[gotoseagrl]

Thank you Anya, these are very sweet memories. I also grew up going to my aunt's beach house every summer down at Newport. I loved when she would take me into the gift shops on Balboa Island and I kept my seahorse and shell souvenirs as long as I could before they fell apart.

I grew up and have lived most of my life near the same beaches, and what a treat. There is no sanctuary for me like being by the ocean, all the sounds, sights and smells. And personal reflection.

Originally Posted by *Anya*

What a lovely idea for a thread.

I have loved the ocean since I was a kid.

When we lived in New Jersey, every summer my parents would rent a beach house at the "shore". We called it the shore back east.

You may picture a fancy beach house but it was always a little more than a shack a couple of blocks to the beach and my mother would weigh us down like pack mules to carry everything for the day, since we never went back until after the sun started to go down.

One summer, I was so excited to go but my brother and I had a fight washing the car and I kicked him in the shin and fractured one toe and sprained the other four. I was taped up in the ER and my punishment was that I couldn't go in the water and get it wet the whole week that we were there.

Then, we moved to Maryland and we would go to Ocean City, MD each summer. I loved it! Loved the ocean and walking on the boardwalk with my girl-friends. We would lay on the sand for hours and cover ourselves in baby oil ( ). To this day, if I smell baby oil, I can see myself at Ocean City.

I moved to California in my early 20's. I absolutely love that I am so close to the ocean. Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I jump in the car and take my pick of beaches. Out here, no one calls it the shore. We go to the beach here.

There are even a couple of campgrounds right on the beach in CA. It was one of my favorite things to do with my recent ex: reserve one of the ocean-front sites, take her RV, park it and look at the ocean for hours. I love the sound of the ocean, too. It is mesmerizing and so peaceful.

There is nothing else like the ocean.

If I ever won the lottery (if I actually ever bought tickets, for starters) I would buy an ocean-front house so I could sit on my balcony and watch the ocean all day long.