On many occasions I’ve mentioned having a whole beach day or just walking the beach to relax for an hour or so. I’ve also received a few emails from people asking whether we ever actually go in the water way up here in Maine. Everyone assumes that the water is so cold here that we can’t really do much actual swimming.  I admit that during most of the year the last place you’d want to find yourself is in the ocean.  But, there are a few weeks of the year when we can and it’s well worth the wait.  Today was one of those times.

My better-half, her daughter, the grandson, and I decided we needed some beach time. The weathers been sunny and hot for a few days which we hoped had warmed the water up a little.  You’d have thought there was ten of us from the amount of gear we had to wrestle into the car. It was like watching the Beverly Hillbillies loading their truck before their trip to California.  Beach chairs, extra towels, cameras, sun tan lotion, diapers, a huge umbrella, and two plastic  buckets and a couple of shovels.  Unbelievable…

I for one was exhausted before we even got there. We made our way to a small beach in Scarborough, Maine which is just up the coast from the always over-crowded Old Orchard Beach. The town was on top of things as usual and immediately extorted $10.00 out of us to park the damn car.  After unloading all of the essentials we made our way the waters edge. When we arrived the place was busy but not too overcrowded. We found a spot and proceeded to set up camp.  I’m guessing there were a few hundred people there with only four I could see in the water swimming. They were young kids and seemed to be having a ball and even if the water was freezing cold they wouldn’t have noticed.  I walked to the water, stuck in my toe, and immediately discovered why no adults had taken the plunge. It was a bit nippy to say the least.

People watching is always fun and beach people watching is even better. I saw a few attractive beach bunnies romping around in their bikini’s and that was great as always. There were many more folks in skimpy outfits that really caught my attention. Have you ever seen a big beautiful woman in a two piece swim suit that had been lost in all of her immense beautifulness.  I did and it was more than a little scary.

In a short period of time the number of people easily doubled. It was an endless line of families dragging their kids and tons of beach gear to stake out their little plot of sand. The temperature of the water rose a few degrees and all of a sudden everyone was in the water.  It was cold at first but once your body adjusted it was fine. I was in and out a number of times throughout the day and it was heaven.

The one thing you can rely on is that if more than a few people congregate anywhere the merchants and their endless advertisements will follow.  The nice quiet beach was strafed by a continuous line of small planes dragging their messages behind them.  They were just loud enough to be annoying and it continued all day.  Where’s an anti-aircraft gun or a Stinger missile when you need one?

The grandson had a ball and easily exhausted all of us adults rather quickly.  He was covered in sand and yogurt pops, smiling and flirting with everyone in the vicinity.  He eventually tired himself out completely which was our clue to head home.  He was asleep in the car seat before we were even able to get the car packed up.  

We had a great day