Do you "Beach" ?

[CUinFl]

We enjoy the beaches near York, ME. At the beach there is nothing like a morning walk, a mid-day game of bocce and an afternoon dip in the ocean

[Dreamer]

Love the beach. We have been to Ocean City, MD, Cape May, NJ, Ocracoke Island NC, and several FL beaches. Just came back from Ocracoke Island NC last week and I must say that it has my heart. We have been going there off and on for close to 30 years and it feels like home. Had such a good time and I love having our granddaughter there so that it is part of her memories. I wish we lived closer to Ocracoke.

[Blue65]

My first trip to the Outer Banks this week and I love it....I love East Coast Fl beaches and all Long Island NY beaches.....


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[athena53]

If "beaching" is defined as hanging out in the sun for hours, drinking something with an umbrella in it, no. DH's body thermostat doesn't regulate itself well, and I get bored.

But, the more I thought of it, we tend to gravitate to bodies of water. We visit my parents in Myrtle Beach every year and get a hotel room with a balcony on the ocean (dirt cheap in December). Our last vacation was a small-boat cruise in Alaska, with a stop before that in Sitka- more beautiful water views. I kayaked a lot, end even went snorkeling (with lots of neoprene on me). We're thinking of Scotland for next year and that will include the Orkney Islands (we were there years ago but didn't stay long enough). Somehow on our vacations we always find a body of water and maybe a ferry to get us to an interesting island.

We love our home in the landlocked Midwest, but enjoy lakes, oceans, gulfs, etc. when we travel.

[MBAustin]

I grew up spending summers at our family cabin on Deep Creek Lake, MD (my mother's parents built it in the '20s when the lake was created). My sister and I still own it, although it's hard to get there from TX. I had hoped to be spending retirement summers there by now, but DH's disability prevents that.

We also went to "the beach" for a week many summers - usually Ocean City, MD, but sometimes the Outer Banks. Best memories were the dozen or so summers that we spent the 2nd week of August at Assateague State Park in our pop-up trailer with several other families - same families went the same week every year and we would mail in our reservations on January 1 so we could get our favorite campsites all together. I even went back with them for a couple of years after I graduated from college.

Since DH is more of a mountain and desert kind of guy, we don't get to the beach much. But I really miss time by the water. Our little goldfish pond helps a bit, but it's just not the same!

[prudent_one]

My parents live near the beach in NC but even when we visit I don't go to the beach much. I can't swim, and it's usually much too hot for me to sit there for more than a couple hours. If it's overcast and not too hot, then she doesn't want to go.

[In-control]

Yup - but I can't just lay their - that's silly to me when their so many fun things to do. Yes - a 50+ year can build sand castles. I typically go kayaking in the waves and fishing with the incoming tide. Or Surf casting, my favorite. Long walks 2x per day are required and a few beverages that make the sunset even more special.

During the winter - walks with a pack lunch with the dogs is fun.

We live in MA so the Cape Cod waters run in our veins - although RI beaches are great as well. ME waters are frickin too cold but beautiful. We head up to BoothBay in September when all the tourist leave.

[Lucantes]

Love the beach!
When I was younger (11-12) my parents used to go down fishing for the month of October to Delaware (Dewey Beach area right on the ocean, before it was all built up) and I think that is where I caught the water bug (don't think I was ever at the ocean before then).
My retirement house is in Cocoa Beach FL right on the water (Banana River lagoon) and the ocean is less than a block away, and have waterfront (Pamlico Sound) property also in Avon in the Outer Banks of NC (the ocean is also less than a block away).
I am not particularly active in the ocean water (prefer to lounge in a pool anytime one is available), but I love having it at hand to look at, listen too and stroll next to. Sand between my toes makes me really happy, relaxed and at peace....add a Rum-n-Coke to it and might just pee a lil' bit with glee!

[seraphim]

Water is a big part of our lives. Sand is not. Loved near the beach for a year and a half, and was glad to get away. Sand was everywhere. Give us a lake, a river, or a rocky coastline...


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[Dancer373]

Do not like the ocean/gulf beach with sand, salt, seagulls and sun but love a nice mountain lake with snow fed water............

[Which Roger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dancer373 Do not like the ocean/gulf beach with sand, salt, seagulls and sun but love a nice mountain lake with snow fed water............

+1. It's like being at the beach, minus the crowds and heat!

[sengsational]

Here's something I saw in a magazine yesterday...

I don't get the "Goonies" thing...Maybe the poll was taken at a showing of the movie.

Apparently only 3% of the respondents did it on the beach, hehe.

[W2R]

No surfing, swimming, or diving? Yikes.

[SJ1_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imoldernu So, yeah... about beaches... Big part of our life. Do you Beach?

As a child growing up in NY we use to go to the Jersey Shore.
Had no problem spending the day there.
As an adult living in GA there is nothing like heading down to FL
and spending a week or two there. We like the spring and fall
when the weather is perfect for us.

[imoldernu]

Poking around the "news", I found that the president was vacationing on Martha's Vineyard here on the Blue Heron Farm:
Obama's Vacation Rental Goes On Sale For $23.7 Million - Forbes

I don't recall this from our days of living on the Vineyard, back in the early 1960's, but see it's located on Tisbury Great Pond. We used to take our kids age 3 and 4, to South Beach... and walk to the Great Pond inlet where we were the only people on 13 miles of dunes and sandy beach. A wonderful time in our lives. We'd let the kids take off their bathing suits an run au natural among the dunes and in the ocean.

Nothing but fond memories of a time when the island winter population was about 4000, (45,000 in summer) and when JFK would visit the Island on the Honey Fitz. Frank Sinatra docked a yacht at the end of our street in Vineyard Haven and the Mia Farrow/Sinatra story began... Big story when the ship's steward drowned amid suspicious circumstances.
I was managing a store in those days and made personal deliveries (star struck) to island celebrities like Jimmy Cagney and Katherine Cornell. I regularly fished from her property in Tisbury, until I was chased away by her estate caretaker. She was a nice lady and a regular customer.

Yes... the Vineyard... one very large beach.

[Mr._Graybeard]

We're planning a stay this month at my cousin's cottage ("camp," they call it) on Lake Superior east of Marquette, Mich. There's something about the Big Lake that's primeval, like you're at the edge of the earth when you're standing on its wild, wooded shore.

Venture into the water on the open shore and the cold will make you gasp. But some sheltered bays have beaches where you can swim in comfort. My favorite is at a place called Au Train Bay.

The water is Caribbean clear -- here's a photo.
My cousin's camp houses some fond family memories. One time my aunt sent us all out to pick wild blueberries in the woods. I might have been 8 years old at the time. When we came back with our harvest, she baked up a couple pies, which we shared for dessert. In my mind's eye I can still see a berry bush at the edge of a cliff with the lake's waves lapping in a rocky cove below.

[Telly]

I don't beach, but I pool.
No crowds, no whiney kids, no deadly algae, no coliform bacteria, no broken glass, no metal cans, no fish bones, fish heads or rotting fish, no dog poop, no cars or trucks driving by/on, no undertow, no fish hooks or line, no bodies (floating, submerged or drifting), no brain-eating amoebas. No Frankie Avalon. No Beach Blanket Bingo.

Just a few steps away, water always clear, no beachwear (designer or otherwise) required.
If you want to skip stones, you need to bring them, and then retrieve them

[imoldernu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Telly I don't beach, but I pool. No crowds, no whiney kids, no deadly algae, no coliform bacteria, no broken glass, no metal cans, no fish bones, fish heads or rotting fish, no dog poop, no cars or trucks driving by/on, no undertow, no fish hooks or line, no bodies (floating, submerged or drifting), no brain-eating amoebas. No Frankie Avalon. No Beach Blanket Bingo. Just a few steps away, water always clear, no beachwear (designer or otherwise) required. If you want to skip stones, you need to bring them, and then retrieve them

[kaudrey]

We beach, but it is not the main focus of all of our vacations like the OP. We kind of alternate.

I grew up on Long Island, about 10 minutes from the Sound. Throughout my kid years, we vacationed every year in a cabin on a lake in NH (the same lake on which my parents now live). My DH and I have been to a variety of Caribbean Islands. I LOVE the ocean, and love to swim, but can't sit on a beach for hours and hours if it is too hot (although if it is not too hot I can read for hours).

On the flip side, we chose to buy a cabin in the mountains instead of trying to find a beach house (too expensive anyway). And our last 4 vacations have been a mix: Peru, Costa Rica, Italy, Nantucket. Only that last one was a beach vacation.

[bgscms]

My family summered at White Horse Beach which was south of Plymouth MA. COLD WATER to swim! Currently live 20 minutes from Satellite Beach FL.


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