Come Monday

I'm not normally a beach kinda guy. Pale skin and pudgy around the middle doesn't add up to a comfortable beach experience for this particular dude. But Gia loves the sun and I do what I can to keep up. That has led to some actual color on my skin this year. I've even made a few trips to the dreaded beach. And on Long Island, we have some extremely varied choices when it comes to beaches because of the geography of the island.

It's all a part of the unique North Shore/South Shore dichotomy (mentioned here) that exists here on our island.

You see, Long Island was formed during the two most recent Ice Ages around 21,000 years ago.  When the glaciers receded on two separate occasions, gravel and loose rock was left over in the form of two moraines that run along the North Shore and the middle of the island.  Everything south of that second moraine is an outwash plain.  That's just a bunch of technical hoo-ha to explain the fact that the beaches on the North Shore of the island are rocky, hard  and awful while the beaches on the South Shore are sandy, soft and beautiful.

I experienced both in the past two weekends.  Two Sundays ago, my sister and brother-in-law took us to Fire Island (the non-gay section) on their boat to watch the fireworks over the bay.  It's a barrier beach on the South Shore of the island, for those of you not in the know.  The fireworks were preceded by a day of play on the ocean.  And the beach was gorgeous.  Then yesterday, we opted for the closer option.  A North Shore beach* that is about a mile from our house.  The best thing I can say about it is that it's convenient.  Other than that...not much.

*Here's a picture of a typical North Shore beach. Try walking on that beach with your bare feet!

We packed a lunch, grabbed the NY Times and a beach blanket and we were off.  And I was cooked after about 2 hours even with a liberal dose of sunscreen.  But since it was so close to our home, I was able to run home for a while and pick Gia up a couple of hours later.  She can spend all day at the beach as long as the water is inviting.  Me?  Not so much.

It's 7PM on Sunday as I'm writing this and I'm watching the Jimmy Buffett Gulf Coast Benefit show streaming on CMT.com.  Seems to be a fitting end of the day for a dude with beach brain.

Hope y'all had a nice, sun-filled weekend!

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Note: Remember to play the Badgerdaddy Trivia Challenge every day. "I got my hush puppies on, I guess I was never meant for glitter rock and roll."