It's that time of the year to make memories with your family.
When I think of my sweetest childhood recollection of the FANTATIC kids
vacation only one cuts it. I just have to tell you the details; the good,
bad and ugly of the whole thing, but in my book, as a kid and even as a senior
citizen it was the PEFECT vacation adventure then and still is.
Every summer my mom and dad would load my three mean brother’s and myself in
our Ford station wagon and we would start our drive across country from
Michigan to my grandparents in Maine. The drive itself was always an
entity all its own with everything you would find in a great movie adventure;
danger from dad; were you in the firing zone?
He would always ask this question when we got out of hand.
One of my fondest memories was on the
Massachusetts Turnpike in bumper to bumper traffic when I threw my brothers
shoe out the rear window. The man in the car behind us yelled to my
father as he was walking between the cars to retrieve the shoe, beat em!.
None of us kids admitted throwing it out but I got rightfully blamed. I
was the oldest. Moving on to the greatest adventure
I’ve ever had on a vacation.
We arrived and made our rounds visiting all the relatives and then loaded up
grandparents and the brood and headed to my favorite place on earth, York
Beach, Maine. My grandparents had a small beach cottage there and it was
always the highlight of the trip, but this year I made it extra special for
all.
All of us kids had been exploring and enjoying the beach.
We dodged
jelly fish, collected shells and hunted sea
glass. during our weeklong stay.
I had
always been attracted to the lighthouse at the inlet, the Nubble Light. Our
parents had warned us to never cross the inlet leave alone go to the
island that the Nubble sat on. Well this Thursday morning, day six of our
vacation, I got up early and walked along the beach collecting shells in my
mesh bag. When I got close to the inlet I saw a group of college kids
trying to hoist something up the jagged side of the inlet. I watch and
noticed it was a dolphin. It was low tide and one could easily walk
across the inlet. I yelled to the group and asked what they had.
They explained the dolphin was injured and they were taking it to the lighthouse
where they were going to put it in a tank there. The College manned the
lighthouse during the summer with college interns and they did research on
marine life.
I crossed the inlet to get a better view and of course I had to help carry
the dolphin too. I was able to go into the research station at the base
of the lighthouse and watched as the dolphin was put into a prepared tank.
I
watched as the students cared for the cut the dolphin had on its side.
The students shared so much with me about the dolphin and how special it is to
man. I was able to see lots of other fish, crab and my favorite the jelly
fish tank where they explained about how they swim and also how they
sting. This I knew first hand so that wasn't anything new.
I also got a tour of the lighthouse and learned about it’s importance to the
area.
It was time to get back to my grandparent’s house so I said my goodbyes and
headed for the inlet. This is the ugly part; it was now high tide.
I had spent the entire day on the island and hadn't realized how long I had
been there. My parents had told us never, ever, ever cross the inlet leave alone go on the island. I was frantic. I climbed the
rocks back to the lighthouse and found one of the students.
I told her I couldn't get back across the
inlet, it was too deep and dangerous now. She told me I would have to wait
until low tide again and would have to spend the night on the island. In
those days kids didn't have cell phone and most parents only had those big
bag phones in their cars and there were no phones on the island; no way to
contact my family. I was all but dead now. My parents would know I
crossed the inlet and would be worried sick about me. I was in
trouble!
I was given a sleeping bag and shown where the bunkroom was. The
students tried to calm me but all I could think about was how frantic my family
would be. They would be out searching for me and think I had drown.
I was gonna get it when I got home.
The students had cooked dinner and after dinner we settled around a fire pit
and they told me stories of the great adventures they had experienced during
their summer visit. It had been an exciting day and bedtime now. I
tossed and turned and couldn't help think about my parents and grandparents and
how worried they must be. I knew my brother had already claimed my room
thinking I was lost at sea.
Finally the sun shone through the small window above the door and two of the
students told me I should be able to cross back onto the mainland as the tide
was once again low. I followed them to the inlet and they waved goodbye
as I stepped onto the beach.
I ran along the beach and crossed the road to the lane where my grandparent’s
cottage was. I opened the white picket gate ever so carefully to try not
to wake anyone with its creaky hinge. As I carefully closed the gate thinking I
was safe for now, I turned and saw my grandfather sitting in his white wicker
rocker. He had his arms crossed and I knew the look.
"Where in heaven have you been? I explained what had happened and
asked the dreaded question, "where’s mom and dad?" Gramps
told me they were at the police department and had reported me
missing. Well to make a long story short they weren't
happy.
To this day, 50 years later, this still stands out as my greatest vacation
adventure.
