From "desert rat" to "beach bum" ~ Beaches, the Ocean and me

I love the beach and the ocean.

But how I got to be a "beach bum" and an "ocean lover" I have no idea because I was raised in the DESERT of Eastern Washington State in the good ole USA, miles and miles from the ocean and any beach.
My parents were not all that keen on "beach vacations" and "summer's at the beach" were unheard of, we lived on a farm and summers were way to busy to go to the beach.

But my love of the ocean and the beach has always been there I think.  It just took the painful journey of divorce and a move across the entire US to figure out just how much I loved the ocean, how peaceful it is, how the sounds of the waves can take a day from "I can't do this" to "life is so good"
I found that just looking out over a stretch of ocean (any ocean) makes me feel very very small, and makes me realize the power that is far greater than I and it makes even my "biggest" problems feel very very tiny in comparison to the vastness of an ocean.  Walking the beach in Florida I found that it was my "think time" where the cares of the world could float away on the waves, where simple pleasures such as walking barefoot in the surf or finding a jelly fish (and carefully avoiding stepping on it) made my day.
It was watching kids fly a kite, or build a sand castle.  It was the fishermen patiently waiting for the pole to jerk or the family that had packed half the house to set up for a "beach day"   There was always something interesting "on the beach"

There is just something magical about the ocean and a beach and I have been lucky enough to get to visit a few beaches in my travels.  Maybe because I try to book a "beach destination" anytime I can?  From the white sands and the brilliant blues waters of the Caribbean, to the Beaches of Normandy, to the Black Sand beaches in Hawaii and beautiful Waikiki, both coasts of Mexico, all along the Pacific Coast of the US from Washington to the border of Mexico, Biloxi Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico, North Padre Island Texas,  the San Juan islands, Alaska (more glaciers then beaches but still an ocean!), Victoria British Columbia and now.... Australia!

My next adventure will be the beaches in Fiji for 6 magical wonderful days.....  ahhhh beach.

I am lucky enough to have friends here who seem to understand my "need" for a "beach fix" every so often and are kind enough to "whisk" me away so I can walk the sand and smell the ocean and "let it all go"

I find it amazing that as I stand here a world away from the tiny little farm town in Eastern Washington and I gaze out over the Pacific Ocean I realize that even this far away we are connected by the very same ocean , so far away yet so connected and it makes me feel very very small.

And so yes, I am firmly now a Beach Bum, long gone is the Desert Rat!

travel on!