In Maine, every season is a new feast for the senses. A bubbling brook courses between rocks and pours into a sun-streaked lake teeming with wildlife above and below the surface. Fresh snowpack softly crunches under your boots on a backcountry trail, with the occasional distant thump of snow falling through evergreen branches. Hear the satisfying squish of a muddy trail in the springtime and rustling leaves in the brisk, earthy air of an early autumn morning. Throughout the year, the richness of the state’s great outdoors beckons, along with its delicious food and delightful hotels. Keep reading to discover some of our favorite experiences throughout the Pine Tree State.

Eat well and shop local along Maine’s beaches

The tastes and scents of sunscreen, ice cream, and briny ocean air are synonymous with Maine’s sandy beach communities—and equally common are the belly-pleasing flavors of the restaurants dotting the coast. In Kennebunkport, head to the White Barn Inn & Spa, where you can savor a lobster-tasting menu with six different preparations of the buttery crustacean before heading to a suite with a bathtub and fireplace, cottage, guest room—or houseboat when it opens this fall.

Another dining option here is Earth at Hidden Pond, where lumber-studded walls form the intimate backdrop to thoughtfully prepared four-course meals using seasonal ingredients. Executive chef Justin Owen, a Maine native whose culinary interest was sparked at a small steakhouse, designs dishes such as apricot salad with snappy marcona almonds and fettuccine with rabbit confit.

Before dinner, you can shop the clothing boutiques, bookstores, art galleries, and jewelry stores at Dock Square in Kennebunkport. Come evening, catch a show at the renowned Ogunquit Playhouse, a regional theater along the Josias River near where it connects with the ocean. The theater’s roster of former performers includes the likes of Betty White, Lloyd Bridges, and Valerie Harper.

Island-hopping and great restaurants in greater Portland and Casco Bay

Portland is a city unlike any other. Sure, it’s home to walkable portside neighborhoods full of acclaimed restaurants including the James Beard Award-winning Fore Street (and even more options just outside of the Old Port, like dining under the stars in the gazebos at The Well at Jordan’s Farm). And boutique hotels, such as the artfully designed Blind Tiger, dot downtown.

But few cities have such abundant natural beauty in and around its borders, like the glacier-sculpted summit that defines Bradbury Mountain State Park. Even fewer can take you from sidewalk to ferry dock for island-hopping on Casco Bay Lines as quickly as Portland can.

Gardens and farm-fresh dining on the Midcoast and islands

Along with the coastal towns, beaches, and islands of Maine’s tranquil Midcoast, you can also experience the hundreds of verdant acres that make up New England’s largest botanical garden. Set on more than 300 acres, the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay has so many exhibits that exploring them all could easily take days. Some are intentionally designed to stimulate your senses. In the Lerner Garden of the Five Senses, aromatics grow alongside edible plants and the meditative sounds of running water and chirping birds. Elsewhere in the garden, an abundance of lilies softly scents the path, while bumpy, floppy ferns offer a gently tactile moment.

After a day among flora, head to Primo, a restaurant where Melissa Kelly, the winner of multiple James Beard Awards, helms the farm-to-fork kitchen. A five-acre sustainable farm fuels her pantry and local musicians regularly swing by to perform live. The menu changes daily with specials ranging from cast iron-seared wild salmon with cherries, nasturtium yogurt, and mint to fire-roasted eggplant soup and zucchini oyster fritters. You could also try Natalie’s at the Camden Harbour Inn for Maine-inspired dishes such as duck confit flatbread and paccheri pasta with butternut squash and mushrooms.

Kennebec Valley’s whitewater rafting, fishing and birdwatching

For the more adventurous, zip along the Kennebec River with a whitewater rafting tour hosted by a Registered Maine Guide. The uninitiated will find the river a manageable but playful experience, while comfortable rafters won’t get bored in the lively rapids.

If you’re after a more serene break, head to Belgrade Lakes and stay in one of the four modern guest rooms with vintage touches from the Seven Lakes Inn. Fishing, boating, and golfing are all available around the lakes and hit the trails for some birdwatching around Messalonskee Lake. There, Maine Audubon says you can seek out a variety of wetland and water birds, including the striking black-and-white ring-necked ducks.

Visit a museum and Shaker Village among the lakes and mountains of western Maine

As the name suggests, Maine’s Lakes and Mountains region is full of opportunities to get into nature. But it’s also where you can explore the state’s cultural tapestry, including at the Rangeley Outdoor Heritage Museum, a place to learn how Mainers have historically hunted and fished for sport and subsistence. Or check out a traditional communal lifestyle at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village and its onsite museum that delves into the culture. The Shaker community also allows guests to attend their services here.

Aroostook County’s winter sports and more

Winter warriors, rejoice. Aroostook County, historically known for agriculture, forestry, and railroads, is where cross-country skiers, snowmobilers, and ATV riders all beeline come wintertime. A celebrated destination, the 37-mile Southern Bangor and Aroostook Trail connects the towns of Presque Isle to Houlton with a mostly straight, flat path through wetlands and farmlands.

This region is also where you can take in the universe—or Aroostook County’s version of it. Extending 100 miles along U.S. Route 1, the Maine Solar System Model features scaled-down versions of the planets that orbit our sun.

See wildlife and epic views in Down East and Acadia

Of Down East Maine’s many claims to fame, Acadia National Park and its dramatic coastal views perhaps top them all. The national park spans Mount Desert Island and several satellite isles, as well as Schoodic Point and its pink-tinged granite slabs. Wildlife spotting along the Park Loop Road is also renowned.

Yet the national park is just one gem in the Down East’s treasure chest. Just outside of Ellsworth, Under Canvas Acadia helps you glamp under the stars along its 1,200-foot shoreline (with complimentary smores and kid’s activities). Further up the coast on the Canadian border is the rugged Cobscook Bay State Park, where you can explore tidal flats and kayak through waterways as you spy migratory birds and local seabirds. Stop on the way there at Helen’s Restaurant, a laid-back, family-friendly spot that’s been serving dishes—think blueberry maple salmon, fried clams, and, of course, lobster rolls—for nearly a century.

Kayaking and history in the Highlands

Immerse yourself in Maine’s past as a logging and timber-transporting powerhouse by kayaking with a Registered Maine Guide across the tree-lined Ambajejus Lake to the Ambajejus Boom House. For decades, the boom house was integral to that lumber tradition, providing respite to more than a dozen workers after long shifts managing the flow of logs downstream. Today, the building (included in the National Register of Historic Places) is a free museum dedicated to that hardworking history. It’s located just outside of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, a pristine expanse of 87,500 acres.

Also in the Maine Highlands, the well-appointed rooms at the Blair Hill Inn boast unrestricted views of Moosehead Lake, a crystal-clear glacial lake. Rest up after active days in the sun with a massage at the inn’s spa or sink into the warm waters of a deep soaking tub overlooking the water.

Maine utility regulators unanimously rejected on Tuesday an electric utility’s proposal to proactively report high consumption that signals a marijuana growing operation to law enforcement officials in an attempt to aid police crackdown on illicit operations.

The three-member Public Utilities Commission cited concerns about customers who use large amounts of electricity for legitimate reasons being targeted because of the reports. Commissioners opted to stick with the status quo in which utilities provide consumer data only when presented with a law enforcement subpoena that was vetted by a judge.

Versant Power floated the idea because it says it has a high success rate of identifying marijuana grow houses but no ability to communicate that to police. Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster called it a “good first step.” Other supporters included Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who has aggressively pressed the FBI about the illegal marijuana operations.

Versant spokesperson Judy Long said Tuesday the utility promoted the discussion “strictly in the interest of public and worker safety.”

“After the discussion and today’s ruling in that docket, we have clear direction from the commission, and we will remain vigilant in protecting customers’ private information while continuing to work as mandated with law enforcement,” she said.

The proposal was part of a wide-ranging docket taken up by commissioners on Tuesday.

It came as law enforcement officials target marijuana grow operations in which rural homes in Maine are purchased, gutted and transformed into sophisticated, high-yield indoor farms.

Twenty states that legalized marijuana have seen a spike in illegal marijuana grow operations, and law enforcement officials have busted dozens of them in Maine. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration are investigating any ties these operations might have to criminal syndicates including Chinese-organized crime.

Marijuana plants found recently in an illegal grow operation in the Whitefield area. Courtesy of Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office

Maine utility regulators on Tuesday unanimously rejected a proposal by Versant Power to alert law enforcement to high electricity consumption that could indicate illegal marijuana growing operations.

The Public Utilities Commission considered changes to a set of rules governing billing and payments, service disconnection, dispute resolution and other practices. One provision – the confidentiality of customer information – drew the most attention because it could have authorized utilities to give law enforcement information about suspected illegal activity, such as cannabis growing operations that draw tremendous amounts of electricity for lights and fans that sometimes run 24 hours a day.

“It would not be appropriate for utilities to report high-usage customers as Versant has proposed,” PUC Chairman Philip L. Bartlett II said at an agency meeting. “Such customers may have other legitimate reasons for high usage and using such broad criteria would likely result in the privacy of many innocent customers being violated.”

Commissioner Patrick Scully agreed.

“I would be concerned that reports based solely on usage could expose customers engaged in lawful activities to criminal investigations,” he said. “This is the job of law enforcement, not of utilities.”

If law enforcement has a reason to investigate a particular property, it can seek through a lawfully issued subpoena records maintained by a utility, Scully said.

Commissioner Carolyn Gilbert also voted against the Versant proposal, saying it could wrongly affect customers with high electricity bills unrelated to marijuana growing.

“After the discussion and today’s ruling, we have clear direction from the commission and we will remain vigilant in protecting customers’ private information while continuing to work as mandated with law enforcement,” Judy Long, a spokesperson for Versant, said.

Versant proposed to allow a utility to disclose to third parties such as law enforcement agencies, “pursuant to lawful process,” the name, address, email, telephone number, electricity or gas use, payment and credit history, and financial or medical condition of a customer without their consent.

In testimony to the PUC, Versant Power said utilities should be permitted to disclose customer information to law enforcement when there is “good faith belief” of a crime. Illegal cannabis growing operations are an “escalating problem” in Versant’s service territory in northern and central Maine, the utility said.

Versant can identify such “operations with a high degree of certainty” based on rural residential service addresses; installation of, or requests for, large amounts of power; damage to Versant equipment caused by high usage or improper customer installations; extremely high energy consumption and other commercial activities; and installations unusual for a residence, it said.

Central Maine Power Co., the state’s largest utility, disagreed with what it said is Versant’s suggestion that privacy provisions in current regulations do not allow utilities to report a customer’s name or address when a crime is committed against its employees or agents. “CMP does not read such a prohibition in the rule as written,” it said.

Energy consumption at illegal grow sites is often more than 3,000 kilowatt-hours a month, Versant said.

The utility said it has received subpoenas for information about illegal cannabis growing operations that “have been consistent with the accounts and locations Versant was aware of.” But the current confidentiality rule “chills Versant’s ability to cooperate with law enforcement to resolve this serious issue,” it said.

Somerset County, Sheriff Dale Lancaster, whose deputies have executed search warrants on 21 marijuana operations, said law enforcement works best with community support, and he described Versant’s proposal as a “good first step.”

This story will be updated.

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