The summer is a time to relax and forget about the dramas of your life. Where is the perfect place to do this, you might ask? A place of lo luxury, no cell service, and a population of 200 people. A place completely isolated from the industrial world: Vanceboro, Maine.

In Vanceboro, you have two options: fish in the river, or fish in the lake. Fishing is very big up there during the summer. I remember looking out the window on an early summer morning and seeing a couple of guys walking down the street with a net full of fish. I remember wishing it was me.

While in Vanceboro, if you feel like calling your family back home, good luck. They have telephones in the houses and one bar of service by the fire station and the river. But you can’t move from that spot. At all. Sounds nice doesn’t it?

No, I’m not kidding. I like not feeling the need to check my phone every hour. Being in Vanceboro reminds me of the simple way of life and its enjoyments. I like not being able to hear cars speeding down the highway. I enjoy listening to the birds sing their peaceful song and the tranquil stir of the river water tell its tale. I feel like myself.

Every summer when my family and I head up to Vanceboro, we go on a canoe trip down the St. Croix River. We’re on the river the whole day from 10:00 am to almost 7:00 pm. My favorite part of the river trip are the rapids. It’s exciting how the water pushes you through any way it pleases and you have to keep your canoe straight at the same time. The Falls marks the end of our journey. The Falls are swift rapids that are more intense than the ones before it. Before we go down, we have to unload any luggage that we don’t want to lose or get wet if we tip over. Then we all go down, one boat at a time. Last year, my grandmother and second cousin flipped over. Their canoe stopped sideways and the rushing water made it flip. They were all right because they were able to get back up and paddle the rest of the way down. I haven’t flipped yet and would like to keep it that way.

The river marks the border between Vanceboro and Canada. If you walked to the middle of the river, you would be in Canada. Yes, the river is shallow enough that you can walk to the other side. One summer, we were having a campfire on the lake. On the Canadian side of the lake, people were also having a campfire. Both of us had flashlights. So we started flashing the light at the other party. They flashed back. It was like we were talking in code only we had no clue what we were saying!

I like to fish in the river and the lake. If we get enough fish, we have a fish fry! As long as the fish are edible, like White Perch or Salmon. I have yet to catch a salmon but I hope to someday.

I have a special connection to this forgotten paradise because my great-great grandfather used to live up there on Water Street. He lived right across from the Border Patrol. My brother and I were able to visit him a couple times before he died in 2006. He was 96 years old. When I would get up, I went downstairs and would see him sleeping on the couch. Then he’d hear me and wake up. I would turn on the TV and we would sit in the living room, watching cartoons. I still hold onto little memories like that because that’s all I’ve got.

After he died, my great-grandmother inherited his house, along with her three other siblings. But because the house was split up into four separate sections between the siblings, we couldn’t use the whole house without permission. So my great-grandmother bought it off her siblings. Now we are able to go there whenever we please. Unfortunately, my brother and I only get to go up during the summer because it’s so far away and we have other things like school. I wish we could go up there more. It’s the perfect place to get away from the world and be in one all your own. Discoveries about yourself are made, and memories are forever.