Something about the cool snap in the air the last few days set me off to thinking about all those times I was forced to write a "What I did on my summer vacation" paper. I never liked writing those papers when I was growing up, mainly because I never really did anything during the summers.
I didn't grow up on Cape Ann, and the beach was a long (in those days) 40 minute drive away. My family and I didn't travel much and most of our family vacations entailed being stuck in a cabin somewhere in New Hampshire during a rainy week in August.
For the longest time, once I started working, I refused to take vacations in August because I "knew" it would rain that week. (It didn't scar me too much, eh?) By the way, this year I forgot and took a week off in August. If you look back over the weather reports for August, you should be able to pick out the week I was off!
Enough of my whining.
A second reason why I decided to put together this list is I overheard two teens talking while I was downtown this week. As some teens are apt to do, they were complaining that there was "nothing to do around here". As my tribute to them, and since I start most of my days watching the sunrise in my rear view mirror (sounds like a title to a country song "Watching the Sunrise in My Rear View Mirror"), here's a small list of the things I found to to do this summer.
- Went to the beach ... Good Harbor, Wingaersheek, and even Crane's.
- Looked for seaglass ... along Pavilion Beach and Niles.
- Walked in Ravenswood Park a few times.
- Walked in the Tompson Street Reservation.
- Went to the Sidewalk Bazaar.
- Went to the Premier Ultimate Gloucester Block Party. (May there be many more!)
- Went boating (not enough... never enough).
- Went kayaking in the Essex River for the first time (kayaking).
- Stopped in at the Farmer's Market and Harbor Loop Concerts.
- Went to a couple of the Rockport Legion Band Concerts. Okay. Went to 6 of them and the final one is scheduled for Sunday, August 24th. (shameless plug)
- Watched a few baseball games at Boudreau and Wilson and parts of some softball games out at Plum Cove.
- Particpated in one or two bike races. I only say "particpated" since I happened to try to drive down Washington Street towards Lanesville at the wrong time and got stuck in a race. (Driving along this road on a normal day can be a challenge but add a few cyclists and then it really becomes interesting.)
- Went to a couple of church fairs.
- Ate some really good, fresh corn from local farmers.
- Ate one really bad lobster roll.... It was from Maine and looked very different from the one that the "Phantom" reviewed. Note to GMG. It had lettuce on it also!
- The list goes on and could include the customary events such as Fiesta and 4th of July....
All in all, despite the rainy weather, it wasn't that bad of a summer. Next time you hear someone from Cape Ann saying that "there's nothing to do", tell them that they are ......
Simply Not Looking Hard Enough!
C_A_B
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