[EnglishJW]

Thanks again for enjoying some of my photos.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

I was born and raised about a mile from a beach. I can't remember a time when I hadn't seen the ocean.

When I was very young, in the days before air conditioning, on hot summer nights, families in my community would take blankets and go sleep on the beach. My parents did this when I was a baby. I think that this is why I love the ocean so much.

The one disappointment I have about living in The Villages is that it is so far from any beaches.

[SantaClaus]

No, but I remember my first time seeing a REAL mountain, on honeymoon with my wife in Estes Park, CO. All I'd ever seen were the bumps we have in Ga and Tn. I never expected the Rockies to be so huge! I knew they were not covered in trees, but I thought they'd be a similar scale to the Smokies. I was awestruck.

[KathieI]

Since I was very prone to sunburn when I was very young, being light skinned and freckled (do you believe I am full-blooded Italian?), my parents very rarely took me to Jones beach after the first event where I developed severe sun poisoning. So I don't have good memories of the Atlantic but I was totally overwhelmed the first time I saw the majestic Pacific.

After almost 35 years of living in LA, and the last five living 1 mile from the Pacific, I never took it for granted. On bad days, I would park on a high road and watch the waves crashing on the rocks and feel so serene and tranquil and so little compared to the magnificence of this ocean. I would also drive the "long way" to get somewhere if it meant I could ride along the ocean road (PCH). Of course, with my skin problems, I never did enjoy going to the beach and sitting in the sun that was definitely my enemy but I learned to enjoy the ocean in my own way. I sure do miss seeing it.

[skyguy79]

My first time was Hampton Beach NH. My parents vacationed there every year. Being it was my first, I thought the ocean would be kind and easy on me. But noooooooo.... smacked me in the butt every chance it got!

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by EnglishJW

I graduated from high school in 64 - we will be having our 50th year reunion in September in Atlantic City which has become a very popular spot. Your tree might still be there in the Reservation. Development has been minimal. My wife was a docent for a number of years at the Turtle Back Zoo. It has undergone some nice improvements over the years if you haven't been back there. It is nice to meet you here.

Turtle Back ZooTurtle Back Zoo

Thanks for the link !!! Nice to know that our tree might still be there, after all these years. Unfortunately, we have not been back. Vermont has been our home for the past 44 years.


(The N.J. elders have all passed away or relocated to Arizona/California/Florida with the exception of some cousins in Westwood, Bergen County, N.J. / Princeton, N.J. area)

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by SantaClaus

No, but I remember my first time seeing a REAL mountain, on honeymoon with my wife in Estes Park, CO. All I'd ever seen were the bumps we have in Ga and Tn. I never expected the Rockies to be so huge! I knew they were not covered in trees, but I thought they'd be a similar scale to the Smokies. I was awestruck.

I hope you acclimated before you went up to Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Colorado !! You are correct, the Rockies are awesome to view. Our son/family live in Denver. They were married at 8,000 to 9,000 elevation in Tabernash which is near Winter Park, CO. We also have many friends who lived in Colorado Springs for a long time (Air Force Academy, etc.)......all high elevation if you are not used to it, or coming from sea level I should say. Pikes Peak is close to Colorado Springs.

Colorado is a beautiful state, but lately they've been having some severe weather.

We live in the Green Mountain State ; our mountains would be like your mountains..........as well as those in New Hampshire, Maine and neighboring New York State.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by KathieI

Since I was very prone to sunburn when I was very young, being light skinned and freckled (do you believe I am full-blooded Italian?), my parents very rarely took me to Jones beach after the first event where I developed severe sun poisoning. So I don't have good memories of the Atlantic but I was totally overwhelmed the first time I saw the majestic Pacific.

After almost 35 years of living in LA, and the last five living 1 mile from the Pacific, I never took it for granted. On bad days, I would park on a high road and watch the waves crashing on the rocks and feel so serene and tranquil and so little compared to the magnificence of this ocean. I would also drive the "long way" to get somewhere if it meant I could ride along the ocean road (PCH). Of course, with my skin problems, I never did enjoy going to the beach and sitting in the sun that was definitely my enemy but I learned to enjoy the ocean in my own way. I sure do miss seeing it.

Perhaps your Italian ancestors came from northern Italy? Maybe generations prior to the ones you've heard of, wherever that Italian location might be......maybe the original ones came from "the north".


While doing my Italian genealogy, awhile back I discovered the reason for my own paternal grandmother's blue eyes, light skin, and that of several of her children (red hair included).......


Her branch, over the generations, had migrated down from the Trent-Fondo area which sits near the Austrian border.


Prior to that "the family name" was traced to Graz Austria. In the present, those folks in Graz Austria are carrying Italian surnames with Austrian/German sounding first names.


Evening is a nice time to be at the beach, as the sun is setting........or early morning, before it is up. We also no longer sunbathe, or else stay covered up in light clothing........due to D.L.E.

[senior citizen]

[QUOTE=skyguy79;889747]My first time was Hampton Beach NH. My parents vacationed there every year. Being it was my first, I thought the ocean would be kind and easy on me. But noooooooo.... smacked me in the butt every chance it got!


When we relocated from New Jersey to Vermont back in 1970, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire was also our "first" New England beach.......back then it was on all the "old roads"........now, especially from the Manchester New Hampshire area, it's all super highway.

Our first opinion of Hampton was , "What, no rides?" We were thinking of the Jersey shore........but did find a carousel for our two year old daughter in Salisbury Beach, right below Hampton.

Now, we just pass through Hampton Beach as it's the FIRST OCEAN we come to......to get out and feel the salt air.....

We like to take the shore roads all the way up, past Rye to Portsmouth New Hampshire and into Maine........avoiding the Maine Turnpike..........then stop at L.L.BEAN in Freeport Maine before continuing on. Nice little dock on the ocean in Freeport Maine that has the best "fish fry". Quaint, but excellent fish. It's where the fishing boats come in.

However, when our two children were young, we did rent cottages in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire........they enjoyed the sand and looking out for "JAWS"......while I read the book on the beach.
We met a lot of French Canadians in Hampton Beach.

Great memories. Thanks for reminding me. Beaches were always our preferred vacation place when the kids were little......plus, of course, Disney World each April school vacation, flying out of Albany, N.Y.

[2newyorkers]

Originally Posted by BarryRX

I grew up on Long Island, and it seems like Jones Beach (west end 2 and Smith Point Park) were always there. We would go every weekend and often during the week. It seemed like all the radios were tuned to either 77wabc or 1010wins. The water was always so cold it was hard to get into at the beginning of the summer, but the waves for body surfing were great and we would spend hours in the water and come out with blue lips and chattering teeth. Remember, this was before air conditioning was commonplace and going to the beach was the only relief from the heat. Some of my best childhood memories!

I also grew up on Long Island. Every summer day and sometimes evening I would be at the ocean, bay, Sound or Lake Ronkonkoma. Not only to swim, sun and to have fun but to fish and go crabbing. Camping at Wildwood or Cedar Beach in East Hampton. These were all part of my wonderful childhood memories. The strange part is as I grew older and had a home of my own with an in ground pool the salt water, sand and crowds no longer appealed to me. I am perfectly content never to go to the beach again.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by 2newyorkers

I also grew up on Long Island. Every summer day and sometimes evening I would be at the ocean, bay, Sound or Lake Ronkonkoma. Not only to swim, sun and to have fun but to fish and go crabbing. Camping at Wildwood or Cedar Beach in East Hampton. These were all part of my wonderful childhood memories. The strange part is as I grew older and had a home of my own with an in ground pool the salt water, sand and crowds no longer appealed to me. I am perfectly content never to go to the beach again.

It is a lot easier when the kids are school aged to install an inground pool in the backyard........we did the same thing. Every day through the summer, they were in that pool with their school friends and neighborhood friends (plus I had all the moms sitting with me to help me to supervise the diving board maneuvers, the "Marco Polo" splashing, etc., the sliding board into the water.....good memories for sure.

But, still, we always took our weeklong vacations.......one in the springtime during school vacation to Disney and the other "end of summer" to N.H., Maine or Cape Cod/Martha's Vineyard/Nantucket...........the ocean has always beckoned.

My husband's dad had a boat so he recalls many great childhood memories of fishing off the N.J. jetties, out in the ocean, etc., etc. and also surf fishing off the Jersey shore using sand spikes on the beach ..........again, as teens we went to all the beaches up and down the Jersey shore........didn't miss a one.

They also did clamming, etc. but lots of fishing off the boats as well as surf/beach fishing.

For those of us born in the Mid Atlantic States or the New England States........the beach was the place to go.

But, I agree, the pools are easier as they are right in your own backyard.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by pooh

Grew up on the beach, beginning part of Buzzards Bay so salt water is in my blood. Every day in the summer was spent at the beach, just a very, very short walk, 4 houses away. Ocean water was just a part of life.

When I finally got to live near the Pacific, again, nothing out of the ordinary since I had spent so many years around water. What I did notice though, the Pacific was a heck of a lot colder than the Atlantic AND the air at the beach on the left coast didn't smell quite the same as it did on the right coast....

Katama Beach in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts was that really big open wide beach, right? It reminds us of the beach in Prince Edward Island Canada where Anne of Green Gables is located.
Huge, empty of people and very wide.

We would drive to Woods Hole, Mass and take the ferry across to Martha's Vineyard........after being there a week, we'd take the bigger ferry over to Nantucket (where you couldn't drive your car).

I should get out a map to see where Buzzard's Bay is.
After college, our daughter and her husband lived near Boston in Cambridge.........then Quincy where they bought a condo.....prior to relocating back to northern Vermont. But our beach days in Mass were when they were teenagers and then when we had the "empty nest".

Funny you should mention the "air" as we had a neighbor in town here (who retired to Saratoga Springs, New York) but was born in Brooklyn, New York. When they'd go to Florida they were amazed at how BLUE or AQUA the water looked compared to their "grey" water at the shore in N.Y. where her family still lived. She couldn't figure out why the Atlantic Ocean could be grey up north but such a pretty blue in Florida. The Gulf of Mexico beaches do have that white sand and azure blue water.

Cousins of ours who visited California when her hubby had R&R during the Viet Nam War era........said things pretty similar to what you are saying..........plus were amazed at the rocky cliffs above some of the ocean front. (which we've now seen in Maine, but as a younger person only knew the flat beaches of the Jersey shore).

So, I think you are right that the east coast beaches vs. west coast beaches are different. Our son's wife has family in the LaJolla (San Diego) area of CA. so those grandchildren of ours will get to see both types of beach.....Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.........and do already.

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by BarryRX

I grew up on Long Island, and it seems like Jones Beach (west end 2 and Smith Point Park) were always there. We would go every weekend and often during the week. It seemed like all the radios were tuned to either 77wabc or 1010wins. The water was always so cold it was hard to get into at the beginning of the summer, but the waves for body surfing were great and we would spend hours in the water and come out with blue lips and chattering teeth. Remember, this was before air conditioning was commonplace and going to the beach was the only relief from the heat. Some of my best childhood memories!

I do remember 1010WINS !!!!

Yes, the water was cold but that's why the people flocked to the beaches.

I have pictures of my dad's sisters on Jones beach in the "flapper days of the roaring twenties". Though demure by today's standards, those bathing suits must have shocked my sainted old Grandmother.

I also have pics on Coney Island where it was "blanket to blanket" congested with people escaping the city heat. I think some must have gone by train.

Also, anyone from Jersey remembers "The Garden State Parking Lot" on Sunday evenings heading back home........the Garden State Parkway was always bumper to bumper..........but we eventually found side roads through farm country........should anyone forget that N.J. was known for their tomatoes and other crops.

People only think of the N.J. Turnpike oil refineries as shown on "The Sopranos"........but our birth state did have a lot of farmland plus historic sites from the Revolutionary war.......many historic towns, ditto........like Princeton, Morristown, etc., etc., etc.

Plus, Cape May N.J. is very quaint if one is looking for quaint and not filled with the teeny boppers as depicted on the show about the Jersey shore at Seaside Heights........who by the way are not even from N.J. (maybe one of them was).

We also would go to Asbury Park and sit high up on some ledge there, enjoying the view of the ocean...........that was before Tony Soprano met his fellow hoods at Asbury (on the show).

Ditto for Wildwood Crest, Wildwood, Long Beach Island, Sandy Hook State Park, Point Pleasant, and so many others........especially BARNEGAT LIGHTHOUSE STATE PARK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tucson]

Originally Posted by pooh

Grew up on the beach, beginning part of Buzzards Bay so salt water is in my blood. Every day in the summer was spent at the beach, just a very, very short walk, 4 houses away. Ocean water was just a part of life.

When I finally got to live near the Pacific, again, nothing out of the ordinary since I had spent so many years around water. What I did notice though, the Pacific was a heck of a lot colder than the Atlantic AND the air at the beach on the left coast didn't smell quite the same as it did on the right coast....

I also grew up going to Buzzards Bay and Parkwood Beach where my aunt had a house,also used to love going over the bridges to Cape Cod to my destination of Yarmouth, Dennisport, Falmouth, etc. There's nowhere like good ole Cape Cod!!

[manaboutown]

My earliest memories are of going to LA, OC and San Diego County beaches. La Jolla Cove, Torrey Pines and Huntington Beach are probably my favorite SoCal beaches. Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks of NC has my favorite East Coast beaches. https://www.google.com/search?q=ocra...w=1280&bih=738 My favorite European are on the French Riviera at St. Tropez. Tahiti has some beaches comprising volcanic black sand, my favorite tropical beach. https://www.google.com/search?q=tahi...w=1280&bih=760