Panini's and Bikini's

I spent a splendiferous day on Franklin Street beach in Long Beach with my beloved, catching lots of sunshine to ensure vitamin D buildup in anticipation for a long, dark winter. How looming! Actually, I am more than impressed at how well the beaches are kept and how people tend to behave themselves much more than on many of the Jones Beach fields. Although I will always have a sweet spot for "Jones" my old bones can't make the mile long trek from the car to the beach any longer. I know...I know, I'm only 41 but when you are lugging chairs, a cooler, heavy terry beach towels, Ipod's, phones and my favorite orange Orbit gum, you need assistance. We purchased a beach cart a few years ago which has been a great help to us. Looking more like a granny's grocery cart or what I used to deliver my newspapers in on my infamous afternoon route, the cart has taken much pressure off me to carry more things and off my hubby's back...literally.

After finding the perfect spot on the beach, we set up camp with our big kahuna chairs and tiki umbrella I coveted a few years ago from a fellow beach goer at Jones. When I asked her where she bought the island spirited umbrealla, I discovered she could barely speak the language (she was Swedish)but she managed to mutter, "Ekerd." I realized she acquired it from the local drugstore and while I managed to locate one, I wanted an extra umbrella to save for summer's to come. I drove around to seven Ekerd's never finding another, until the following summer. There goes that Murphy's Law thing again!

I've gotten much better at finding the premiere location on the beach. I don't like to sit on top of others, so we spread our camp out, leaving lots of space between our beach items. Today, I wasn't so careful. While Vic and I were hanging out on a sandbar in shallow water surveying the mass of mussels that washed up on shore, a family plopped down, inches away from my padded Indonesian beach mat, purchased a few years ago at The Christmas Tree Shop in Albany. Upon returning to our blankets, we were assaulted by a five year old screeching every two seconds because she felt like it. She wasn't sad or mad, hurt or hungry, just out of control. Her mother ignored her nasty yelps but while she tuned her child out, the rest of my fellow beach goers weren't so fortunate. I quickly reached for my Ipod but it was dead so Vic offered his up. I managed to get in a few Beach Boys songs when the yeller and her family went down by the water. I felt victorious, even if it was fleeting.

The rest of our time spent on Franklin was filled with our laughter, Vic's rants about how he's been dissed by car dealer after car dealer (the scum of the earth) and the culls of sea gulls feasting on various forms of sea crustaceans washed ashore after rough seas. Basically, the day was glorious and relaxing. Even if you hate the beach, there is nothing like sitting along the shore with a nice breeze blowing, getting in some well deserved sun. I wait all year for those moments and they sustain me even through the most heinous weather.

Tonight we will go for a nice two mile stroll along the LB boardwalk and then head to the West End for a little shopping and some tasty creations at Panini's and Bikini's. Isn't that a silly name for an eatery?? I hope the food is better than the name!