Maine beaches

I love beaches of any kind. Ocean ones. Lake ones. Even river ones if it's a big enough river to have a beach. Today we went to a place called Land's End at the end of a finger of land about 45 minutes from Jonathan's house. I loved it. Just beyond a village of small houses, the siding paint peeling off from years of being battered by ocean winds, was a small public beach surrounded on three sides by water. The first thing I did after walking to the beach was plunge my hand in the chilly water and lick my fingers. "Yep, it's salty," I exclaimed. I'm not sure why I feel the need to taste the water whenever I'm at the ocean, but I always do. It always tastes salty. I guess I'm just not a believer until I taste the water, that I'm actually at the ocean. I so very seldom am. I guess I'm just a lake girl. I live in a valley of a thousand (that might be a hyperbole, but not by much) lakes so when I'm actually at the ocean I just can't believe there's that much water in the world that tastes like salt.

After the water-tasting and many pictures, we drove to Fort Popham, which was closed for the season. We found a way to check it out even though it was locked and then, after exploring that a bit, went to Popham Beach, which is a state park. Jonathan and I walked out to a rocky island between the probably incoming tide on one side and a fast-moving river on the other. We made it to the island but chose not to stay too long because we thought the tide might be coming in and we didn't fancy a cold swim back to shore. As a lake girl, I'm also rather ignorant of tides. If I had been by myself I probably wouldn't even have given the tides one thought. Other than getting higher in the early spring with the spring runoff from the mountain snow and lower as the summer progresses, lakes stay at a relatively constant height. I'm especially glad I had a Maine-er with me to remind me of the fact that, with oceans the water goes in and comes out, unlike the typical lake that I'm familiar with.

In any case, I love the ocean almost as much as my lakes. I definitely wouldn't be unhappy living near an ocean instead of a lake. It would just take a little getting used to. And I might consume a fair amount of salt.