(I love how we say ‘the beach’, like there is just one that we all go to)
Anyhoo…
I freakin’ hate the beach. I have never, ever had a good time at the beach. It’s typically hot, I’m sweaty, I have sand caked where sand shouldn’t be cakin’, and I don’t find laying on a towel on sand all that comfortable.
Yeah, you can go in the water and cool down, and it feels nice for a minute, but what do you do there? Splash each other? Feel for seashells with your toes? Toss a frisbee? Then you come out and you’re all wet, sand is sticking all the way to your ankles, and you plop down on your towel that is now covered with grit because some brats ran by it kicking up the sand.
Even though I live at the beach (a smallish seaside town in southern Australia) I am NOT fond of ‘a day at the beach’ for many of the reasons you mentioned above. Another is because this town is a popular tourist destination, it’s bloody impossible to get a parking spot within coo-ee of the beach itself. So while it might be refreshing to have a swim on a hot day, by the time you’ve walked back to the car you’re suffering heatstroke again.
However, I get to the beach early each morning (6.30) to walk the doggie (with all the other doggie people) and at that time of day it’s gorgeous. Watching the sunrise, paddling in the shallows…yeah, the beach is just dandy then.
I have never been a fan of the beach. I don’t like to tan and I don’t swim, and I believe the ocean is out to get me. We go to the Oregon coast each year, and walk along the part that is still wet, as loose, dry sand is most annoying and exhausting to walk on. On occasion I find an interesting rock or shell, but I always keep an eye on the ocean for rogue waves, as the ocean has an agenda for me that is not pleasant (in fact, I’d say it’s downright malignant), along with lakes and rivers to a somewhat lesser extent. So fuck the beach right in its sandy, flea ridden ear.
Well, it’s not like there is just one bank, post office, park, laundromat, etc., that we all go to either, but we still say, the bank, the post office, etc.
As for the beach, I have little interest in going at those times when everyone in the city has decided to go. I don’t see the point.
I don’t know about “the beach”, but I love the ocean. And that usually means being at a beach, somewhere. But I’m more likely to want to be there early in the morning or in the evening. Where I live, in NorCal, the beach is often a chilly place to go, which is usually fine with me. I don’t like being hot.
I lived right on the beach for a few years, on the south shore of Long Island. I was working nights at the time, so the first summer I was on the beach all the time… either swimming, lying on the sand or riding my bicycle on the boardwalk. But the weekend crowds from NYC were horrendous, and after a while the entire experience became a total bore. After that summer I only went out in winter. But the ocean was spectacular during a hurricane!
In my teens and 20s I liked it ok. In my 30s, I tended to avoid it. Now in my 40s, I live close to Lake Michigan, and my kids like to go, so that means I have to. But I don’t like it. I *do *like going and looking at the lake…just not “on” the beach. Mostly I like hanging out on the piers and overlooks.
I live in a beach town. The time to go to the beach is in winter. It’s cold and bracing and lonely, the breakers come rolling in, there are dolphins and pelicans and seals, and sometimes whales breaching.
Wonderful place to walk for miles barefoot – where else can you do this?
I never go to the beach in summer. Ugh.
I live four miles away from the Pacific in southern California. I don’t particularly enjoy hanging out in the sand and water, so I only partake in proper “days at the beach” when I can’t gracefully get out of it. Every couple of years I wind up there for an afternoon.
I do enjoy running along the paved beach path, and frequently do so near where I work (pretty close to a different beach). You can just run without having to deal with traffic signals, there are fairly frequent water fountains and restrooms, and I have to admit it’s pretty. But I’m never struck by an urge to get off the pavement and hit the water.
Interestingly, people in New Jersey go down to “The Shore” where people on Long Island go to whatever town the beach is in (The Hamptons, Fire Island, Jones Beach, the Rockaways, etc).
I don’t really like The Beach. I like the shore house scene of having a house near the beach to hang out in with local nightlife. But I get bored sitting in the sand and playing in the water after an hour or so.
I thought this thread was going to be about the Leonardo di Caprio film, The Beach.
But no, I don’t like The Beach. I like the idea of the beach—relaxing on warm sand, watching the clouds, listening to the surf—but then I think about the reality of the beach and I lose interest. Sand and salt getting everywhere, traffic, heat, crowds, noise, sunburn, litter, rotting-fish smells, etc., etc., etc.
I grew up in Houston, Texas, and my family spent a week at the beach every summer. I’ve had my fill of it. If there was a pristine, quiet, empty beach available within a reasonable distance, maybe I’d reconsider. Maybe.
I go get a Heineken and some nachos, then go in the water, if it is low tide i can literally walk so far out you cant see me, if its higher tide depending on season, i will probably be visited by manatees with babies.
When i come out of the water, i can walk up to the shower to get rid of the salt and sand.
Buy a hot dog, and watch every seagull with in 10 miles become my best friend.
Get another heineken, dont share it with seagulls
The water is usually 80+ degrees, so you dont cool off much, but i am going to be hot and sweaty if i am at the beach or not, i dont stay inside much if i can help it, i get stuck inside up to 18 hours a day for work, inside gets old, and i hate AC.
