Spending The Fourth On The Beach

I know it won't come as a surprise to hear I usually spend my 4th of July holiday on the beach.

* Not a perfect fireworks photo, but I didn't bring a tripod with me and I might have been drinking vodka.

In fact, Briefcase and I got married on the 4th of July, twenty four years ago, on the beach.

Also?

I'm a beach rat, born and raised.

I usually try to avoid holiday crowds on the coast, but there's nothing like watching fireworks over the ocean - it's the best.

In an effort to avoid the worst of the crowds (Newport, Huntington and Laguna Beach), I went to San Clemente. I also made a point not to arrive until after 4:00 in the afternoon. (This is normal for me, regardless of the date. I prefer late afternoons and evenings at the beach.)

Because of the holiday, it was much (!!) more crowded than normal.

People, people - people everywhere!

There was also a strong police presence, which I've never seen at the beach before. I saw several people get arrested. I'm not sure for what ... maybe public drunkenness?

The police were checking people's coolers for alcohol in the parking lot before they even got to the beach.

I also witnessed several lifeguard rescues.

A lot of people have no business being in the ocean. You know who you are people, so why do you go in the water anyway?

My friend, Nike, and I took a long, long, walk. It's a tradition we have, regardless of where we've set up camp for the day. We walk forever, we talk, we check out lifeguard rescues and ridiculous tourists. We notice hot men we'll never see again and we stroll past them like we're way too good for them.

Which we probably are.

Either that, or they're too good for us?

It was such a beautiful afternoon and evening.

Seriously, there are no words to describe how perfect it was.

* The train runs right next to the sand in San Clemente.

Nike's husband couldn't get over the spectacular sunset.

He kept telling me, over and over, to take photos because it was so beautiful.

"No one will believe the colors," I told him. "They'll think I photoshopped the hell out of my photos."

I'll share more of the sunset (and 4th of July) photos with you in upcoming days, but honestly the sky went from pink to gold to bright pink, to orange to ....

Well, it was just amazing.

Mother Nature wasn't about to be outdone by a fireworks show.

(Yes, both sunset photos, and the shot of the train, have been uploaded to the album titled Beach 2011 in my photo gallery! Thank you for your continued interest in my photography and, as always, please let me know if I've forgotten to upload one of your favorites.)

© Twenty Four At Heart

6 Comments

Absolutely stunning sunset photos!

Posted by: Gina | July 06, 2011 at 06:15 AM

Being a beach lover who, by some cruel twist of fate, was born and raised in the Midwest, I'm so jealous!!! You're photos are absolutely beautiful and just reinforces my craving for sand and surf making it extremely difficult to be here at my office surrounded by hot asphalt instead. Living somewhere that has the most gorgeous beaches on Earth would be like being able to take a mini vacation whenever I wanted!

Posted by: kgray1396 | July 06, 2011 at 06:22 AM