Sometimes people just need to toot their own horns.

Not all the time, mind you, since that might be deemed conceited by those listening, but once in a while, when the stars align and all the world seems right, it’s fine to let loose with some well-deserved self-pride, if only to yourself. We’ll unabashedly do that now: Maine is such a great place.

Millions of yearly visitors prove the boast that there’s something really special about our state.

On the weekend of July 11-13, for example, which could be considered a typical summer weekend, an astounding 191,000 vehicles passed through the York tolls at the southern end of the Maine Turnpike. That’s a lot of people flooding into Vacationland to taste the way life should be.

For the stubbornly unconverted out there who don’t agree Maine has everything one could want or need, especially in the easy-living summertime, let us count some of the ways:

• Evergreen trees along the waterline. Think Acadia. What’s more iconic of Maine than this? There aren’t many views on Earth that can beat an expanse of evergreens or birches terminating on a rocky shoreline. Maine affords this special viewing experience up and down the coast and on the many hundreds of inland water bodies. Throw in a foreground of docks and loons cruising around and maybe an eagle in the sky, and the stress-reducing scene is worthy of a jigsaw puzzle. We have these soul-reviving views in spades, here in our wonderful state.

• Seafood. While news reports worry us about the future of clamming due to the invasive green crab, there’s nothing like heading to a nearby market to get fish caught earlier that day. We all need to eat, and here in Maine, we’re lucky to have easy access to a variety of fresh seafood. Midwesterners, stuck a thousand miles from the ocean, wish they had it so good.

• Mainers work hard, sometimes two and three jobs, but we also have excellent opportunities for recreation at all price points. Boating on the many waterways, bicycling or motorcycling on back roads, playing golf, walking in the many arboretums and nature preserves and along the long sandy beaches, visiting the state’s 65 lighthouses, and snowmobiling or skiing in the winter are just some of them. Our Interconnected Trail System (ITS) of snowmobile routes is vast, providing a web of services, motels and backcountry access to a sizeable snowmobiling population that embodies the spirit of “getting out there.” Outdoor recreation and Maine are synonymous.

• Maine’s natural offerings are legendary, but don’t forget its culture. We have outstanding symphony orchestras, opera houses and theaters. From Ogunquit to Bangor, the opportunities for quality entertainment are nearly endless. Maine also provides top-notch museums, from the Farnsworth in Rockland to the Portland Museum of Art to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. Restaurants galore feature the world’s cuisine. And every weekend, it seems, there’s a festival happening somewhere. From the clam fest in Yarmouth to the Moxie Festival in Lisbon Falls, nearly every community celebrates itself at some point during the year. And the big guns come out in the fall for the agricultural fairs, which celebrate Maine’s agrarian roots. A visit to the Fryeburg or Cumberland fairs will transport you back in time.

• The people of Maine are good folk. The small-town ethos is alive and well in much of the state. From the beauty of Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough to the inland communities of Westbrook, Gorham, and the Lakes Region, towns are filled with people who still appreciate their neighbors and pull together for community-minded activities like benefit fundraisers and staffing volunteer fire departments. You can have all the beauty in the world, but if the people are ugly, quality of life suffers.

Really, Mainers probably don’t toot our own horns enough. We should take stock once in a while, especially in the heart of summer, when our state truly sparkles like a Fourth of July fireworks display. Yes, we battle through blizzards and ice storms in the winter and we get lost in our work, but we rarely step back and appreciate what we have.

And the best thing is, unlike our summertime vacationing friends, we don’t have to leave come Labor Day. This is our daily existence. Like the highway sign says, Maine is definitely “worth a trip, worth a lifetime.”

–John Balentine, managing editor