It's been so long.
For more than a few years now, Natalie and I have initiated every summer with a pledge to take a day trip to the beach. I'm not absolutely confident about my numbers, here, but I think it's been at least four years since either of us has been. As it happens, vague notions about isolating a Saturday at some point between June and September, designating it drive-to-the-beach-day, is a largely inadequate strategy. Extended summer travel has generally been devoted to weddings, family, and... well... come to think of it, maybe we aren't really a summer vacation family. Hmmm.
Of course, I make a public observation about this only because we've now pulled a beach day off. After a morning run, a four-hour drive (with only one missed turn), and a half-hour search for parking, we got about four hours of mindlessness at Bethany Beach on Saturday. Just showed up, took an irresponsible amount of cash out of the ATM, bought some godawfully unhealthy fried food (crab cake sandwich, fried oyster sandwich, fries, chips), and parked among the friendly hordes on the sand. I'm a little skeptical of getting in the ocean, but just sort of felt into it, and so I took a couple of spells in neck-deep water, bobbing like a landlubber with the moderate-for-delmarva waves.
First time I saw the ocean: Summer after 8th grade
First ocean seen: Atlantic
Site of first ocean encounter: Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland coast
First ocean activity: Bodyboarding
Second ocean activity: Three-foot wave up my nose
Second "ocean" visit: Sandestin, FL
Reason for second "ocean" visit: Effing Spring Break
Outstanding memory of second ocean visit: Listening to the Pixies after going to the cold, cold beach at midnight
Habit(s) adopted during second ocean visit: Drinking
Later ocean visits: Florabama coast; Ocean City, MD; returns to Assateague Island; Folly Beach, SC
Favorite ocean visit (rights to adjust reserved): Sunrise on some May 200X morning, Ocean City
Most ridiculous ocean visit: Father and brother visited spring 2001, drove to Assateague from Silver Spring, MD (approx 3.5 hours), spent 15 minutes on rainy beach, returned to Silver Spring, MD
Rough percentage of ocean visits in cold weather: 40-ish (Assateague x 1, Folly Beach, Ocean City, San-effing-destin)
Frequency of reminding self about what to do in the event of rip current: 1 / 20 minutes
Number of possible items to include in this increasingly unfunny list: between many and many more
* No. I haven't installed the thingy that'll let me allow comments again. I was at the beach.
[Update]
In a laughably pre-Copernican slip, I neglected to mention an entire ocean. Thanks, B, for drawing my attention to the East-coast bias. Sheesh.
And so, let the record show...
Spent a honeymoon morning on Stinson Beach, among wet-suited surfers.
To and from Stinson, drove coastal highway 1 in our rented convertible listening to the right song, over and over.
Years later, spent a weekend in a Malibu rental with a deck. The waves shook the house pretty well (a geographer friend who was there looked over the water, turned to the rocky cliff above, and observed coolly, "well, if the big wave comes, this is not where we oughta be."). Below, we saw starfish on the rocks and heard seals (sea lions? hmmm) at night. Saw porpoises playing. Baby porpoise was doing these skater moves over ma and pa porpoise.
Same trip, went for a run on the ocean-side shoulder of the PCH. That was a dicey choice.