One of the many reasons I love living in New Hampshire so much is because it offers so much without needing to travel very far. We have the mountains and we have the ocean, lots of lakes to swim in, trails to explore, small towns with vibrant art scenes and local businesses, all while still being within driving distance to cities like Boston or even New York. We also get to experience all four seasons—although winter tends to last much longer than any of the others. I rarely take trips outside of New Hampshire, because I've always been able to find everything I need right here at home.

It's no secret that I am a self-proclaimed homebody, but on occasion, I will find a reason to travel. It's a little embarrassing to admit, since it's so close,  but I realized recently that I've only been to the coast of Maine maybe once in my entire life, and I was too young to really even remember it. After having arguably the busiest summer of our lives, my boyfriend and I decided to book a trip a few hours up the coast of Maine and take a true, well-deserved vacation.

Maine is a huge state. I forget that fact most of the time, until I travel beyond the Maine/New Hampshire border and am confronted with the many winding back roads that connect the old New England towns throughout the state. As we drove the four hours to Belfast, I wondered how someone from Maine would describe it to someone who has never visited. It's rural, yet coastal, yet mountainous. The landscape of New Hampshire is diverse, but Maine is that and then some—and almost four times the size. Pictures and Google searches can only tell you so much; sometimes you have to see and stand in a place to truly understand it.

I've never been one to sit on a beach for hours and sunbathe, but I have to say, there is a peacefulness and calmness that is truly palpable, at least to me, when I am near the ocean. Perhaps it's because it's the exact opposite of my day-to-day, which for my entire life has been a town at the base of a mountain. This trip made something click for me in terms of understanding why people come to visit the place I've always called home, and how, to them, it's their chance to decompress and relax. Being a tourist for a weekend reminded me that I am so incredibly lucky to live where I do; I gained a deeper understanding of how and why people will uproot and relocate their lives to the place they've vacationed and make it their full-time residence. I really did love visiting Maine, but my favorite "joke" still rings true: My favorite part of vacation is always coming back home.

Paige O. Roberts has a degree in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Henniker Review, Sidereal Magazine, Rejection Letters, and Cypress. She has been nominated for a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize. She lives in northern New Hampshire, where she owns and operates a pet boutique called Tailswag.