Beach

My husband is a surfer, the beach is his church. And so when our daughter first showed signs that she did not like the beach it was as if we had born a heathen, something ungodly if your god just so happens to be found in salt water. We tried–oh, we tried, taking her to Northern California beaches in the winter when it was cold, in the summer when it was colder, in the fall when the days were fogless, warm and perfect. But when we tried to put her on the beach she would curl her body up like a salamander with salt: she simply would not touch the sand. And don’t even get me started on the water. The water! Salt spray seemingly laden with acid. Somehow we had a daughter that hated the beach.

And so it was with absolute surprise and something of a relief when we all went to Del Mar a few weeks ago. We went to the beach expecting the same old same old, our daughter acting as if she would fall a hundred thousand feet should she step foot off the beach blanket. Imagine our surprise when she tested the sugary sand with one toe, then a foot. Soon she was elbow deep in sand fine and warm, playing with a strange boy’s sand toys (another subject for another day: strange beach boys).

Del Mar.

But the fun did not stop there. There was also water. Bubbley toes running laughing from the tide, waist deep in ocean. And while the look on my daughter’s face was priceless, it was really the look on my husband’s face that was the best of all: the look of a man falling in love with the beach all over again.

Not a bad place to learn to love it.

A white yawning beach stretches the entire length of the tony town of Del Mar. For those with kids, I recommend the area right out in front of 22nd street, though truth be told the entire coastline is perfect. Here there are lifeguard towers, surf classes, surfers, paddle boarders and pretty much any kind of beach sport found under a bright California sky, Hasselhoff not included. The water is bathwater warm and the sandy bottom spills out beneath the waves for what seems like forever when one is three years old.

Photo credits in order of appearance: kstarnes on Flickr, cranberry sky on Flickr.

I owe the cluster of freckles on my shoulders from summers spent at Stinson Beach, the smattering of teeny dots left over from a terrible teenage rebellion against sunscreen, the inevitability of aging and my mother nagging me about the danger of melanoma. Oblivious to anything but the draw of the sun and cute boys who surfed, I would pile into my friend’s Volkswagen Bug and speed over the hill and to the beach, the window wide open because the car leaked a constant cloud of gasoline fumes from beneath the dashboard. Once there we would rub ourselves with oil, no SPF, cooking oil really, but somehow it smelled of coconut and young. We squeezed lemon on our hair and flicked on our portable radio, listened to reggae and laid out.

View from the bluff over Stinson Beach. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jweiss3/473570667/

These days I’m all about SPF 50+. I know that lemon only dries out one’s hair and there is this spot on the back of my hand that maybe-might-possibly-please-say-it-’aint-so-but-admittedly is an age spot. The last thing I laid out is an outfit for work the next day. Still I love Stinson Beach. The wide beach, the lifeguards in the summer, the smell of corn dogs and french fries wafting from the little cafe. I love the way that everything is a little brighter at Stinson Beach, the water a smidgeon bluer than up the coast, the sand almost white and clean. Stinson Beach is the closest to a Southern California beach one can get without having to drive through the traffic of Los Angeles.

Surfers at Stinson. http://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeythumbsca/357256755/

In addition to the beach itself, Stinson boasts such facilities as rest rooms, (cold) showers, picnic areas, bbq grills and plenty of parking, making this an ideal beach for a party or family gathering. If you don’t want to cook for yourself but find yourself hungry after a beach walk, a tasty snack bar is open during summer months at the base of the main lifeguard tower.

Regardless of your interests, Stinson Beach has a bit of something for everyone: surfing, kayaking, hiking, beach combing, volleyball or just snoozing on the sand. Do watch out while in the water, though. Not only are there sneaker waves and fierce rip currents, but there have also been a few documented Great White shark attacks in the area. Luckily, the water is usually quite cold and not entirely inviting.