I wrote the story below, "My Tasty Memories of Salisbury Beach" in 2002 for one of my writing classes in college. This first part was written more recently.

When I was young my family and I went to Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts practically every weekend during the summer. Whenever we drove to the beach my siblings and I would try to be the first to see the roller coaster over the horizon, and the first one to see it would shout out, "I see it." I was never the first one because I was the youngest and the shortest. I can still remember the feeling of the sand between my toes. An Aunt and Uncle of ours had a seaside cottage and we visited them quite often. As soon as I arrived, I immediately walked across the sand, took off my shoes, continued down to the beach and stuck my toes in the edge of the ocean water.

Both my parents loved visiting the beach. My father would swim in the water and my mother would stick her legs, at least, in the ocean waves at the edge of the water. She never learned to swim. My father could swim pretty well. My mother and her sisters would sit in chairs and enjoy the sunshine and the salty air. Me and my siblings and cousins would walk along the shore and sometimes visit the amusement park mentioned below and sometimes we would walk the other way to the "Black Rocks." The "Black Rocks" are a jetty that sticks out into the ocean at the mouth of the Merrimack River. We would walk along the rocks out into the water also. On my 2009 visit I saw that the "Black Rocks" are not flat like they used to be. There is a sign saying to not walk on the Rocks beyond a certain point. People still walk there, though, at low tide. I saw them.

There are even some pictures of my parents at the beach back in the 30's. You can see some of these photos in my photo album.

When my oldest sister Jacqui got married and had children I would often go with them to the beach. As I got older I would sometimes take her children to the beach with me. We would walk along the beach and the "Black Rocks." It was always a fun time. We would also visit the Salisbury Beach State Park Pavilion. There was a playground near the pavilion. It was great.

I visited the Salisbury Beach State Park with my sister Jacqui, in 2004, and the pavilion was still there but it was all fenced off. I managed to get in anyway. The place is falling apart. Actually, by now (2005) it could very well be torn down. Addendum: I visited Salisbury beach again in 2009. I stayed at the Salisbury State Park Camp Ground with my niece and her husband. The pavilion is gone. Some new buildings are there. It was great and if you want to see pictures of my trip, scroll down and click on the link to the right; it will take you to my Facebook photo album.

I have lots of happy memories at Salisbury beach and at the State Park.

Here's the story I wrote:

My Tasty Memories
of Salisbury Beach 

I have many fond memories of growing up in Massachusetts; some of the best are the tastes of Salisbury Beach.  The Center, where my family and I spent much of our time, included Shaheen’s Amusement Park, lots of sidewalk food stalls and many penny arcades, and was directly on the ocean front. 

I fondly recall walking along the Broadway sidewalks eating a slice or two of delicious pizza hot out of the oven, fresh steamed corn on the cob, or fried clams melting in my mouth.  There were other times I’d be sitting on the boardwalk near the ocean enjoying some of my other favorites - breaded fried mushrooms or fried dough with powdered sugar sprinkled on it.  Then there was the taste of fear at the Witch’s Castle Funhouse in Shaheen’s Amusement Park!  I enjoyed that very much. 

When walking along the sandy beach or building a sand castle there was the ever-present taste of salt on the tongue and the salty crunch of sand in the mouth.  Sometimes as I was standing in the surf I would put a finger or hand in the salty water and lick my finger to get a more concentrated form of that salty taste.  We often visited my Aunt Irene and Uncle Frank in their seaside cottage and enjoyed my aunt’s scrumptious homemade Italian spaghetti with meatballs and Italian bread, or her appetizing homemade lasagna.   At times we would visit a restaurant on the beach and enjoy freshly cooked codfish or fresh and tasty bright red lobster caught that morning. 

All this is making me very hungry! 

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my description of some of the tastes of Salisbury Beach. 

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Background image is a photograph of Salisbury Beach by me.