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Beach

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Although I love both the mountains and the beach, I would definitely have to choose the beach as my favorite. My family and I are not sun worshipers, but we're beach activity people. Swimming, snorkeling, running the beach, making sand castles, or just sitting at the beach watching the waves or the people around us, it doesn't matter as we love it all. And while both the beach and mountains offer many romantic situations, my vote is for the beach.

I grew up in land locked central Indiana but fortunately I learned to swim at a relatively young age. For some reason I didn't have a fear of big water like the type you would encounter at a beach. My wife, on the other hand, was raised in upstate New York and she was used to the big cold waters of Lake Ontario and its nice sandy beaches. Just a couple of years after we got married we moved from Indiana to Kalamazoo Michigan. One of the attractions of living in southwestern, lower Michigan was the relative closeness of big water, Lake Michigan. The Michigan shores of this great lake are sandy, inviting, and often one will find water temperatures nearly tolerable in the summer. There are great beaches at South Haven, Saugatuck, Grand Haven, Muskegon, and more all the way up to places like Charlevoix, and the Grand Traverse Bay where there are plenty of water activities available at these places to keep a family busy during the short Michigan summers.

And then there's the ocean beaches we've not been to all of that the Western Hemisphere has to offer but we've visited plenty. For us, we'd probably rank them this way Hawaii's beaches first; Caribbean second; Florida third, and California fourth. Oahu Hawaii with its Waikiki, Waimanalo, Kailua, Waimai and Sunset Beaches you cannot go wrong for surfing, swimming, snorkeling, canoeing, and paragliding. In addition you'll find some of the best people watching opportunities as well. On the valley isle of Maui there are top notch beaches along the Kaanapali, and awesome beaches at Wailua / Kihei (Little Beach, Big Beach, Makena for example), and Black Sand Beach, and the secluded Red Sand beach near Hana. Believe me, it's all good and we've been to all of them that were mentioned. In the Caribbean we've marveled at the amount of colorful fish we see while snorkeling in the crystal clear waters off of lovely St. John U.S. Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and The Bahamas also offer great beaches as well.

So why do we love the beach so much? I guess it's the fact that at the ocean beaches most anything can happen spotting a Sea Turtle swimming with you or coming close to shore, or watching the dolphins play, or in Hawaii getting to see Humpback Whales during their migration in wintertime. And there's also the opportunity for romantic sunset or sunrise walks along the shore. Also, there is nothing like tossing a football or frisbee on the beach and landing face first in the sand as you stretch to make a catch (try that in the mountains - ouch!).

I suppose some would say that the downside of the beach might be the constant battle with sand getting everywhere (swimsuit, shoes, eyes, hair, etc.). But to us it's all very much worth it. To us, there is nothing better than being on Maui, for example, packing a lunch, finding a hidden trail, and hiking through the trees and over lava rocks to find a secluded or non-crowded beautiful beach. Of course in Hawaii one is never too far from mountains so while we are relaxing on the beach we could be enjoying the beauty of nearby mountains as well. Of course that's the best of both worlds.

Learn more about this author, Jeffery Chandler.
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