“If there’s heaven for me, I’m sure it has a beach attached to it” wrote singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.

Beach goers like Buffet are profusive in their praise. “There’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away,” wrote poet Sarah Kay. A less modern day poet, T.S. Elliot put it this way: “At the beach—time you enjoyed wasting, is not wasted.”

I was surprised by the sheer number of beach walkers. I guess I shouldn’t be. The U.S. has nearly 100,000 miles of shoreline (along the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes). And beaches are the top tourist destination in the U.S. Over 180 million Americans make a total of about 2 billion trips, more than double the visits to all the national and state parks combined.

Why do people love the beach so?  “I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought,” wrote Helen Keller. Besides the alluring smell, walkers talk about the feel of the sand on bare feet and almost all mention the sound of the surf breaking on the land, especially if the land has rocks to add contrast to its notes played on the tierra firma.

Add to this the sea vanishing into blue sky on the horizon, and one has a sense of the immenseness of beauty itself. As one unknown beach walker wrote, “nothing soothes the soul like a walk on the beach.”

 

**Book update: I’m about to release the book. Have received proof copies and hopefully fixed all the errors. You’re going to love the pictures. Did I tell you each page has a really cool nature photo to go along with my short essay (blog)? Because I was able to find such amazing photos (I didn’t take them), I’m publishing this as a hardback (along with the paperback and e-book). With its large size (7 x 10), it should make a nice coffee table book.

When the time draws near I’m going to “almost giveaway” the e-book to get things started (in order to count in my stats, Amazon won’t let me sell them for nothing). I’ll let you know when it goes live.

Thanks again for reading my stuff. Nothing brings a writer more joy!