Fun Turn - Not Sun Burn, at the Beach
by Bill Russo
author at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo/Walmart, and Apple
Who doesn’t
love a day at the beach? Under bright
sunshine, Mom and Dad can swim, work on a tan, or just lie back on the warm
sand. The kids can build castles at the
water’s edge and dive into the waves.
Budding
scientists can investigate the aquatic life, tide pools, and ocean-crafted pieces of drift wood. Beach time can be very relaxing and
refreshing. Any trip, however, can come to an uncomfortable ending if you fail
to do a little fore-planning.
Some folks
are lucky enough to reside within a few hundred feet of the ocean, but for
most, a trip to the water means a ride in the car. Since that’s where your trip
begins, it’s wise to make a quick inspection of the vehicle. Take out the golf clubs from the trunk, or
the ‘recyclables’ that have been piling up for a dump trip. An empty trunk gives you more room for beach
stuff.
The Long Steel Line trying to leave mainland Massachusetts and enter Cape Cod
Take a look
at the glove box too. Make room for some band aids, sunblock, perhaps some aspirins,
a few Tums for the tummy, and perhaps a book.
A brief
inspection of tires, oil and other fluid levels, is also a good idea. Make sure your GPS or phone app is charged up
and ready to go.
“Are we
there yet?” voiced by impatient youngsters, is always a sign of a long trip and
those four words are almost guaranteed to send even the most patient parents
into a full blown dither.
Even a half
hour trip is a long journey for small children, so make sure they have water
bottles and (healthy) snacks. Car games
work well. Older kids can sometimes be
kept busy tracking license plates from different states. You could consider giving a small prize to
the first kid who spots a yellow car.
Be creative
and come up with some new ways for the children to pass the time, especially in
places like Cape Cod, off the coast of Massachusetts. Sometimes cars can be in a one hour ‘stall
and crawl’ just to make the last mile or two to get to the Bourne Bridge or the
Sagamore Bridge – the only two ways to get to the Cape by car.
One mile long, West Dennis Beach, Cape Cod
Once you get
to the beach, the first thing you need to do, after dragging everything from
the car to a perfect spot, is Block, Block, and Block. Sunblock, I mean. Use a sunblock with a high SOF rating – be especially
on guard during the blistering hours between ten in the morning and four in the
P.M.
If you go in
the water, your sunblock will get washed off, so you’ll need to put more on
when you get back to the blanket or recliner. Foot protection and eye
protection are also a concern. The sand
can get very hot. Also some areas have
more rocky beaches than sandy ones. You
might need to wear water shoes.
Like
anything else, a little pre-planning will pay big dividends. Make your day at the beach a memorable one
for the right reasons. You want the kids
to have a great recollection of the fun turn they had at the beach, not the sun
burn they got at the beach!
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by Bill Russo
a retired broadcaster and journalist living the dream on Cape Cod in Summer and tropical West Palm Beach, Florida in Winter. Bill's books include the Creature From the Bridgewater Triangle, the Ghosts of Cape Cod an a Smashwords exclusive. Whiz Bang City - the Last Wild West Town. It's the story of a wild west town in 1920s America. The gunfighters rode Model T cars to their shootouts on Main Street. The book is FREE and available only on Smashwords - a free site. https://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/695784/1/the-last-wild-west-town-whiz-bang-city
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