A salute to Ocean City

-- and to summer

Here's to the long, lazy, sunlit days of summer. Here’s to bathing suits and flip-flops and beaches and boardwalks, where, as the Drifters famously sang, “You can almost taste the hot dogs and french fries they sell.”

And here’s to one of America’s finest boardwalks, the 2 1/2-mile wooden walk that borders the beach in Ocean City, Md. Cover its length by walking or biking or taking a tram. And never mind almost tasting the french fries. Stand in line for some of the real thing at Thrashers. They are easily the finest fries I’ve had anywhere.

Like boardwalks everywhere, this one has its share of razzle-dazzle attractions, from whirling rides to a Believe It or Not museum with a pretend shark bursting through the building, to shops that sell enough T-shirts to clothe everyone in Maryland. But the boardwalk is clean and wide, with a lot of benches, many of them containing plaques that memorialize relatives who both loved the boardwalk and brought sunshine into the lives of many. There are dining options galore, and there is a unique lifesaving museum.

There are hotels, too, dozens upon dozens of them snuggled right up against the beach. Some have porch chairs where you can rock your cares away as you watch waves wash up on the beach.

So here's to Ocean City, and to all the summers of our lives.

Essay and photos by Richard P. Carpenter