a kid there and when I met the parents! The camp also sponsored a few kids who would not have been able to afford it so that was nice too. I can go on and on and on about camp life!
