Over the past two weeks we partnered with @exploreminnesota on our #PP10ThousandLakes Instagram Challenge and asked you to share your favorite summer memories by the water — from boating to swimming to just dipping your feet in. We also asked Minnesota locals and guest judges @ericmueller and @orbeq to help decide who to send to be a ’10-day Minnesotan’!

Congratulations to our challenge honorable mentions (left to right, starting top-left): @intherivervalley, @ericjon, @rachelworthman, @aglet, @ian_mckay, @sallies, @alex_in_ny, @_jsett, and @globecalledhome! Head on over to their feeds for their full write-ups.

Congratulations to our #PP10ThousandLakes potential winner @el_fotomat who will be exploring Minnesota in August and whose photo and write-up are below:

As a night owl, there aren’t many days I rise before the sun. When I know a view like this one of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala is waiting for me, I make it happen. This lake has become a favorite spot to warm up and thaw out for a few days when Philadelphia’s winters have me frozen solid. It’s a place to pause and reflect and slow down to the pace of the fishermen paddling by in their wooden canoes.

With over 10,000 lakes, it’s tough to know where to begin if I were to win a trip through @passionpassport to journey around Minnesota in August. Perhaps I’d be able to cross gazing dreamily at the northern lights off my bucket list if I ventured to Lake Vermilion. Would I even be so lucky to see a moose swimming by?

Or maybe I’d visit the North Shore area where the lake is apparently so vast you’d swear it was an ocean. It’s a state I honestly knew nothing about a year ago, prior to stumbling upon the @instagram accounts and meeting in person some of its most creative inhabitants. Not only does the beauty of the majestic bodies of water and stunning landscapes call to me, but also the friendships I’ve made through this wonderful, image-sharing platform. It’d be a dream to explore Minnesota…in the summer!