FIRST SUMMER BEACH WALK

So far we've had a couple of hot, hot, HOT days. 

This means that if I try and get near a beach, I've got to leave absolutely no later than nine o'clock in the morning to get a spot in a lot or on the sand. The water is still way too cold for most sane people to go in. Of course, most of us who live in New England are not sane. The water temperature has been fluctuating between 61 and 63 degrees, and, after sitting on a hot beach in the direct sun, the water could be fifty degrees and we would be going into it in some capacity.

The main problem with my favorite beach is that it disappears at high tide. I can sit on a rock and wait for the waves to subside (not a bad day, either), or I can look at the tide chart and figure out when the beach will be wide open for low tide. Another problem is the fact that my super-sun-sensitive skin cannot be in the cloudless weather for extended periods of time. This is why it's better for me to go to the beach alone rather than insist my cohorts leave after two hours or so. 

Finally, a day arrives that is warm and sunny, and it happens to be a day when low tide occurs around 9:30 a.m. This means that I can get a good two-plus mile beach walk in well before the beach disappears. It almost seems silly to drive forty minutes from home to the coast for a walk, but those who have been to the ocean will completely understand my logic. So, I pack my beach bag (never truly unpacked) quickly and jump in my car.

The beauty of my favorite beach is that car-to-waves is less than thirty seconds and requires zero hot sand. Parking is three dollars per hour, and I gladly pay my nine-dollar fee, though I will probably only be there for about two hours. The time buffer allows for walking to the bath house, if I so desire.

I walk for an hour, read for an hour, and go into the water up to my knees. I am tempted to jump in, but I've settled my chair in the black-and-white checkered flag area. This is the surfers' zone and, even though no one is really surfing today, there are several lifeguards patrolling who will keep us out of the water on the beach's south end.

When I'm ready to leave, I am surprised to find that there are some parking spots open, probably because it's a weekday and many school systems are still in session. I head south on route 1, watching the traffic begin its predictable back-up as the day's heat climbs. I am home shortly after noon, sun-kissed and sand-toed from the walk, less than ten dollars lighter, with a renewed serenity and my first real dose of summer beach life.