A story on the internet news predicted that this summer will be particularly hot, and they were reviewing the world’s best beaches. I don’t sit on the beach anymore since I’m prone to skin cancer. This is the result of growing up when sitting out in the sun was thought to be healthy. If fact some people, probably including me, would compound the mistake by lathering up with plenty of baby oil, and then sit out roasting for five or six hours at the beach. What we didn’t know then is now hurting us, but those weekend trips to the beach were one of the things I really looked forward to.
THE TRECK TO THE BEACH
I remember a family trip to Coney Island Beach one summer. Now a trip to the beach for a regular family shouldn’t be too complicated. It’s just a matter of getting all the beach stuff together, packing a lunch, and you’re on your way. Our trips to the Coney Island Beach were a major production. It first started the night before when my father started to assemble what we needed, like beach chairs, blankets, towels, etc. My mother was busy preparing our lunch. So now we were ready. During the week when my father went to work, he was waking up at 3AM, so getting up at 6AM for the beach trip was late for him. After breakfast we divided all our gear between the four of us and started off to the subway station. Our train station was an elevated station for two stops, and then went into the tunnel. My father never wanted to miss a train, and have to wait for the next one. So, when we were about two blocks from the station, he would start listening intently for a train leaving the station before ours. On this particular trip that’s just what happened. In order to make this train, and be in the right position for the transfer to the next train, we started to run full speed to the station. Then running up the first two flights of stairs. My father already had the correct change for the fare for my mother, and himself. My sister and I just went under the turnstile. Next came the two flights of stairs to the train platform. Then we had to run down the platform to the correct car position. If anyone was watching us, we probably resembled a scene from a Marx’s Brothers movie. The rest of the trip to Coney Island beach was uneventful.
THE BEACH
Finally, there we were, a family of four standing on the boardwalk looking at the ocean. Now on a normal hot humid summer day, Coney Island Beach had upwards of one million people all spread out on their blankets and chairs. Even as big as Coney Island beach is, a million people meant that it was blanket to blanket with no room to walk in between. That was not what my father wanted. That’s why at 8AM the four of us were standing on the boardwalk staring at a completely empty beach. We traipsed with all our belongings to a spot close to the water that was aligned with the staircase from the boardwalk and “made camp.” For the next two hours we splashed in the water, built sand castles and enjoyed our solitude. When it was 10AM, of course it was time for lunch. We ate and resumed playing in the water, and on the sand. Sometime around 11AM to 11:30AM when people started to arrive, it was time to break camp, pack up and head for home. On our trips to the beach, we never took in the rides and games that Coney Island had to offer. My father and I usually did that on other trips. By 1PM we were safely back in our apartment, all cleaned up with everything put away.
