Summer is here! A visit to Old Orchard Beach

I love Old Orchard Beach, Maine.  Always a signal of summer’s arrival, a few hours at Old Orchard just spins you right into summer mode.  The vinegary pier fries, the fried dough dusted (very liberally) with powdered sugar and cinnamon, the classic Lisa’s Pizza, it all brings me back. 

Growing up in southern Maine, Old Orchard Beach wasn’t as much a regular thing as you’d think, living only a few miles away.  For my family, with four kids, the cost of the rides and the food made this a twice a summer – maybe – kind of thing.  As I got older and could drive or had friends that could drive, it was where everyone went to “cruise” in the summer.  For many of us, as teens, it was where we had summer jobs and summer friends.  For me, it was the place I had my first record store job and because of that, the place I met my first husband.  

Like everything else, things change.  The town has had some rough times.  But if this past Memorial Day weekend was any indication, this summer won’t be remembered as such.  It will be a good year for Old Orchard Beach.

My daughter and I had a few hours to spare on Sunday of that weekend.  The weather was beautiful – warm, sunny – kind of a surprise at the end of May.  We decided to go “down the beach.”  I wanted to get some photographs from the top of the ferris wheel and my daughter just wanted to ride it.  One of the great things about the amusement park at Old Orchard Beach, called Palace Playland, is that you can buy just enough tickets to ride one ride, or in our case, three.  You don’t have to pay the big money for the whole day.  You don’t have to pay to get in.  You don’t have to pay if you don’t ride.  Easy.  Good for parents with kids.  If your kids are little and you’re not sure if they’re going to even want to ride, you get just enough tickets to find out.  If your kids are old enough and can ride by themselves, but still need some supervision, you can go and not pay for the privilege of that experience. 

So we rode the ferris wheel . . . 

from the top of the ferris wheel

looking west towards Saco

looking east toward Scarborough

Old Orchard Beach's main drag:  Old Orchard Ave.

And the “Superstar” – the scrambler ride you see at every fair.  And the little roller coaster, the Galaxi – not sure why, since we’ve ridden the big ones at Busch Gardens, Six Flags, and Cedar Point – but it’s been a while since we’ve had a roller coaster ride, so why not?  I’m not trying to compare Palace Playland to any of those parks.  It’s a totally different thing.  It just felt good to be flung and lifted and dipped and spun after a long winter. 

We walked around a bit then up the street.  Now I’ve seen the fried food options at some of the big fairs – fried twinkies, friend snickers bars, heck, I even saw fried butter and fried kool aid (don’t ask) last year.  Interesting as they might be, I’m usually watching what I eat and don’t want to part with six bucks for a fried twinkie when that could buy me two boxes of them (not that I would).  

But . . . we found fried oreos.  And they were only $1.00 each.  So we got three.  Powdered them up and then took them to the beach to eat.  They looked like squashed donut holes and when you bit into them, the cookie was warm and the creamy center, melted.  

fried, well, everything

deep fried oreo cookies with powdered sugar

creamy and melted on the inside . . this could be a new tradition

Old Orchard is a nice little community.  There are plenty of hotels, condos, shops and restaurants to support the large influx of tourists that come during the summer.  Visitors come from Quebec and New England and from all over Maine. 

Beyond the fried food, pizza, ice cream, and caramel corn . .beyond the lights and the rides and the games is . . The Beach. 

Go for the beach!

At low tide, the beach is flat and wide, great for running or playing games.  It’s clean and the sand is soft and powdery east of the pier.  Music is playing from the beachfront bars.  Seagulls and terns dip in and out of the tide.  Kids play in the sand.  Groups of teen girls lay on their towels.  Families and couples set up for the day with coolers and umbrellas. 

A short walk away is a carousel ride and a slushie drink.  What could be better?

For travel information about Old Orchard Beach and the Maine Beaches check out these websites:

The Maine Beaches 

Old Orchard Beach

Vacation Justification

Snorkeling in Mexico

We will soon need a new roof. The stairs that lead up from the driveway tilt at an angle that’s disconcerting and frankly, dangerous when even slightly slick. Converting to natural gas would probably save us a lot of money long term. Perhaps overly sensitive to the cold, last winter I swore we would get a pellet stove insert for the inefficient fireplace in our living room.


I’ve got an 11 year old with teenage tastes. She’s got an iPhone. She wants a laptop. She’s got a fashion sense of her own now and I can’t get away with less expensive clothing anymore. Voice lessons. Gymnastics. A whole new school year ahead of us with higher after school care costs and hot lunch has gone up as well.

Build confidence.  Try new things.  It's good for you.

My point is that we have better things we should be doing with our money than thinking about vacation.

Suze Orman would scold us. Her show has a segment called “Can I afford it?” We watched it a while back as she denied a caller who made much more than we do and had quite a sum in savings. The man and his wife wanted to spend $2500 to take their two little kids to Disney World. The woman denied Disney! She said take them when they’re teenagers, a decade into the future, because they’ll remember it more. What about the creation of memories NOW? What about the value of the experience? How does that translate into an asset?

Well, that’s a good question. In search of justification – and NO I will not be calling into Suze’s show – I thought I’d do a little research into the benefits of vacation, a break from the stress and strains of daily life.

Okay. To the proof:

Don't we look healthy?  Two years ago in Mexico.

HEALTH BENEFITS

Plodding along at the office might get you brownie points with the boss, but can be detrimental to your overall health and wellbeing. Being stressed for long periods of time without a break has been shown to lead to higher blood pressure and an increase in coronary heart disease. If you are a female, taking a vacation can cut this risk by half, according to a study conducted at the State University of New York. Stress can impair hippocampus function, too, making it more difficult to acquire new information, like people’s names, meeting times and dates, and things like logins and PINs. A study quoted in Forbes.com showed that women who took vacations more frequently were less likely to become tense or depressed, and also reported being more satisfied in their marriages. Remember that your physical and mental health have a direct link to your social and psychological outlook on life. bottom line on this one is that the more you vacation, the more likely you are to be healthy and enjoy life.

From a financial perspective, being sick is expensive! Staying healthy can save you money on doctor and medical bills. Taking a vacation can reduce the stress triggered health ailments that wear you down and less money will be spent dealing with the negative consequences of poor health.

Me & my daughter at Virginia Beach.

STREGNTHEN BONDS IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

Vacationing together can strengthen family and marriage bonds. Traveling together is at time harrowing, and making it to your destination can bring a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment. Sharing new experiences and creating memories that can last a lifetime. Partners often reveal new sides of themselves to each other that wouldn’t have been prompted in their home environments.

A quiet moment at the beach.

GET A CREATIVE BOOST

In our day to day lives, we often find ourselves mired in patterns of behavior that don’t leave much room for inspiration. The same morning routine, the same meals, the same TV shows and the same, well, everything might be comfortable but it doesn’t provide the opportunity to explore new ways of thinking. Taking a vacation and travelling out of your regular environment can open your eyes and your mind and bring about self discovery. Being in a foreign setting, we put ourselves in an uncomfortable situation, and this allows our brains to think differently. A good vacation can help us reconnect with ourselves. It satisfies our own human curiosity about other places. It is your moment to explore the world. When was the last time you could PLAY? I mean really play, without phone calls or interruptions. Vacations let you recapture that childlike freedom.



If taking a vacation will bring us closer together, give us better physical and mental health, and promote overall well being then what’s the argument. It would seem that the benefits far outweigh the costs. I’m not suggesting that we deplete our savings to do this. If we didn’t both have steady jobs and a retirement savings going on, I might leave this on the shelf as a dream. But the justification is right there in black and white.

New experiences.

It won’t be long before my eleventeen year old really won’t want to be taking vacations with us, or if she does, no doubt that a friend will be coming along. I feel that I need to seize the opportunity to create these memories with her now, not wait for a later date. I was reminded just last night about how fast the time goes by with children.

I know from experience that when my husband or I is stressed, we tend to have less patience with each other and laugh less frequently. We find ourselves just existing together, not really enjoying each other. That’s not why I got married.

Carpe diem I say. Seize the day. Request the time off. Make the reservation. Pack it up and get away for a bit. It will do you good on so many levels.

FAMILY TRAVEL: THE UNEXPECTED PIT STOP IN NYC

My husband is one of those people who hate surprises. Rather, he hates to be surprised but he loves surprising others. On our recent road trip to Virginia, my daughter and I found ourselves the recipients of a well planned, and well executed surprise.


It had been discussed that we would stay overnight at my parent’s house in southern Maine prior to leaving for Virginia. We had to deliver our cat to be cared for in our absence, and pick up a few things for the trip, plus it gave us a head start of a couple of hours and broke up the trip nicely. We had planned to leave at about 4:00 am, scooping my daughter up in her pj’s and setting her up so that she could sleep until Massachusetts or beyond. It was decided that we would try to minimize our stops by packing plenty of drinks, snacks, and sandwiches for the road. My husband and I talked about all of this.

That morning comes, the food and kid go into the car and off we go on our much anticipated vacation.

We drive easily through Massachusetts and Connecticut, familiar territory for me, having lived near Hartford for a dozen years. We pass through New York City, wrangling the earphones from my daughter and forcing her to pay attention to the sites, the buildings and things she doesn’t normally see in her daily life in Maine. Clear sailing over the George Washington Bridge and into New Jersey. Soon, though, my husband is looking anxious and fumbling for his notes. We get off at an exit near the Meadowlands. I ask why and he says he’s looking for a Park & Ride to switch drivers. I think to myself that we could simply pull over to switch drivers but I can tell he’s clearly up to something at this point. I think back over the prior couple of months and things start coming together. We just had our 1st anniversary and my daughter’s birthday was coming up and he had told us that he had a surprise for us that would occur between the two events. He had been especially interested in what I planned for each of us to wear on this day “to travel”. This is a man who rarely notices that I am wearing shoes, much less what they are. He had asked me recently what I would take if I was to be walking around a big city for the day. I knew something was up.

The Park & Ride is found and we park. He’s got a pack of index cards in his shirt pocket and hands one to Nola. It reads:

THIS IS NOT A TIME TO FUSS

JUST JUMP ONTO THE BUS

THERE’S A SIDE TRIP AHEAD OF US

AND THIS IS YOUR NOTICE



He makes sure we have comfortable shoes, a jacket, and my camera. We walk over to the tiny bus station, purchase tickets, and get on the bus marked “Lincoln Tunnel”.

Just before we arrive at Port Authority, a second card appears from the pocket:

NOW – GET OFF THE BUS

START THE WALK AHEAD OF US

PAY ATTENTION AND FOCUS

AND STEP OVER THE HOMELESS

We get off the bus. He directs us out onto the street. We’re mystified. My daughter has only seen New York in movies and for me it’s been about twenty years since my last trip. At the sight of the yellow cabs, the buildings, the noise and the people she exclaims “This is not like Maine.” And she’s grinning and amazed. The next card reads:

FEEL FREE TO GUESS AND DISCUSS

WHERE THIS TREK WILL TAKE US

A CIRCUS? A PALACE? MAYBE TEXAS?

JUST WALK - IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS



So we walk. We pass street vendors and souvenier salesmen. We skirt around Times Square. We cross over 42nd and Broadway and take some photos. We detour through Bryant Park. My husband is steering us down 5th Avenue as he hands us the next clue:

NEARBY IS SOMEPLACE REAL FAMOUS

OUR LUNCH THERE WILL BE SCRUMPTIOUS; NOT TASTELESS

“PARTY OF FOUR” TELL THE WAITRESS

When I see that we’re stopping at the American Girl Store and going inside, I’m about to cry. This man has done this for my daughter. This man who is uncomfortable not knowing what happens next and hates crowds and dislikes spending money has made reservations for us to have lunch at the American Girl Café.

SINCE THERE’S NO ONE AS PRECIOUS

I WANT TODAY TO BE PRICELESS

AND FOR YOU TO FEEL LIKE A PRINCESS

OTHER GIRLS WOULD BE SO JEALOUS

The store is amazing, filled with dolls and clothes and accessories. And very PINK. There’s a hair salon and a hospital. Girls are clutching their dolls and packages. We check in at the concierge (yes, a concierge!) and make our way up to the Café on the 3rd floor. The line for the 11:00 seating is already getting long and we join in. Prior to seating, the host asks if my daughter would like to select a doll to dine with us, as there is place at the table for guest’s American Girl dolls. We hadn’t brought my daughter’s doll with us, given that we didn’t know we were coming here, I hadn’t thought to pack it and since my husband didn’t want to give away the surprise, he hadn’t taken it either. So she selected a doll to be our “fourth” in the party.

Lunch is a fixed price, except for special drinks. My daughter orders a strawberry smoothie.

The waiter is jovial and brings us a plate of cinnamon rolls, then a platter of veggies, dips, fruits, rolls, and cheese. The choice of entrees ranges from TIC TAC TOE pizza to chicken tenders to salads to a burger.

the cinnamon rolls

the coconut chicken salad

the chicken tenders and mac & cheese

the caprese chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries

The setting is white linen tablecloths, bright pink flowers and black accents everywhere. The whole place is so well done in the theme. The lampshades are whimsical with their flower designs. The walls are black and white striped.

Hot pink reigns throughout. All around us are little girls and their dolls, some families celebrating birthdays, some mother daughter pairs. Most are dressed up in some way.

The presentation for dessert is fabulous. A plate with a small heart shaped frosted cake, a butterfly cookie, and a small flower pot full of chocolate mousse. All of it was delicious and exciting to be part of.

We finish our meal, return the doll, and head back out to the street. The next card reads:

NOW I’LL MAKE YOU A PROMISE

THIS TRIP HAS AN ADDED BONUS

AGAIN – SOMEPLACE FAMOUS

CAN YOU GUESS THE NEXT ADDRESS WITH SUCCESS? NEED A COMPASS?

We start walking. My husband tells us that we have a bit of time to kill, but that we do have to be somewhere.

We walk to Rockerfeller Center and peek into the windows at the Today Show.

We go to Time Square and check out the Lego store and the Toys R Us with the giant ferris wheel inside.

We watch the mimes and I look for the Naked Cowboy. Soon we’re walking again and are surrounded by Broadway theaters. My daughter points out the sign for the Lion King and gushes about how she’s always wanted to see it. Somewhere along the way, another card:

CUTENESS + GOODNESS + SWEETNESS

YOU AS MY STEPDAUGHTER – I’M GRACIOUS

IT ALL MAKES ME EXTREMELY JOYOUS

MY LOVE FOR YOU & MOM IS MONSTROUS

Soon we’re at that theater that is home to the Lion King. Then the final cards, one for each of us, with tickets to the show that will begin shortly. The cards read:



For my daughter:

100 DAYS AGO I PROMISED YOU A SURPRISE EARLY BIRTHDAY GIFT YOU WOULD SHARE WITH YOUR MOM. I WOULD HAVE BEEN “LION” IF I WASN’T TELLING THE TRUTH. ENJOY YOUR GIFT!

For me:

100 DAYS AGO I PROMISED YOU A SURPRISE ANNIVERSARY GIFT YOU WOULD SHARE WITH NOLA. I WOULD HAVE BEEN “LION” IF I WASN’T TELLING THE TRUTH. ENJOY YOUR GIFT!

He ushers us to the entrance and helps with our bags. He’s off to see the King Tut exhibit (for $100 less, he points out) and we go in and find our great seats in the first row of the mezzanine.



The show is amazing. The actors, the props, the staging and movement. The music and scenery. For our first Broadway shows, this is a great choice, I think.



We meet up after the show and tell him all about it. We retrace our steps and get back on the bus, headed for New Jersey, where my husband has booked a hotel for us. We’re all pretty tired after the long and exciting day and enjoy a picnic of sandwiches on the bed in our room. In the morning we’re off to Virginia, to the next part of the road trip, to Williamsburg and all that holds.

Yes, this is a long post. Maybe I’m making up for the fact that I’ve been slacking with them lately. Really though, chronicling our adventures that day and the surprise of it all might just trigger the thought in you to do something for someone that takes them by surprise. Maybe you’ll just think about taking your daughter to lunch at the American Girl Café or to see a show on Broadway when you never have before, or even if you have done so many many times.



Do the unexpected. Surprise someone you love.

Travel Tips: ROAD TRIP!!

In preparing for our upcoming vacation, I have been scouring the travel magazines and websites for great travel tips to use and pass along. I was especially interested in ROAD trip ideas, given that this trip is going to be a long car ride with a child. Some of my favorite memories are from our families road trips, whether day trips into the White Mountains or longer trips to visit relatives or on vacations. I’m sure my parents heard the classic “are we there yet?” enough times and they probably find it odd that I have such wanderlust, given the complaints back then, but it’s thanks to their enthusiasm and planning that I hang on to those times and attempt to recreate them with my own family. Case in point: this past weekend, I was up for an adventure. My husband and I decided to pack up the car for a day trip to Machias, a couple of hours away. Our tween daughter had other plans with her friends and wasn’t happy about giving them up to ride all over Downeast Maine with us. We packed a picnic and set her up with movies and snacks and took off. She asked a few times about how much further and let out a few well placed teen angst sighs. She begrudgingly got out of the car when we got to some scenic spots to take pictures. She made it clear that she couldn’t wait to get home. Yesterday I was looking at her Facebook page and saw that she wrote: “The road trip was awesome!!” the same evening as our trip. You never know, do you.

So here is my compiled list of suggestions for a road trip with kids:



1. Pace yourself: remember that a kids sense of time is different than yours. You might want to go from point A to point B and get the trip over as soon as you can. it will be easier on all of you if you plan for multiple rest stops. It has worked well for us in the past to leave hours before breakfast, slipping the kid into the car in her pjs, tucked in (and buckled in) with pillows and blankets. Wake her up ten or fifteen minutes before you’re going to stop to give her time to get dressed and defog.

2. Games: games are important. They get you to interact with each other and some will get you to take a look at your environment. We have a magnetic travel bingo from LLBean.com that is different with each destination. There are loads of classic car game ideas online.

3. Creative time: we have a lap desk that I bring on our road trips that gives her a surface to use to draw, color, or doodle. She loves to make signs to put up in the windows for other cars to see. If you don’t have a lap desk, a clip board will do just fine.

4. Music: to the tween, music reigns. In advance of the trip, I will load her newest music onto her mp3 player, maybe even throw in a surprise track or two.

5. Audio books: another use for that mp3 player is for audio books. Our library has a free system to download audio books and carries a wide range of chapter books and other favorites.

6. Real books: nothing beats a good book on the road for me. I understand that this is not for all. My little one, though, has become a reader of late so I think I will get her a new book of her choice that she can begin at the onset of our trip.

7. Non messy, non spilling, non sticky snacks: is there such a thing? Stick with waters or sparkling water. It’s the best drink there is and isn’t sticky if (when) it is spilled and has other uses, like rinsing sticky fingers. Fruit like pre washed grapes, apples, and bananas are great. Cut up veggies and put them into plastic storage containers that you can refill at the supermarket later in the trip or use to store seashells. Pretzels, goldfish, crackers are pretty good travel snacks, if you don’t mind the occaisional one crushed underfoot. Use your judgement. If you’ve been a parent for any length of time, you know what works for you and your kids in the car. The basic rule is this: bring way more than you think they could possibly devour.

8. Active toys for breaks: we usually bring a jump rope or a rubber ball or a folding Frisbee just for something to play with at rest stops. It gives your legs a stretch, gets your blood going and doesn’t take long to shake off the auto stiffness.

9. Techno stuff: People have differing opinions about this. Some would prefer that the kids look out the windows or partake in conversations. That’s all great, but sometimes, we all need some downtime and nothing passes the ride like a good movie. Let your kid pick out a few. Maybe get a new one for the trip. Yes, I want to be able to talk to her about what we see out of the window, but there truly are some stretches of highway that offer little in the way of education or interest (stretches of Maine highway come to mind – pine trees, pine trees, pine tress). That portable DVD player can be a wonderful thing in a traffic jam. The Nintendo DS or Gameboy or iPhone game can ease some stress when a kid is bored and tired.

10. Their own stuff: when traveling by plane, I really have to limit what my daughter takes, given that I’ll most likely be the one schlepping it in the airport. Car road trips, though, have the benefit of a little extra space. I always let her pack a small totebag or backpack with her own “stuff.” For her it’s always her stuffed puppy as the number one choice. She also usually brings her little purse, some trinkets and little toys, and sometimes some cards. Whatever she wants.

Putting together this little list has clarified a few things for me and reminded me of others I had forgotten, which are now on my list. I am beginning to get more excited about this road trip ahead of us. We spent some time with the maps and tour books the other day and have discovered a couple of stops along the way that will infuse our vacation with something new. I will surely report them, complete with photos!



I’d love to hear from anyone reading this about their own suggestions and ideas for some smooth road trips with kids. In particular, the route between Maine and Virginia on 95.

How to keep them safe?

When I found out I was pregnant with Nola, some friends gave me a journal to write in called “Great Expectations: A Mother’s Journey.” It is a beautiful book with heavy pages and black and white photographs of mothers and babies and delicate baby feet, hands, and soft little ears. I wrote in it regularly, beginning each entry with “Dear Baby,” then, once we knew we were having a little girl, “Dear Daughter,”. Eventually her name was chosen and I wrote, for the first time of hundreds, “Dear Nola,” Her father contributed as did her grandparents. It’s a wonderful keepsake of a time in my life that was packed with new experiences and as the title implied, great expectations.




I looked back at the entry from eleven years ago yesterday. It was the day that two students opened fire and killed classmates and teachers in their high school in Columbine, Colorado. It was with fear that I wrote to my little daughter within, and noted my insecurity at being able to protect her from the world.

Somehow, up to this point, I have managed to do so. Nola is a pretty well adjusted kid who tries hard, smiles a lot, and is very loved. She’s got a wicked sense of humor and a fierce independent streak. She is  affectionate, sweet and kind. And relatively innocent.



The boys that made the decision to go into their school and kill other human beings and then to kill themselves did so, they claimed, because they had been bullied. In the past few weeks there has been another story in the news of a girl’s death. From the reports I’ve read, she hanged herself because she was being bullied at school. Bullying today goes beyond face to face taunting like in the movies. It’s via text and Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. It’s worldwide and terrifying. How do I protect Nola from that? I’ve read that the kids that get bullied tend to be the ones with low self esteem, who crave approval from outside sources. If that is, in fact, that case, how do I fortify her self worth?



Our home is a safe environment for a child. We don’t drink, smoke or fight. We support her to the best of our ability, financially and emotionally. We’re her biggest cheerleaders. We eat dinner together on a regular basis and her friends like hanging out at our house. I monitor her computer use and review sites she’s visited. I have access to her Facebook account. I think we’re trying hard to do the right things to ensure her a stable and loving home. What else can we do to allow her to grow into a strong, self confident teen?