Maine is known as Vacationland for a reason. All year round, we watch tourists flock to our leaf-peeping sites, snow-capped peaks, rocky shores, and lazy rivers. There are sites to see during every season but summer marks an extra special time when tourists flock here en masse.

I work right in downtown Portland and I have started to see the rise of tourist season as the temperatures rise and summer makes its way. My chest is tight walking down the streets and I’m starting to realize I kind of have an innate fear of them. I don’t know if it’s the ignorance, the slow walking, the large groups, or just the influx of human beings in my way everywhere I go but gosh, Maine can get a little spooky in the summer. I’ll be honest, I just don’t like being around a lot of people at once.

I’ve started to mentally prepare for the thick of it; for the long lines, the rise in prices, the traffic. I love Maine in the summertime, don’t get me wrong, but tourist season for a local takes a lot of emotional and mental preparation and I know I am not the only one that feels this way.

If you’re a tourist reading this, I promise I am a friendly person who is happy you’re having yourself a splendid vacation and I know I am a tourist when I leave my own state but every local deserves the right to complain.

Can you even tell who is a local and who is a tourist? Absolutely. Out-of-staters are pretty easy to spot and here are a few things that give them away:

25 Ways to Spot a Tourist in Maine

They come every year in flocks and we can spot them from a mile away...

35 Things Mainers Say They Love About Portland

Mainers shared on Facebook their favorite parts about the city of Portland.

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