How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Ahhhhhh, vacation. Nothing else like it. Especially when all you have to do is get up, roll out of bed, and roll yourself onto the beach.

Every year, for about a week in the summer, we go up to Wells Beach, Maine. It is one of our favorite places to go, ever. The sun, the sand, the fried food, the ocean breeze…

Yeah. It was awesome.

You want the proof? See below.

Once you get to Wells, you have to drive a mile down, what else, Mile Rd, in order to get to the hotel. It’s a beautiful view of marshlands on either side of the road that fill to the brim with water during high tide, and empty down to sand and mud during low tide.

The view from the balcony at the resort where we stay is nothing but ocean and clouds and sun.

After dinner that first night, we went to the end of the spit of land that Well Beach is a part of. There’s a harbor at the end where, on the harbor-side, I taught my girls how to skid stone.

When the sun comes up in the morning, it’s hard not to feel the sheer raw beauty of nature all the way through your bones.

My younger daughter and I went for a walk that morning. She perched on one of the quarter-slot viewer to get a better view of the beach, waves, and sunrise.

Breakfast that morning was a healthy dose of sugar, courtesy of Congdon’s Doughnuts. What’s funny is that we realized two days later that the word “doughnuts” was spelled wrong on the box, and it took an eleven year old to point it out to us.

At a beach, you never know what kind of cars you’ll see. On this trip, we saw what could be described as the Griswold’s Family Truckster…

…as well as a car straight out of a ZZ Top video.

Because half of the fun of a vacation is eating all the food you normally wouldn’t, we hit Mike’s Clam Shack for dinner. My younger daughter ordered her first lobster. I’ve always found lobster to be overrated, but she loved it.

And because what dinner isn’t complete without dessert, it was time for ice cream at the Scoop Deck.

At night, as the parking lot emptied out, you’re left with a feeling of satisfaction, simply watching the evening crowd mosey up to the windows at Forbes for ice cream or frapps, as the sun sets and the sodium lights come on.

The next day was forecasted to rain, and rain it did. But before the rain started, we went for another walk on the beach. The fog coming in from the ocean drifted slowly and swallowed whatever it touched.

The breeze was chilly without the sun to warm you, and so we ambled along the beach in new sweatshirts.

We stumbled across a sandcastle that had survived the evening high tide.

The sky that morning was simply amazing.

That day saw us spend a lot of time indoors. Summer reading was caught up, some TV was watched, but later in the afternoon, during a break in the rain, we went to the beach again to stretch our legs. It was there that we found a large group of rather bored seagulls, who began to take a great interest in my daughter.

Every year when we go, the trip doesn’t feel complete unless we go see “the lighthouse”. And so, on Wednesday, we drove down to York and out to the point where you can walk to the edge of the rocks and see the Nubble Lighthouse.

It’s not a beach, so you typically don’t think about swimming when you’re visiting the lighthouse, but that’s not to say that you can’t go in the water. That point was proven to us as a set of three scuba divers emerged from the deep.

While we were sitting there, enjoying the view, we watched as a fog bank rolled its way toward us. It would eventually devour the large house in this picture, completely obscuring it from view.

Walking around downtown York is fun, especially if you have money to burn. There is always Goldenrod’s which is famous for its candy, especially the salt water taffy. It’s also almost always a zoo to get in and out of.

There’s palm readings, if you’re so inclined.

And there’s a popcorn place that specializes in unique flavors of popcorn. This was one of our selections, and damned if it didn’t taste like buffalo wings.

The following day, we made a return trip to the Scoop Deck with our friends, who were headed home that day. The ice cream was still fantastic. Perhaps, just as fun, are the signed they have in the and around the shop. For example, they have (somehow) the old Wells Beach sign that used to sit out on US1.

Then there are the rules for the ice cream shop…

…and the extras if you’re carrying a little something extra.

The afternoon brought us back to the beach, with the mile high sky above.

The sea chickens are a bold group, having long grown used to the presence of foolish humans who might throw them a bread crust or two.

There were kites to be seen…

…and shells to be collected.

Then came the last morning, which dawned magnificently in the east.

It was yet another phenomenal trip that had us sad to leave, but eager to return next year for more.