I realize I recently poked fun at former co-workers at my last newspaper job for a recent editorial regarding the family's choice of hot dogs, I am nevertheless, tongue-in-cheek, going to ruminate on observations I made while on our recent vacation in Maine.
I know we've all seen and experienced this ...
Our flight: I recently talked about the things that can go wrong while flying, but what about the other things we experience? Namely ... people watching.
The word of that first travel days was ... feet.
We observed one woman climbing the escalator rather quickly, never pausing once – in about five inch heels. She never missed a beat, causing my husband to ask, "just how DO you women walk in those things and why would she wear them to an airport?"
To which I replied, "Notice I NEVER wear them? I can't walk in them and I'd never wear them to the airport, how would I run in them? But that gal wore them because she can." I laughed and told him she had pretty nice legs didn't she?
Then came the walk through TSA security. I wore a pair of shoes I could slip off easily and "horrors" was barefoot in them, which meant I would have to remove the shoes and walk barefoot through security.
Ironically, there was a string of us - male and female - who all agreed that our mothers would be horrified that we were all barefoot on the dirty airport floor ... all those germs. Yet there we were, just wanting to get through security as quickly as possible.
And there was the luggage - so much luggage. Funny how we swear every year to not take as much as the year before, yet we do. All the stuff we can't live without for a week.
My carry-on bag contained, as Anne of Green Gables would say, "all my worldly goods."
Camera, Kindle, iPad, chargers, phone, reservations, shoes, sandals, my one token carry-on of toiletries in a regulation quart-size bag, a book, magazines, a baseball cap for each of us, and a change of clothes in case our checked baggage got lost.
My husband's carry-on was actually the large toiletry bag, which didn't have any toiletries in it except HIS token quart-size bag containing the regulation 3 oz. sizes of items we would need in case baggage got lost, plus a change of clothes for both of us.
I'm nothing if not ready for the worse-case-scenario. The checked baggage had so much more ... if only we could pack less – there's always next year.
Dinner our first night was at Ken's Seafood near Pine Point, about 5 minutes from our cottages. Ken's have carry-out food with some indoor and outdoor seating. The seafood is always above par, fresh and expensive considering you're eating off paper plates and on picnic tables whether inside or outside.
Saturday night in late June was crazy busy like one would expect and it wasn't even the height of the season yet. There was an incredibly long line at the one order window that went through the restaurant and out the door.
Seating is potluck. Better grab the first table you see and sit one person down to save it. If you want to sit outside, then you should come armed with the strongest bug spray available because if the mosquitoes don't get you then the famous Maine black flies will. Once your food is on an outdoor table, then the battle is on as to who gets the food ... you or the flies.
I found people watching at Ken's as fascinating as at the airport. Again my first impression was ... feet. Everyone was clad in something summer-y from every type of sandals known to man, flip-flops and sneakers, toes manicured ... or not, some ugly ... some not, some young ... some old, some sunburned ... some not. Clearly these feet were on vacation and their feet expressed the day's activities ... sun, sand and surf.
Ken's was packed with the old, young, middle-aged and 20-somethings. Some were on dates, some with family and many of them were the token French-Canadians that fill neighboring Old Orchard Beach every summer. The atmosphere was peppered with conversations in fluent French mixed in with a little English here and there.
Our first New England seafood meal was outstanding and we closed our eyes in ecstasy at the first bite. I had succulent sea scallops and haddock and my husband went for the clams. The food was worth the hot, crowded wait and prices we paid.
The following day we arose early anticipating a walk on the beach only to find ourselves walking in the rain. Dejected, we hopped in the car and headed for our favorite coffee shop - about 2 blocks from the beach.
We grabbed coffee and a healthy egg white breakfast sandwich and settled in to enjoy our favorite past time – people watching. For an hour we observed young and old, foreign and native visitors pull up to the coffee shop to come in for their daily java fix before starting their day.
We loved the staff at the coffee shop and had vowed on our last vacation to forego the standard Dunkin Donuts shop for this small coffee shop because the staff loved their jobs and the atmosphere was energetic and fun. At Dunkin's you had a staff who yawned through every cup of coffee they sold and clearly didn't want to be looking at your mug that early in the day.
Nevertheless, OOB was coming alive that first morning and for one short week we were part of it. I don't know which is more fun, walking on the beach, swimming, closing your eyes and listening to the hypnotic crashing of the waves, or people watching for hours on end.
One thing is for sure, we are already planning next year's trip. There's just something about that draw to the water, the light refracting off the surface, the shimmering bits of sand at water's edge, the mournful cry of the ever-present sea gulls, the soft breeze, the delicious sound of the waves – it calls to us to return.
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