Thursday, Spring 2012 Road Trip
I’m actually writing this on Friday, but this blog is about yesterday (Thursday) the last day of our Spring 2012 Photography Road Trip. We had husbands and kitties at home anxiously awaiting our return and a Dar Williams evening concert to attend at The Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River. But before we actually started the drive south back to Massachusetts, we needed to make one more trip down to Perkins Cove.
We actually got up early this morning. Not by plan, but more maybe because we had that one last site to explore in Ogunquit before we headed home and we wanted to leave ourselves enough time to pack up, eat breakfast, load up the car, and then drive down to Perkins Cove to leisurely walk The Marginal Way. We often consult Trip Advisor’s website to see what some of the favorite attractions are in the area we’re visiting, and The Marginal Way was #1 on the list with five stars.
The Marginal Way, to borrow a few words from the website http://www.marginalwayfund.org/ is “one of New England’s only paved, public shoreline paths. This vacationland jewel, which spans a little more than a mile along a spectacular coast, connects Perkins Cove to Ogunquit Beach. Vacationers in search of peace can feel the salty air and catch panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean from one of the many benches along the way.” And we decided it might even be considered sacrilegious were we to have visited the area and not explored this highly regarded walk. And who knows - perhaps we might even see #41 out cruising the harbor on an early morning boat ride (but likely not with Barbara in tow).
It was early when we arrived in Perkins Cove. When we want to, we can be quite the efficient little beavers (sorry, I know beavers inhabit freshwater swamps, but I couldn’t think of a good critter pun to go with ocean, saltwater, sandy beaches) and get our act in gear. The parking lots were only just starting to fill up. Not that we planned on sitting in the car while we admired the view, but we did get a spot in a lot right on the water side directly facing the ocean. And then we headed out on The Marginal Way.
The path does indeed run directly along the ocean at the very edge of the cliff. In several areas there are metal fences made out of piping to keep people, or more likely small children, from stopping to look at the view and taking only a step or two off the path to maybe get a better look. That one step or two could easily end up being a fall down into the cold ocean water. Nasty, nasty, nasty.
And the benches, the lovely, lovely benches, are indeed scattered along the path. In areas where there are tall shrubs or trees, benches are located in the shade and there are also benches located in wide-open areas where you can sit in the sun and let the cool ocean breezes waft in off the water to keep you from getting too hot and just let your head go mindless. That’s what I did about halfway down the walk while Lily continued on to take photos.
I picked my bench and I just sat and watched for the swells as they started to build up far out and came closer and closer to shore, and then I’d wait for them to turn into waves and for the peak of the wave to start cresting followed by the wave rolling its way out to both ends. Then I’d watch to see which waves were the largest as they crashed and washed over the rocks below. Pretty soon I was almost hypnotized as I attempted to fathom what the wave pattern was.
Every coastline no matter where it’s located, has its own unique wave pattern. I never did figure out the pattern in Perkins Cove, but I was certainly relaxed and oh, so mellow by the time Lily had walked to the end of the trail, turned around and arrived back at my bench. She decided to sit awhile with me and we talked some about the mysteries of life and all the big questions that everyone spends their whole lives searching for answers. I don’t think we had any major earth-shattering breakthroughs to the mysteries, but it was a pleasant way to spend the last few moments of our trip sitting in the sun as we overlooked the big, big ocean.
Every coastline no matter where it’s located, has its own unique wave pattern. I never did figure out the pattern in Perkins Cove, but I was certainly relaxed and oh, so mellow by the time Lily had walked to the end of the trail, turned around and arrived back at my bench. She decided to sit awhile with me and we talked some about the mysteries of life and all the big questions that everyone spends their whole lives searching for answers. I don’t think we had any major earth-shattering breakthroughs to the mysteries, but it was a pleasant way to spend the last few moments of our trip sitting in the sun as we overlooked the big, big ocean.
Then a walk back to car. Wait a minute Lily! One last stop to smell the beautiful fragrance of the beach roses. And then finally, reluctantly back to the car for the drive home. The trip was safe and uneventful. And we were back to reality.
