Collecting Places: Nantasket Beach

Part of the Isolation Journals, Day 23, Prompt by Stephanie Danler. https://tinyurl.com/y9ujwwkf

• Salty air
• Wisps of sand in the breeze
• Defunct amusement park, Paragon Park, was once in the area, and my parents used to visit there alongside the beach in the summers
• Paragon Carousel is the only remaining attraction from the amusement park. We used to ride it often after visiting the beach.
• There is a snack bar nearby. My siblings and I used to love getting Snow Cones with a gumball at the bottom.
• Parents would bring a picnic of sandwiches, seltzer, watermelon, cantaloupe, chips, crackers, etc.
• We would sometimes walk to the ice cream parlor near the carousel. They had “Lobster Tracks,” a flavor much like Moose Tracks but with red-colored chocolate pieces
• We have family friends who use a vacation house near the beach, and we’d visit a private, residential area away from the main beach. An ice cream truck makes stops nearby often.
• There are several restaurants across the street. I usually want fish and chips after a day of swimming.
• The warm, low tidal pools.
• Dripping cool, partially wet sand on my body and the ground. I loved the circular designs. They reminded me of an Eastern Orthodox basilica or Hindu mausoleum.
• The tides and salt made me feel weightless. It was at this beach that I realized I didn’t need pool shoes or water wings anymore.
• When I got older, we would get iced coffee or tea on the way home at Cumberland Farms
• The cold water, especially after rainy and snowy New England winters and springs
• Seaweed tangling my ankles
• Little minnows and crabs in the tidal pools