Once upon a time......
My family had a summer house in Ogunquit, Maine. That is where I spent all my summers from junior high through college. I have many, many stories about Ogunquit, but in honor of Labor Day Weekend just passing, that will be today's subject.
We were friends with all the lifeguards on Ogunquit Beach, especially the ones at the second lifeguard stand because that is where the neighborhood sat every day. We thought the lifeguards had some sort of secret power to make something monumental happen every Labor Day Weekend. We thought they wanted the weekend off before they went back to college.
One year a nurse shark swam right into where everyone was swimming, one year a big storm, and one year the threat of a tsunami. The loud speaker on the beach announced that there was a "big wave" spotted by a fisherman and it was headed our way. Everyone had to EVACUATE the beach. I have added a picture to show you that there is a bridge to get to the beach. One lane, each way.
Luckily, we lived within walking distance and once we found everyone, we headed with the masses over the bridge trying not to panic. One of my friend's was on crutches and I remember telling her to "hurry up!" Nice right? At least I didn't ditch her and run. We decided to go to her house because she had a view of the beach and the ocean. If a big wave was coming, we wanted to see it! We climbed up to their 3rd floor screened in porch, ate M&Ms and waited. (Yes, I know, you are surprised that M&Ms made it into this story, well they did. I was an addict way back when. It's truly surprising I still have my own teeth.) The moms had cheese and crackers and wine. We waited for awhile, but nothing happened. We went down to the beach hours later and there were big waves crashing, but no "big wave".
Since that day, we have had many discussions about this wave. If indeed, there had been a tsunami, we would have been dead. And we would have watched it coming right at us. We all are grateful that this is just one of our funny Ogunquit stories and did not turn into a tragedy.
The lifeguards did succeed in getting this day off. I seriously think they had magic powers.
I would love for you to play along, I just have to figure out how to put that cool linky thing on the bottom. I'll work on that for next week. Leave me a comment if you do it today! :)
3 comments:
Our family took a two week vacation the first two weeks of August each summer. One summer, we did have a cottage in Ogunquit! I remember how the water was so shallow when the tide went out. We scared our Grandparents (who had come to visit and could not swim) to death, worrying that they could not save us. The water went up to our knees! I also remember very cold ocean water and buying a pair of moccasins at the trading post. I also got a plastic stuffed lobster that came with a marker and everyone signed their name on it. Fun times, remembering the past!
Oh, I SO loved O Gun Kit! It was always such fun to visit, so different from the California coastline.
Sigh...
If I could write with your talent, I would have no problem playing along.! :) I have also been to Ogunquit! While stuck on route 1 I started taking picturs of the GPS ETA because it kept changing and we weren't going anywhere! My husband thought it was cute er um annoying! My other favorite memory is while looking at the hotels we discovered that one of the hotels has a "baby making" package. If I could actually say those words, while reserving this package or/checking in we would so take advantage of this package.
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