The ocean is a powerful draw for me and always has been. As children, we went on day trips to the California beach often and every summer there was at least one beach camping trip. My college years were spent close to Santa Cruz and the Monterey area. I went to the beach all the time. Sometimes it was to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk or the Monterey/Carmel beaches. But just as often, I trekked out to the more remote beaches between Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Those days were always renewing. sometimes adventurous, always enjoyable. Later I ended up living north of the Golden Gate and still spend plenty of days during all seasons of the year at the beach.
Maybe twenty years ago, I seriously considered relocating permanently to a beach locale. In order to be affordable, I would likely need to move to a fairly remote beach area. Fairly remote means few jobs and that leads to no money for rent and food for the family. Best to set that idea way over there to the side until kids are launched.
Fast forward twenty years. Kids are launched. I'm still working but I can think about some other options. Here's the thing. I like my house. I like my neighborhood. I don't really want to deal with buying and selling property and I am not sure I want to be in the beach climate 24/7. Anyone who knows me knows my thoughts on fog and gray.
But, here's the creative part. Who says "living at the beach" has to mean relocating and living all day every day at the beach? How about this? How about if I were to really live at the beach for, say, one month a year? How about I keep my house in my neighborhood but I go live at the beach for intervals? Maybe one year I live on a NorCal beach for the month of January (one of the best times to visit NorCal beaches, I might add). Maybe the next year, I find a place to stay on the big island of Hawaii for the month of February. Perhaps the next year in March, I try Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. And the pattern continues: Gold Beach, Oregon, the Jersey shore, Cape Cod, San Diego, Key West, Florida, Acadia, Maine, you get the idea.
Do you have a favorite beach? Give me some words about it, please.
Having lived near the beach all of my young life, I always vowed that I'd never want to be far from the coast. The Big Joke of my life is that I'm presently stuck in arid, ugly west Texas.
ReplyDeleteAs I grow older, however, my initial attraction to the beach has greatly diminished. I don't think I'd want to be near a large body of water 24-7 forever. I'm no longer a twenty-year-old surfer, and shuffling along the sandy coast isn't a pleasant prospect in my declining years.
Perhaps it would be best for you to stay at the beach a few weeks a year to, sort of, get it out of your system. No need to move there permanently.
My favorite beaches? Anywhere along the Northern California coast. In Southern Calif. my favorite beach was always Seal Beach.
Perhaps that is exactly what has happened to me, Jon. Doesn't have quite the same call as it did when I was 20. But I still want to feel that ocean breeze and hear that foghorn blowing even when I am 90 (which, I really hope never to get to but that is a different post).
DeleteI think you've found the perfect solution :) living at the beach in intervals. I could never live at the beach year-round. What about Christmas and the holidays? It would not feel holiday-ish with beach weather lol.
ReplyDeleteOh, Keith, no no no. Christmas on a NorCal beach is spectacular. We have a tradition of going over to the ocean on Christmas Eve in the afternoon and staying out there for dinner. It is typically bundle up chilly weather but we walk along the sand and play. My kids are in their late 20's now and we have been doing it for at least 25 years - valuable tradition. It gets dark around 4:30 and the drive back home includes lots of twinkling Christmas lights. It's not tropical balmy - very cold, Christmas with the added beauty of the ocean.
DeleteWell I don't have to tell you how I feel about the shore. I like your idea a lot. I remember a business trip to California. What I can't remember is what beach we were on. I do remember a board walk which reminded me of the ones we have in NJ.
ReplyDeleteI know we were in the LA area for part of the trip and then the SF area for the second part.
Your photos are spectacular. I especially love the bikes and kite.
Thanks, Lynda - I like the bikes and kite too. It was taken on a family trip to Oahu in 2009 but I love what it says.
DeleteThere is a cool boardwalk in Santa Cruz (about 50 miles south of SF) and one down in Santa Monica too -- I prefer the Santa Cruz area :)
I am not a beach person. At all.
ReplyDeleteI'm more of a cabin in the woods kind of guy.
So is my husband.... a cabin in the woods kind of guy, that is. :)
DeleteBut he humors me and goes to the beach with me lots of times. He pretty much draws the line at tropical like beaches - no SoCal or Hawaii beaches for him but that's okay. I find other people to go with or I go alone. I had a great time at Gold Beach, Oregon by myself a couple of summers ago. :)
Living in landlocked Colorado, I don't have a surplus of beach experience. We were in Cocoa Beach a couple of summers ago, and that was really fun. But I got so sunburned!
ReplyDeleteYour photos are beautiful, and I think part-time beach living is a wonderful idea!
Colorado has beautiful areas too! There is something about the majestic power of big waves that gets me - hypnotizing, at times.
DeleteI lived in an apartment overlooking the ocean for six months several years ago (hmmm...17 years ago). Loved it. Parking could be a nightmare. Summer, the place was packed. But the cool breezes were great.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm pretty beach close, but I rarely go. I like driving along the coast, though. As for a favorite, it's kinda all beach around here, and since I rarely go, it's hard to pick a favorite.
I think my dream would be to relocate to Catalina. But that's not all beach.
I've never been to Catalina but it sounds great. There are some interesting research projects out there too, I understand.
DeleteJealous! I want to live in an apt overlooking the ocean!
Such the easy question. Manchester State Park, except that the part I like the most has been shut down, due to environmental impact on the sand dunes. It's been at least six years since I was there, but it such a great place for kids, and bird lovers. Ten minute walk from campsite to ocean; so much to see and do. Your second, fourth, fifth, sixth,
ReplyDeletetenth and thirteenth pictures resemble it the closest. And of course, from back when we were kids, anywhere in the Ensenada areas. Sweet memories!
I remember a great trip to Manchester with you - probably around 1977? The whole UA crew was there, if I remember correctly. Several of the photos you referenced are from Bodega Bay and Ft Bragg area - makes sense, heh?
DeleteManchester Beach has been on the docket for a long time. How about Newport Beach? Huntington Pier? Grenada Cove? Kennedy's Beach? Or the one we all remember as first? Tin Can Beach? [Seal Beach...] Jalama? I guess our list is fairly lengthy. I even attended a conference in Bodega Bay, in October, of 1991... Did you know we can see the ocean in three different places, when we walk to Blue Rock every morning that Annie is up here? The connection is near and dear...
DeleteI love, love, love your plan. And most of my beach experience involves Maine and New Hampshire so if I had to pick a favorite that's likely where it would be. And yes, oh yes, to visiting in all seasons...
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