My favorite beach is Short Sands Beach in York, Maine. I enjoy this beach more for the nostalgia that it creates than for anything else. In fact, it has become a terrible beach to swim at or walk on as Hurricane Sandy has removed most of the sand and left sharp rocks exposed on the shoreline. It is now a 15 minute, pain laden process to get out into the water for a swim. But we do it anyway because it is all part of what we are at this beach for.
Let me take you back in time. In the late 1970's, our family was living in Concord, NH. I'm not sure how we found Short Sands Beach but we did and thus began a family tradition. Each summer my mom would pack up a cooler with lunch, drinks, & snacks, and bundle the 3 of us girls into the car with our swimsuits, blanket, towels, frisbees, and other general beach gear, and head to York, Maine for the day. We didn't usually make this trip more than once or twice a summer as it was an hour and a half drive from Concord to York.
Upon arrival, we would feed the meter with quarters and head down to the sand to locate the perfect spot to set up for the day. Blanket & towels arranged and cooler settled, we were off to the water. The rules were, don't go in past your armpits, stay together, and try to remain in a direct line with the blanket (or as close as possible so Mom could find us). Hours of swimming, splashing, body surfing, seaglass hunting, and shell collecting awaited us!
My mom was the best packed lunch maker ever! She didn't pack pre-made peanut butter and jelly. No, she would pack all the fixings for BLT's so that we could build our own at lunchtime. There were always chips, veggies, fruit, and some form of juice in the orange tupperware juice pitcher. Yeah, you know the one, with the button on the top of the lid. Our favorite juice was what has recently become known in our family as Nonna Juice (because my Mom is now Nonna and she always makes it) - Grape juice mixed with Lemonade.
After lunch there was THE GOLDENROD! This is an old fashion restaurant, soda/ice cream bar, and TAFFY FACTORY right on the beach! This is the magic of Short Sands Beach. The taffy is made in the window. You can watch the process from the syrup cooking in the copper kettles all the way through cooling, flavoring, stretching, and wrapping. And of course, you can then go in and buy a box! The smell is amazing outside the plate glass windows as you watch the process. Even now, 35 years later, I am in love with the smell and watching the taffy be made.
Flash forward to 1992 - I took my son for his first trip to York Beach and made it a tradition that we go at least once a year. It soon became a frequent destination when we moved to the Seacoast area in 1994. I have pictures of Matthew eating ice cream, licking giant lollipops, carrying his younger cousins on his shoulders to see the taffy being made, playing on the playground, and posing in the infamous Dead Bear Shirt. It is safe to say that he is as much in love with the memories as I am. My recent Facebook post while home on vacation indicated I was headed to the beach and taffy. His response: "BRING ME ALL THE TAFFYS". Needless to say, he received a 2lb box on my way through Chicago. <3
My last trip to Short Sands Beach was today, with my Mom. It is the last day of my vacation in NH and I couldn't think of anything I would rather do than sit on the beach, soak up the sun, splash in the waves, visit the shops, and have a bite to eat with my Mom. This has been the most relaxing day of my entire visit and I enjoyed every second of it.
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