How do you like to beach?
Lilina and Rose play under our tent. At least you knew who your neighbors rooted for!
We did get in a trip to the beach last week, and I really appreciate Keith filling in for me. We went to Orange Beach in Alabama, a very family-focused beach.
I had never been there before, but Michael had taken the kids there once before on business trip when I had the Norwalk virus and was throwing up everywhere. The kids loved the beach and wanted to return! So we did.
I am always fascinated with the vibe on different beaches and the customs and traditions. We’ve been to many beaches through the years – Miami, Dewey Beach in Delaware, Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina, Tybee Island, St. Simons, Jekyll, Cocoa Beach, New Smyrna, San Destin, and multiple beaches in Hawaii. We probably have gone most frequently to Hilton Head.
I haven’t been to the Gulf Coast in probably 10 years and the good folks at Orange Beach did some things I’ve never seen done before on a beach. Here are a few examples:
1. They put up their tents and leave them up the entire week they are there. Not only do they leave up their tents. They leave all their sand toys, beach chairs and wading pools under the tent. Apparently there is not enough of a tide or wind to worry about anything being knocked down. And it makes it so easy not having to lug your stuff back and forth. It is truly the lazy man’s way to beach.
They left all the stuff under the tent all night long! Lots of trust on this beach.
Some visitors got very creative to keep their floats from blowing away.
2. On to the wading pools. I have never seen this on any other beach. They bring little plastic blow up baby pools to the beach. It’s actually really smart. The little babies can play in the water under the tent in the shade. The parents can read a book and relax and everyone is happy.
A cute example of the types of wading pool many of the families had on the beach!
3. The love to use big shovels and little fishing nets. I have never seen more people digging in all my life. Lilina walked down the beach chatting with people and digging with their shovels. Of course we joined in. Michael has a passion for digging holes and they dug a whopper and buried Michael in the sand.
Dad and the kids digging out the big hole with a big shovel.
The hole was big enough for two kids or one daddy!
He had a hard time getting out.
4. While I didn’t see any sharks or sting rays (take that Savannah and New Smyrna), there are tons of little fish in the shallow water and the children spend half their time chasing fish with their nets. (I don’t have a shot of this. Sorry!)
5. They also love to group grill. I think a lot of condominiums have grills that you can use, but usually in Hilton Head we have our own at the unit so I’ve never done the group grill. It was a lot of fun. Orange Beach has a lot of visitors for New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and they were very excited about their grilling and gave lots of advice. It was all men who had been drinking a little bit, and they were more than happy to tell me I was doing it wrong. (I am a good cook, a good baker but a terrible griller.) So I sat down there drinking coconut rum and letting all the men help me grill (while Michael watched the kids in the condo). I also got to taste a lot of what they were cooking. One guy made his own sausage from crawfish. It was downright tasty.
6. The condo also had large, heavy-duty plastic grocery carts that made bringing in your luggage and grocery so easy. I’ve never seen those in Hilton Head.
Michael and the kids on top of Fort Morgan.
Not so much a trend, but a very interesting place to visit in Orange Beach is Fort Morgan. Built in the 1830s, it was used during the Civil War to defend Mobile Bay and one of the few remaining Confederate ports. The fort is well maintained and there are amazing views from the top of it. (Toddlers should be carried. There are steep steps and they need better guard rails on the top. I was worried about Lilina running off an edge.) They have a shockingly good museum there about the fort with actual photos from the Civil War of the soldiers working in the fort. They also have lots of letters from Confederate and Union troops who fought in the battle for the bay. I was just trying to get out of the sun, but the kids really enjoyed it (and learned something)!
Have you seen any of these types of things on other beaches? Do you leave up your tent? Do you group grill? What are some of your favorite traditions or customs from the beaches you have visited?
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29 comments Add your comment
FCM
August 3rd, 2009
8:31 am
My kids went to the beach with their Dad’s family this summer. They loved it. They went on the East coast of Florida. They usually put up a tent and leave it all week too. The sand chairs go up everyday as do boogie boards etc. The sand pails though get stored under the boardwalks.
I have not had a chance (money/time/etc) to take the kids on a vacation in several years. I am thinking of doing the mountains instead of the beach….But if there are single men at this beach of yours I might think again…LOL
motherjanegoose
August 3rd, 2009
8:34 am
Let’s see if this will post LOL…
LOVED YOUR PICTURES and I am so glad you had a nice trip! I have been near Orange Beach for meetings but never actually stayed there. Now, I want to go! Looks like fun and I cannot imagine leaving your things on the beach overnight…that is so cool. My sister can leave her purse on the front seat of her unlocked car while she runs into the Post Office in her little town…not in Atlanta!
FYI to catlady who mentioned last week that she has red hair…I read recently that red hair may become “extinct” as those whose genes carry it are not marrying and having babies with others within their nationality ( i.e. Irish as an example) and thus the brown hair is taking over. I love a beautiful head of red hair and think this is so sad. When people married and had children within their own nationalities, the traits stayed pure…not so much anymore. My niece has gorgeous red hair….I love it. We just have brown….
motherjanegoose
August 3rd, 2009
8:43 am
OOOPS…ethnicity and not nationality….sorry…have a great day all!
April
August 3rd, 2009
8:48 am
We love the beach but are pretty lazy. We carry a lot of stuff down to the beach but I was amazed on St. Simons recently at the amount of stuff some people took – and they did not leave it for the week. It took some people several trips back and forth and quite a bit of time to set up the tents, coolers, chairs, toys, etc. We just take a couple of chairs, towels, toys and are done. We are pale and can not tolerate a full day at the beach so we don’t plan to spend 10 hours at a time.
One custom I do not like is diving cars on the beach. In St. Augustine and a few other beaches we have visited, people drive right down to the beach and open their trunks. This does not just happen with cute beach jeeps but the family sedan, tool. I prefer not to have to worry about the little ones drowning and getting run over. Plus, I think it can not be very good for the car to get all that sand and salt in it.
I am glad you had fun. Orange Beach sounds like a nice place. You can’t beat the gulf beaches for their beautiful sand.
Annie
August 3rd, 2009
8:59 am
MotherJaneGoose, you referred to red hair being Irish; it’s a little known fact that only a small minority of 100% true Irish people have red hair. The majority have dark hair & eyes, a result of the Spanish influx after survivors swam ashore after ships went down off the coast of Ireland.
Keeping in line with this, I wonder why we, as Americans, are so eager to claim to be other nationalities rather than being proud to be American? I’m guilty of it too, as when I meet an Irish person I tell them I’m also Irish and then end up feeling stupid when they ask what part of the country I’m from. When they hear I’m 2nd generation Irish-American, they usually ask if I’ve been to Ireland, to which I have to reply “not yet”. Why can’t I just say I’m of Irish descent and leave it at that????
HB
August 3rd, 2009
9:56 am
Annie, I don’t htink it’s that Americans are eager to claim other nationalities rather than be proud to be American. I think it’s that being of other descent is so much a part of being American. Most of our families came here from somewhere else, whether that was under good or bad circumstances, so that’s a huge part of the American identity. Be proud of your Irish-American heritage! And I hope you do get to go to Ireland and learn more about your “roots” one day (maybe I can go to Italy and do the same!).
motherjanegoose
August 3rd, 2009
11:31 am
Theresa….where are the loyal bloggers? I am surprised, since the photos were so cute.
I am off to Memphis for meetings. Hope things pick up for you.
Jesse's Girl
August 3rd, 2009
12:16 pm
I am here you guys!! We vacationed next door to Theresa….without ever knowing it! We were in Gulf Shores…so much fun!
Teacher, Too
August 3rd, 2009
12:51 pm
We went to Orange Beach in July. I didn’t care for the town, although the beach itself was nice. I thought the restaurants were horrible- the food was expensive and not very good. I much prefer the west coast of Florida (Sarasota area) or North Florida (Jacksonville Beach– it’s gotten much better since I left Jax in 1984).
Photius
August 3rd, 2009
12:57 pm
The pictures are lovely and I have never heard of Orange Beach – now I do! I use to go to Destin but it’s so crowded now and it’s full of nothing but people from Atlanta. I like how you can leave your stuff on the beach all week without fear of having someone rip it off – that is really nice!
The only thing I cringe at is seeing tents with college football logos… it’s just a bizarre southern thing. On the Jersey shore you see New York Giants logo tents and the occupants are normally huge fat Italian guys with wife-beater t-shirts, hariy chests, and gold chains wearing speedos.
Denise
August 3rd, 2009
1:01 pm
Jesse’s girl, when were you in Gulf Shores? I was there last weekend and had a very nice time.
I don’t really beach because I’m not a water person or, really, an outdoors person. We had a condo on the beach (Phoenix West is perfect!) but I only went out there once to walk. I just liked looking at the water from the balcony. Very calming and quieted my mind. I’d go again just to SEE the water.
JATL
August 3rd, 2009
1:49 pm
We go to several different beaches, but I haven’t been to the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area in years. It was always nice though. Maybe we’ll look into it for next year’s beach vacation. I am a “beach queen”. LOVE IT -and I have two ways of doing the beach depending on if the kids are along or not:
1) The child-free beach excursion with either girl friends or hubby involves a cooler of Natural Light (perfect beach beer -drink all day and have a nice buzz at the end) because it’s really like beer-flavored water! I LOVE to drink beer and read a great book on the beach from about 10 AM until 6 PM. I always take a raft so I can go out and float (and pee) intermittently throughout the day.
2) The children’s beach vacation -still take a book and a couple of beers but of course we have the kiddie stuff. I don’t hassle with a tent -just a large umbrella. I love my double BOB jog stroller because we can load it down with stuff plus the baby and when it’s naptime both kids will still sleep in it.Of course this vacation entails lots of digging, kite flying, snacking, getting in and out of the ocean, sand castle building and more digging! We’re usually in by 3 or 4 with the kids and always try to get a place with a good pool so we can head there before going to the condo or in the house or go back out to the pool in the evening.
I’ve never left my stuff on the beach, but we don’t use a tent so we load up the BOB stroller, and I also have a WonderWheeler. I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT ENOUGH if you’re an avid beach-goer. Rolls through the sand and you can pack a phenomenal amount of stuff in it and on it including a great area for beach chairs.
My girlfriends and I saw a bunch of older mothers with their teenage kids on the beach last year during our girl’s trip. We agreed that we had to train our kids like they had because the teenagers were schlepping all of the mom’s stuff out and THEN running back and forth to refresh their drinks! Fabulous!
Theresa Walsh Giarrusso
August 3rd, 2009
2:16 pm
JATL — that is fabulous — I want in on that training too!! We’re working on housework training now full throttle!! More on that another day!!!
We were in the Pheonix II — here’s my only issue — they’re so large, it is very crowded out of in front of the condo — but you want to be in front of the condo to go back to the pool and the bathroom throughout the day!
By the way last summer we had the question do you pee in the ocean — Well I’d like to report that on the first day of our trip Walsh standing on the shore at the water line looking out at the water pulled down his little pants, whipped it out and peed into the ocean from the beach. We were horrified!!!!
Stan
August 3rd, 2009
2:51 pm
“Walsh standing on the shore at the water line looking out at the water pulled down his little pants, whipped it out and peed into the ocean from the beach. We were horrified!!!!”
OMG ROFLOLLOLOLOL
Kathy
August 3rd, 2009
4:22 pm
I have heard that people love Orange Beach, but from what I gather it seems crowded! I go on vacation to get away and relax and the last thing I want to do is be right next to someone on the beach. We like the uncrowded peacefulness of St. George. There we do leave a tent up all week but we lug our stuff in every afternoon because we are just never sure of the tide. We like to rent a beachfront house…..condos just aren’t for us. We like having lots of room to spread out and the car/bikes parked under the house so we can go places easily. All 3 of us LOVE the beach so we go in April before it gets scorching so we can sit on the beach all day. Little E is a little mermaid so she is in the water most of the time or digging in the sand. When I am not playing with her I have my nose in a book. My hubby just like to sit and relax or play. Can’t wait to get back there next year!
About redheads……my nephew is a red head and there is not a speck of Irish or Spanish in him! I have read that redheadedness (is that a word?) is a recessive gene and both parents have to carry it to produce a redheaded child. My nephew is as red as a crayon!
TnT's Mom
August 3rd, 2009
4:23 pm
We go to a very quiet beach in Florida every Labor Day. It is a State Park and only open to those camping there. The sites are directly across the dunes and although we don’t leave umbrellas and stuff up overnight, we do leave it allday. The beach is so close to our camper, we can walk back and forth easily to rinse off, eat, refresh drinks or whatever. Just outside of the state park is only rental homes, no hotels or condos. No stores (two small convenience stores), no tourist traps, very peaceful. It is even 30 minutes to the nearest grocery store. We spend 4 days relaxing and playing on the beach with an adult beverage, books and each other. Thankfully my boys are old enough that I don’t have to watch them every second.
YUKI
August 3rd, 2009
4:47 pm
Cute pictures. I have always enjoyed Orange Beach, you cannot beat the gulf coast for beautiful sand and water. Other Florida/Georgia beaches just don’t cut it!
We are heading to the Rosemary area for Labor Day. This will be my 18 month old’s first trip to the beach. We are going with two other families and will have six adults and four kids under two! Should be interesting. We found a great house near the beach to rent with it’s own pool so I’m sure we will be spending a lot of time at the house since I’m sure the little ones won’t last all day at the beach. I’m so looking forward to starting our own beach traditions, now just in a family way instead of the wild times we used to have when we were single!
Becky
August 3rd, 2009
4:48 pm
Kathy, about redhead..I have an older sister that has 3 redheaded daughters..She has medium brown hair and her ex had almost jet black hair..We have quiet a few redheads in my family, but her ex had none that anyone in his family knew about..
AS for beaches, we only go local..Neither one of us are real beach people..I would much rather be in the mountains..But when we do go, we only take the basics..Towels, sunscreen, toys for the kids..
Claire
August 3rd, 2009
4:49 pm
I will always claim the best beach ever is Folly Beach in South Carolina. My family rents a house there every summer (there are VERY few condos right on the beach– I believe they have a law that no new highrises may be built on the beach). It’s GREAT! Very low key, which is my kind of beach. We wake up, load up on sunscreen, pack a cooler, and head down our walkway to the beach. It’s a very popular place for students from the College of Charleston to go, but they all hang out at the pier (which is awesome in itself) and they’re not much of the partiers… they like to just surf and enjoy the beach as much as everyone else. Lots of games go on- bocci ball, redneck golf, corn hold… etc. The pier is always fun to go to at anytime, especially at night- where you can see HUGE fish being caught. I’ve seen a stingray caught that was wider than I am tall, but they don’t come up close to shore. We leave our tent up over night, but usually put our chairs, rafts, etc right down at the end of our walkway… so we don’t lug them all the way back up to the house, but they’re out of public view. I’m sure we probably could leave them out overnight without issue though. At least once or twice during the week that we are there we will drive to Charleston for the day, which is just 20-30 minutes away and go shopping in the open air market. It’s 100% my favorite place.
Has anyone else been there? Or heard of it?
April
August 3rd, 2009
5:26 pm
JATL – Thanks for the rec. on the Wonder Wheeler. I have been looking at them online thinking of ordering one for next summer. It would have been soooo handy last week and I can think of a thousand other uses for it. I will definitely order one now.
JATL
August 3rd, 2009
6:08 pm
You’ll love it April! I’ve had mine for 3 years now, and it has held up well. It’s much-abused during beach vacations and music festivals!
Love Walsh peeing in the ocean! My 3 year old whips it out to pee in our front yard, in our bushes and was about to at the public pool today! I keep telling him peeing outside is only for the backyard, camping and in the grass beside his grandparent’s pool, but it just doesn’t sink in! When we were at the beach in June, he and I were out in the ocean playing and suddenly he said VERY loudly “I’m peeing! I’m peeing!” Several people who had swum up near us started swimming away. Good thing I didn’t announce it myself ;-)
Kathy
August 3rd, 2009
6:11 pm
Claire…..my brother went to school in Charleston and I have been to Folly Beach when I visited him at school. It is a cool place! Charleston is one of my favorite places on the planet. The market is awesome. My hubby and I went on our honeymoon there 7 years ago. LOVE LOVE LOVE Charleston.
Jesse's Girl
August 3rd, 2009
7:46 pm
We were in Gulf Shores from July 25- the 1st…..LOVED IT!
motherjanegoose
August 3rd, 2009
8:48 pm
My sister and I saw a WonderWheeler last year and were SO impressed.
Too bad it is not something you can check on the airplane…we usually fly.
Denise
August 3rd, 2009
10:47 pm
JG, I was there on the 24th – 26th. I love that place. Phoenix West is the best thing going.
DB
August 4th, 2009
10:36 am
Cute pics, Theresa — glad your family had a good time! We’re not really beach people — we tend to sightsee, or hit family lakehouses in the mountains, so I don’t have any valid observations on the differences between beaches!
I’m up in New York City for a couple of days for a last-minute mini-vacation with my daughter before we head off to college. As she commented, this is the first time she’s been to NYC and not with a grroup, so she could do whatever she pleased — it pleases her to shop! Off to a play this evening, after lunch in Little Italy and the afternoon at the MMA, followed by a walk down 5th.
Helen
August 4th, 2009
11:57 am
I love Folly Beach. I used to live 7 miles from there and would often go to the beach after work. Now, I live in AL and I have not been to Orange Beach or Gulf Shores. It was so much easier going to the beach when I was in SC. Now, it requires so much planning.
jodee
August 4th, 2009
4:24 pm
Never really liked the beach…..much prefer mountains and lakes.
Cheap Shoes
December 7th, 2009
5:20 am
HAHA! VERY GOOD!