Friday, July 8, 2005

Maine, Maine I've gone away, I'm comin' back another day

Our vacation to Maine was great. We were there for 10 days in Wells, ME. It's a quaint town nestled on the southern coast between better known towns of Kennebunkport and Ogunquit. The beach there is named Moody Beach. I've been going for 10 years every 4th of July since I've met my wife in 1995 and it just keeps getting better.

Our sons, Grady (who turns 5 in late September) and Liam (3 in late November) can't get enough of the beach or of their 10 cousins who join the celebration. We are so lucky to have this vacation spot available to us. Colleen's parent's bought 4 lots one block off of Moody Beach in the 60s and built three homes, leaving one empty lot between two of the homes which is home to many whiffle ball games, soccer and, yes, old fashioned lead tipped lawn darts.

One of the nice things about Wells and Moody Beach is seeing the same families year after year on the beach. Watching them have children, marry, get older, etc. Colleen's family is known and loved by everyone there, so I always feel like a local celebrity when plunking my beach chair down announcing that, yes, I'm one of them.

I posted a bunch of pictures from our time there:



Red Sox Nation is alive and well. In Maine, the World Series win in October is still on the tips of everyone's tongues, as well as on their hats, shirts and sweatshirts. I've never seen more Red Sox gear on a group of people as I did on Moody Beach, except at Fenway during Game 1 of the World Series I went to last year. You'd think it would be trite seeing every other person with a cap on or t-shirt announcing allegiance to the Sox, but it was magical. Communal. People are still high on the win, and can't pass you by without saying, "Go Sox!" or "Nice hat!" or "No, please, you first -- you're wearin' a Sox hat!"

I went deep sea fishing with my brother-in-laws and caught a sand shark (about 3 feet long) and an under-sized cod fish. The fishing on the boat was pretty slow, but we saw a whale breach about 100 yards from the bough about five times. And, I've always wondered what happens to helium balloons when you let them go. I mean, you see them drift upwards until out of sight, but how many times do you see them land? That day, 10 miles off shore, I did. We were out there on July 5 early in the morning, and I saw a bunch of red, white and blue balloons gently fall to the sea. It was very satisfying for some reason. Almost like closure for a bit of curiosity I've had since I was probably 3 years old.

On the boat, my brother-in-law, Matt, told a funny story. He had gone fishing with his friend, Steve, and on the way back, they stopped at a gas station/convenience store. Steve was inside and saw a guy flirting with a young female attendant. When Steve saw the guy in the parking lot a few minutes later, Steve said to him, "There's gonna be some lovin' here tonight, eh?" The guy misinterpreted the remark and said, "Not tonight, buddy." He thought Steve was propositioning him. Heh, heh.

During the beach games on July 4th, I ran against about 20 other 20-40 year old men. I'm 34. I came in 4th. I think I could have placed in the top 3, but the crowded field kind of hemmed me in, and I actually almost ran over the guy who ended up in front of me. Oh well. Grady came in 2nd among his 30 or so fellow 4 & 5 year old boys. Liam didn't place among the 30 or so 2 & 3 year old boys. My brother-in-law, Chris, at 43, won his 40 and over race. His wife (and my sister-in-law) Erin, at 39, came in 2nd among 20-40 year olds. We represented ourselves quite well in these elaborate and well attended races. There were also hula hoop contests, potato sack races, three-legged races, etc. During the 4th of July races, the poplulation on the beach rises from about 150-300 on a normal day to about 4,000. It's really fun.

Well, now back to working on the next phase of my career and getting back to the gym. Ho hum. :)

1 comment:

joevideo said...

hi there. i've spent alot of my summers (most of the last 33) in ogunquit and we love to venture up to moody beach. great beach indeed!!!