If you spend anytime in Ottawa back in the late early ’90s you would remember this guy.  He watched over all the partying at the Yucatan Liquor Stand.  And I can say I was there.  For a good period of time my girlfriend and I were quite the regulars there. We danced, we met friends there, we just simply had fun.  And the fact that it was all decked out in surfboards and all things beachy meant that I loved it even more.

Then one day, one Canada Day, the Liquor Stand may have let in a few too many people.  So they had to close for a week or so and it would seem they never did recover from that.  A few new places opened and everyone seemed to go to those places so Yucatan’s just closed up shop.  With much less fanfare than we would have liked.  One day it was open the next it was not.

It has been several bars or restaurants since then, but nothing seems to have lasted as long nor been as popular as Yucatan’s.  I miss it.  I don’t miss the creepy guys trying to pick me up, but I miss the fun times that were had, I miss that you could dance on the surfboard tables and speakers and you didn’t get kicked out.  I miss that you could show up in your surf shorts and a tank top or a dress and heels and you were always welcome at Yucatan’s.

Of course, I guess this post really should be about the fact that I miss being 22 sometimes and since I will be hitting 40 in a couple of months I was feeling kind of nostalgic on Saturday when I walked around the Market for the Scott Kelby PhotoWalk (more here).  All the places I used to know and love are long gone and replaced by places so foreign to me it is like they never existed. And Yucatan’s was by far my favorite of all the places that have come and gone. Thanks for the fun.

Mamalang and I have known each other for a couple of years now.  We were first introduced when we did an Organizational Swap and we were paired together.  What kept us in contact is my love for the State of Delaware.  Mamalang lives in my favorite State and last summer we tried to meet up at the Beach, but missed each other in the crowds at Funland.  This year we were determined to make sure we would get that chance.

Mamalang sent me a text to let us know they were at Funland and we were thankfully on our way out for a walk which was to include a stop at the rides.  We easily met up and got to chatting right away.  We sent the men on the rides with the kids and got a chance to get to know each other without sending an email back and forth.  Our boys are the same age so they were instant friends daring each other to go on the more thrilling rides.

While we were letting Mamalang and her family head out for dinner, they mentioned that we should join them on their beach later that week.  I looked at Hubby being careful not to impose more visiting with others on our vacation and he jumped right in and said we would join them the next day.  He wanted to change up our beach routine a little bit.  The next day we headed out on our new adventure.

I have driven by this stretch of beach countless times in my lifetime, but have never stopped.  This is one of those beaches where you are allowed to drive up (with a permit of course) on the sand and park your vehicle.  Since we didn’t have any fishing poles and didn’t want to get a permit for just one day, we parked in the parking lot and walked over to where Mamalang and her family had parked their Jeep and were starting to set up.  These guys are professional beach goers.  They had the poles, the tent, the chairs, the sand buckets everything you need for a perfect day on the beach.  We joined in the fun and helped set up.

I just had to get a shot of the Jeep, I almost drapped my Canadian flag towel across the hood,but somehow it just didn’t seem right.

 The waves rolling in were the waves of my childhood.  You could ride these waves all day and not get tired.  In recent years they have had to replenish our regular beach so we have experienced some choppier waves in the last few years.  These ones just begged for you to come in and hang out.  The sand on your feet were filled with treasures and our Hubby’s were both bringing up handfuls of goodies to search through.  The boys played in the water and dug for sand crabs and the the bigger girls chatted and swam.  Apple got a bucket of her very own where she played for hours sitting in it, dunking her hair and just filling it with water.

I don’t think I could describe what a great day we had so instead I will leave you with a mosaic of our fabulous time.  If it weren’t for the fact that the kids were getting very tired and the heat was starting to melt us all I think we would have stayed all night.  The kids were asleep before we were on the highway back to our cottage and with only a brief nap were in bed by 9pm.  A day well spent by the seashore.  I don’t dare tell you the name of this fabulous beach for fear it will be packed next year.  I just don’t want to share it with anyone, well anyone except Mamalang and her family that it.  Thank you for taking us, we had the most wonderful time.