Thursday, July 15, 2010

Ten Things About Where I Grew Up











1) I grew up on Cape Cod. In a small village called Osterville, with the ocean all around us. It was a great place to grow up.







2) Osterville is known for having very well-off residents, and most of my friends were really rich. I used to be so embarrassed to say I lived in Osterville because I didn't want people to think I was rich, so I used to say we lived in the bad part of town. Ha! There is no bad part of town :)






3) My parents owned and ran a homemade ice cream shop on the Cape for 20 years, called Maggie's (named after my mom). It opened when I was 6, and I was serving customers by age 12. By the ripe old age of 16, I was a manager. All 6 of us kids had to work in the shop in order to make money for college. Having a family business really instills a great work ethic in kids.







4) When I went to Ohio for college (FUS is the best!), I used to tell people I was from Boston because I didn't think they would know where Cape Cod was. Turns out I was wrong, and everybody seems to know about Cape Cod!






5) In the summers on the Cape, the traffic is horrible due to all the tourists. Having an ice cream shop, we valued the tourists...they were our bread and butter.



Even still, my favorite Cape Cod bumper sticker has to be:

6) Wait, maybe my favorite Cape bumper sticker is: It makes all the tourists think there's a special tunnel to get onto the Cape, when there's really only 2 bridges to get on/off the Cape.




7) Speaking of the bridges, they get very backed up in the summer. Especially on Friday nights for people coming on Cape, Saturday mornings for the weekly renters coming on and leaving the Cape, and Sunday afternoon for all the weekend visitors leaving the Cape. It's really a pain for the Cape residents because we have to plan our off-Cape excursions around the summer traffic.





8) Around the time I was in high school, Cape Cod Bracelets became all the rage. I never wanted one then because they were too expensive and trendy, but now that I can appreciate their simple beauty, I sort of want one. If anybody watches the Bachelorette, Chris from the Cape just gave Ali one. Not that I would ever watch that trash ;)



9) Even though there have always been lots of beaches around, I am not a great swimmer. And I do not swim in the ocean if I can help it. I have a great respect for the ocean, and I don't like stepping into an environment with fish and crabs and jelly fish and sharks. Sharks do come around the Cape every once in a while, like now for example. And the jelly fish come out when the water is hot. So, I bring my kids to the beach a lot, and let them swim, but I stay on the shore. I'm such a dud!






10) I now live off Cape, about 25 minutes from the bridge. But I still work on the Cape, and Phil and I hope to continue the tradition of running an ice cream store some day in our future. And since we have a daughter named Maggie, we could still call it Maggie's Ice Cream :)






OK, your turn. Blog about your hometown, and paste the link in the comments section so I can read more about you!!

12 comments:

  1. I love this. My friend bought a house in Eastham and I have been lucky enought to visit her at the Cape on 3-4 occasions. Such a beautiful place. Wouldn't it be great if you could have an ice cream place?
    I support that with great zeal.

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  2. Thanks for sharing! I do not know where your hometown is . . . we go to Brewster whish is mid-Cape. And we will be coming in August!

    I know what you mean about swimming in the ocean, but it certainly is fun to walk on the beach!

    I just blogged about out trip to Old Fort Niagra, which is 30 min away from where I grew up . . . . does that count??


    http://blessedwithfullhands.blogspot.com/2010/07/reenactment.html

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  3. Oh I love this! IT's always such fun to find out more about my blog friends ;) I don't know that there's much to say about my hometown. Population: 500. One market, a school, three churches. That about sums it up ;)

    Oh, I'm not a swimmer either! I'd much rather stay on the shore.

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  4. This sounds like a wonderful area...I have never been. Let me know when you open your icecream shop...I will come and BUY.
    Love those bumper stickers.

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  5. fun .. fun post...
    and they own an icecream shop.. that's pretty awesome i'd say!!!

    btw- tomorrow i might just have to follow suite and do this myself.. though i will say that my town isn't NEARLY as cool as cape cod!!!

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  6. What a cute blog you have! I loved reading your story. Thanks for stopping by my blog. So great to know another Colleen! And I have a little "Maggie" too!!!! :-) You are not Irish are you? LOL
    Looking forward to more of your posts!

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  7. I have one of those Cape Cod bracelets! I got it 7 years ago.

    This summer I bought another necklace while we were on the Cape. It is sooooo touristy but I love it! The pendant is a small silver rectangle. Etched on one side of the rectangle is a starfish, on the other side a shell, on the other side the "arm" of Cape Cod and then on the fourth side are the words Cape Cod. I know it sounds cheesy but I think it's really cool!

    We always go to 4 Seas for ice cream when we are on the Cape. And there is another ice cream shop in Sandwich that we always try to hit as we are coming on to the Cape. I don't know the name of it but it has the best Chocolate Raspberry Truffle ice cream. (It is the ice cream shop that is surrounded by the small rental cabins. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!)

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  8. Wonderful! I enjoyed reading this. You're right. Most people do know about Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and it's not because I did my fifth grade states report on MA. It's that little curl that sticks out of MA. Even us landlocked Nebraskans know that! ;) In fact, I had to go look up where Boston was because I didn't know.

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  9. Wow, a manager at age 16?!! Lucky!! :)

    Dropping by to say hi. :D

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  10. This is great! I am the Mom on the beach too....Daddy is out in the water like a kid. :)

    I have a unique hometown. Ever watch the Wizard of Oz? Or Hockey?

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  11. Well since the Cape is one of my favorite places on earth, this was really fun to read! I was on the Cape for a day in June- we hit Brewster and Chatham which I don't think I had ever been to before :) I can imagine the traffic would be a pain in the butt though if you lived there all the time!

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  12. I keep forgetting to comment on this post.

    I loved it! Such interesting facts about your hometown. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing it.

    Makes me want to visit your area even more!! ;)

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