We went to the beach again yesterday. One last hurrah of summer, since the weather was in the 90s, and we had such a fun time last time. Things went even better this time, though I worried more in advance. It was Labor Day. What if the place was mobbed? What if traffic was awful? What if we had a bad time? (None of that happened, which is a prime piece of evidence for why making decisions based on “what if” often ends up in you making the wrong decisions.)
What made the difference this time? Why was the trip even better than the last? Most of it comes down to knowing what we were doing this time, as opposed to being clueless. We knew what stuff we didn’t use last time, so we left that home. (Changes of clothes, mainly.) We knew what we’d wished we’d had last time, so we brought that with us. (A stocked cooler. Better food. More toys.) We also knew what not to do: taking time out to make shopping stops with little kids before we got to the beach just made them tired ahead of time. We can do shopping later. Beach now.
And there are still some things we need to get down. Our beach umbrella had a hard time with the wind. Denisa and I walked up and down the beach to see who had gear that was handling the wind with ease, and it looked like the most successful setups were the portable cabanas. I think we should get one of those. Not sure what kind yet, though. Need to research it out.
There’s sure to be plenty of other ways to perfect a trip to the beach. I’m also looking into renting a house, so that it doesn’t have to be so hit and run when we go. Which leads me to my question to you fine readers. I know a lot of you out there have much more experience with the beach than I do. What do you consider the “must have” things you take with you when you go to the beach? What are the top bits of advice you’d give someone, if they were headed on such an outing?
It’s too late for this year, but I’m looking forward to years to come, and thought I’d ask now. It never hurts to be prepared.
Thanks in advance!
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