During my early years I lived in Massachusetts. The summers were spent on Manchaug Pond. Sometimes we’d take a trip to Vermont, New Hampshire, or even Maine (ooooh, Kittery Trading Post). I was always close to the water in New England.
For my teen years I lived in Florida. Just a short drive to Daytona Beach, or Ormond, and even New Smyrna. That’s where I got spoiled when it came to water temperature. New England water became “too cold” for me. Don’t even talk to me about getting into the ocean in Maine.
After getting through undergraduate and grad school I found myself living in New England again. First Dover New Hampshire, then later Sandown New Hampshire. Trips to Portsmouth and Maine were frequent. The water was still close by.
Finally, in recent years I’ve been spending most of my time in desert states. And those states fail to offer one thing that was always nearby. The ocean!
Definitely ocean front. Private beaches, homes built upward….all very interesting.
Between December of 2006 and July of 2014 I haven’t seen the ocean….. Not once. Well, not until yesterday when I found myself in Rhode Island only a mile from the coastline.
For the first time since Tampa Florida 2006, I stepped into salt water. And as the Florida boy in me liked to say, “it’s too cold!” Yeah, New England ocean water offers quite a chill. Drop me off near New Smyrna and it might be a different story!
One thing that fascinated me on my visit to the Rhode Island ocean front was the houses built near the shoreline. Private beaches, restricted access, and lots of homes. Not something I was familiar with in my teens when I spent my time out at Ormond, Daytona, or New Smyrna.
Most of the houses seem to be summer rentals. Signs in windows invite people to rent them for a week or two. Other homes were up for sale. And all of them were built well above the ground. Most were up on posts. Some had concrete bunkers under them thrusting them skyward away from storm surges. And they all had that typical New England feel to them!
Overall, I enjoyed seeing the ocean again. And seeing the beach houses. With luck, it won’t take me 6 years to see the ocean again. And with better luck, the next time I do it will be somewhere that isn’t too cold!