Beach Babes

Over the weekend, we checked out Mission Beach.

In contrast to the $20 parking lots of the East Coast, its so wonderful here to find plenty of available and FREE parking along the coasts. Yesterday, an story in the San Diego Union Tribune said some communities, including La Jolla and Pacific Beach, were debating adding their first parking meters for beach parking.

First, we parked right next to a fun park for a picnic lunch while watching a group of children in scuba-diving school run squeling and splashing into the water.

After lunch, we drove to the Pacific Ocean-side thinking we'd just catch a glimpse from a jam-packed parking lot. To our surprise, we snagged a spot just along the boat channel heading out from the harbor to the ocean.

Tex spotted the surfers way out in the ocean with great excitement. He gleefully jabbed his little pointer finger toward them and made sounds of intent. He was even more thrilled by the riskier surfers who caught waves in the boat lane lined by massive boulders.

Peanut always loves the beach. Even though the water was positively frigid, she skipped along the shore gathering shells.

Bye-bye summer

Labor Day seemed to really mark the end of summer - schools opened again, some leaves are already hinting at their fall glamor, our local "beach" was pad-locked and the days are growing shorter.

There was much to enjoy - the New England love for ice cream being one! As you drive along the winding roads, you're certain to run into a local ice cream stand often founded as a corollary to the diary farm. Usually just a small building marked by an over-flowing parking lot and lines of people in front of windows surrounded by huge boards filled with scores of ice cream flavors. Nearby our home, we went to the Bedford Farms Ice Cream stand where Peanut carefully balanced her own cone of "pink ice cream" as it slowly shrank in size. For the record, she nearly finished it all by herself!

The region is dotted with lakes and I was surprised to find so many with beaches -- on the map, at least! It turned out that many beaches are owned by the local community in which they fall and are closed to outside visitors. Only town residents can come splash and play. We were fortunate that down the road from our apartment was a 'pay & play' beach. Its just a small strip of sand on a lake, but when you're Peanut's size, that's all you really need to make it a beach. For $3 (paid to the lifeguards), we all got a spot on the sand. We arrived in the evening so we had the beach all to ourselves.

Little Tex spent his beach days lounging in our portable, pop-up baby cabana to protect him from the sun. I'm pretty fanatical about keeping Peanut coated in sunblock and Tex hidden in the shade since we come from such Northern backgrounds.

One lesson I'll remember for next summer is also about coastal beaches where parking is often limited to residents or priced up to $25/day -- either get there super early or invest in a regional beach parking pass. For example, by joining the Crane Beach Trustees for $150/year, you can get free admission to the beach for 4 family members. Coming from a part of Florida where our beaches were all free, its still a hard nut to swallow. Contrast it even further with Finland's idea of 'Everyman's Right' and it seems down right outrageous to charge such sums for public access!

The Atlantic Shore

One of things we were most excited by when moving to Boston was the idea of being close to the water again! Peanut's papa & I are both water people so it was hard being land-locked in the heart of Texas.

Over the weekend, we made the 45 min drive out to Hampton Beach, NH, and cruised along Highway 1A to Portsmouth, NH.It was a wonderful feeling to dig my toes into the warm and course sands of Hampton Beach while papa and Peanut walked along the waterline. The beach was ideal for families - still fairly quiet, clean sand, easy access to parking (25 cents/10 minutes!) and a long lazy coastline. Behind the beach stood rows of houses and seashore restaurants, shops, etc. Lifeguards watched over the few brave swimmers.

After playing in the sun, we stopped at Little Jacks for lobster and steamers (steamed mussels). Peanut stayed away from the seafood calling the lobster a "monster" and focused on tucking in all the french fries she could grab.The Highway winds up the coast past mansions, State beaches, a retaining wall which is popular as a sunning alter and salty marshes on the inland side of the road.

Glimpses at a few harbors showed deep gorges that must be filled with the tides. We didn't see it come in, but it must be a sight to see the sea levels rise and fall by several feet.