York Beach has two major sandy beaches. One is called Long Sands and the other is Short Sands. Long Sands deserves it’s name. It is very long and best of all it is free. (Except for the parking meters. Get there early as the spaces fill up early in the morning.) Short Sands also deserves it’s name. It is short but there is a grassy park in front of it plus a playground for the kids. If you want something to do for every age, than Short Sands is where you should spend your day. The beaches are less than a mile a part and an easy walk between them if you want to park at one and walk to the other.
Long Sands has a few restaurants, small stores and a few motels across the road from the beach. There are also bathhouses so bathrooms are available. The beach is nice for kids because it does not have a sudden drop off in the water. The water goes out quite a ways before it drops off. (I have never been out far enough to know how far it is out but a native told me it is a long ways out.)
Short Sands has just about everything for the family. There is Goldenrod Kisses which is a inexpensive restaurant but their specialty is making salt taffy and it is made on site and you can watch them make it from the sidewalk through the big glass windows. There is also a fan blowing the smells outside so it is hard to resist not going in to buy some! Inside is more than taffy. They sell the yummiest fudge, (swiss chocolate is my favorite), and there is a section for the kids where they can pick out their penny candy. (Yes, some of the candy is still a penny there!)
Once you leave Goldenrod, do check out the arcade. It is right across the street at the end of Short Sands beach. It is fun for the kids with lots of video games and skill games. When you have had your fill of arcade games, take a walk down the main street. Here you will find unique little shops with everything from cheap tourist trinkets to fine gifts and jewelry. There are a few restaurants down this street too.
But don’t stop yet. Keep walking a little bit farther and you come to York’s Wild Kingdom. It is a permanent amusement park that has rides and games. My favorite part of this park is in the back of the lot. There is a nice little zoo with everything from an elephant to a bear to tigers and deer. It is worth the money and kids love it. It is a well maintained zoo. Check out the new butterfly building and let butterflies land on your shoulder. So neat!
The beaches are opened all year. Most of the stores and restaurants in Short Sands and Long Sands are seasonal but there are more and more places that are staying open all year now. This area wants to become a year round place for people to visit. The season now is usually May through October. I live in this area so my favorite season is when the tourists go home and the beach is empty but the area depends on tourists so welcome to our home!
Once you have finished your visit of Short and Long Sands, do not forget to take one of the streets between the beaches and go up to Nubble Light House. It is the most photographed lighthouse anywhere. There is a big parking lot and lots of rocks to climb on. You will not be able to get over the water to the Lighthouse but the views are breathtaking from the parking lot. After you leave the parking lot, go right and Brown’s homemade ice cream is at the top of the hill. It is another good summertime choice on these few hot days that Maine enjoys.
There are other things to do in York too. Visit Stonewall Kitchen. It is yummy place to buy jams and jellies and other goodies. They recently opened a small café with good food. Not many years ago the owners were selling a few jars of jam at the Farmer’s Market to help pay their car payment. It is a true rags to riches stories as they are now a huge International business. There store is right on Route 1 next to the Chamber of Commerce. Just down the road going south on Route 1 is another rags to riches story. One man decided a few years to sell 80 loaves of bread that he baked in his home. Now it has become When Pig’s Fly Sourdough Bread Bakery and is sold throughout New England, New York and New Jersey as well as sold over the Internet throughout the United States. You never know what you will find for flavors as the owner likes to make up new recipes. The original store and factory is located in Brickyard Court out behind Econolodge on Route 1 or you can drive about 4 miles south to Kittery and go to their brand new company store that just opened this month right on Route 1. (If you get this far and like outlets, then go another mile and you will be in Kittery outlet heaven. You name it, it is there.)
I hope you come to visit the York area. As the saying for the state of Maine goes, “It is the way life should be.”
