Tag: winter

#AtoZChallenge | P is for the Pier at Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach

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Amusement Parks are decidedly not a winter activity in Maine. The rides sit deserted and motionless against the cold, quiet sky. The boardwalk is closed as the seasonal shops are locked up and windows shuttered. Only a handful of people walk the empty beaches.

The hallmark of Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach is the Pier but it is especially lonely in the winter. With no people strolling its wooden planks, it appears abandoned as it waits for summer to return while braving the winter storms that batter it.

Sitting on its pillars at it juts out into the ocean, it is fully exposed to the elements.

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#AtoZChallenge | N is for the Noyes Trail in Norway and Skiing Past Tense

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I use to ski. If there were a way to make that statement not just past tense, but past-past tense it would be more accurate. It has been at least thirty-five years since I skied last but I have fond memories of being on the slopes even if my first attempt did result in frostbite. Fortunately, my toes thawed.

My childhood best friend’s family skied every weekend and I was lucky enough to tag along on many trips to the ski resort. There was also an active ski club in my high school. Every Friday night, we headed to the mountain. Skiing is big in Maine.

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#AtoZChallenge | J is for the Jetty at Camp Ellis and Winter Storms

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When you step onto the jetty and look out, it’s impossible to tell how far it goes as the end blurs with the horizon. Growing up in Saco, I visited the jetty in Camp Ellis often and have scrambled along the rocks towards that end point but I’ve never walked the entire jetty.

I have what is probably a revisionist memory from my one of my early visits to the jetty as a child. My cousins and I were given permission from our parents to walk to the jetty on our own.  We had never gone alone so it was a big deal. It was a short walk up the beach and to the jetty.  Playing on the rocks could be dangerous but we promised to be careful.  My youngest cousin, who is five years younger, tagged along with us. When we were done exploring, she was not ready to leave, so we left her on the rocks. She made it home safely, but our parents were not happy with our decision to leave her behind. Our next solo visit was not until a few years later when we could be trusted to make better choices.

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#AtoZChallenge | I is for Ice, Ice, Baby

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With winter comes ice. Lots and lots of ice.  I live on a long dirt road that ends in a final downhill dip which means that during the winter season it often becomes challenging to maneuver and sometimes even impossible when it ices over.

I got my first concussion this winter during one particularly treacherous stretch as I tried to exit my car after it slid towards the neighbors driveway and got stuck. One step and I immediately fell flat on my back slamming my head on the unyielding ice before I could make it to the garage and get dirt put down to improve traction. It was scary.

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#AtoZChallenge | F is for Four Winter Hikes and Extra Points in Scattegories

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One of my favorite cold weather activities is hiking. Fortunately, we have an abundance of trails in Maine but I don’t always blog about every hike that we take. So, for today’s challenge post, I’m sharing pictures from four different hikes we took this past winter.

Have you ever played Scattegories? It’s one of my favorite games. The basic premise is that you roll a letter dice, and then you have to think of words that begin with that letter for various categories . If you come up with multiple words that start with that letter for a category, you get extra points. This post gets extra points since the name of three of the four trails that we hiked also begin with the letter F.

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