The weekend before we left for Mexico, we attended a dinner party at which one of the hosts asked everyone, “If you could travel to any place in the world, where would you go?”
London and Hawaii were popular choices. I chose Paris, because I still want to spend a month there, writing. I will manage this before the year is out. It’s a promise to myself.
More recently, talking with my mother, I said I wanted to live on the beach, and teased that Fuzzy should get promoted a couple more times, so that we could afford such a thing. “Any more promotions,” he said, “will require us to live in Florida.”
“Oh,” I replied. “I don’t want to live on a beach there.”
My mother suggested we save our pennies and buy a second home somewhere coastal, which has me fantasizing: if I were to buy a vacation home, where would it be?
I wouldn’t mind living in Portland, OR, but it’s not on the beach, and rivers don’t do it for me. I love Half Moon Bay, CA, but it’s insanely expensive. Bolinas and Benicia, also in California, are favorite places, though Bolinas is a bit weird. And often smells funny. And I love love love the region around Tomales Bay – Pt. Reyes Station and Inverness – so much do I love that region, actually, that the town where my book opens is based on it.
But California is expensive, and I don’t really have ties there any more. So the search continues, with other dream locations including Ocean Grove, NJ, where we lived for a while when I was a child.
The thing is, I prefer cold, stormy beaches to just lying in the sand baking on hot ones, so warmth isn’t entirely an issue, though a temperate climate would be nice.
You may ask, “why not Mexico?”
My parents live there. I can visit any time. It’s not a place I really want to live.
But I really should visit more.
NJ is expensive too, despite my nostalgia for the Jersey Shore. Have you considered the Southeastern coastal states? Prices are more manageable and they’re warm. Myrtle Beach, etc.
Michele sent me, Missmeliss. I loved Mexico the 2 times we were there. If I could llive on any beach in the world, I would choose Kauai! But I like warmth and sun (even though I don’t bake in it). If you like cooler weather beaches, try some in northern North Carolina, on the Outer Banks. They are wild, beautiful, not too expensive (yet) and not too built up (yet).
great posts – i read 5
yay michele
I’ve dreamt of it since high school. I am walking on a beach. It is a cold day at the Cape. My golden retriever is running ahead of me as my bare feet are teased by the ocean currents. Behind me is my lil home on the beach. It is very small and quaint, surrounded by much larger homes, but just big enough for Rex (my dog) and I. Rex has found a small crab, oh oh, the crab as attached himself to Rex’s muzzle…Rex is none to happy about it, shakes his head and is freed from the claw of said crab…maybe you and Fuzzy shall visit me someday in my lil home in the Cape…that is when I actually move there.
Hope you have a wonderfull New Year! :-)