The beach: Summer’s most overrated attraction

With less than a month until spring, the thought of the return of decent weather is anxiously awaited. While spring is the beginning of it all, summer is the height of the consistently warmer weather. And with the start of summer, many destinations typically closed in the winter return to popularity, though one in particular has never received my outpouring of support: the beach.

As far as summer destinations go, the beach has always been the most overrated. One of the initial shortcomings of a place like this is the idea of lying in the sand for hours on end. While it is not exceptionally difficult to wash away sand, it still comes with the discomfort of roughness and itchiness. Assuming you do not simply just walk on it, it seems no matter how well you believe you have rinsed yourself off prior to leaving the beach, there is always more sand somewhere on your body. 

The beach, with its very nature as a seasonal attraction, brings plenty of people. While large gatherings of people can be fine to an extent, the beach just does not seem to present the relaxing getaway many people think of when there are hundreds of other people within just a few feet of you. While the same can be said for plenty of other locations, there really is so little solitude at the beach—with everything out in the open there are typically no barriers to act as some form of privacy.  

With large numbers of people comes their music. While it is fine to bring a radio or speaker, it seems it is far too common to have people take the beach setting as an open invitation to blast their playlists as loud as they can. While some people may choose to ignore it, or perhaps embrace the music, it is difficult to have a good time when someone else’s noise is so loud. 

Perhaps one of the better aspects of the beaches in the north, especially on the Great Lakes, is swimming. One part of every beach experience is at least dipping your toes in the water, and while swimming has never been my favorite, it is reassuring to look into the water and know a shark will not be hungrily stalking me. While I know shark attacks are rare in the ocean, I’m offered much more mental freedom when the chance goes from unlikely to zero. 

 While there are definite positive aspects to visiting a beach, there are so many potential irritants that make frequent visits less than worthwhile. While the beach is a great place to stroll or people watch, to spend an entire day rolled out on a blanket or splashing in the water does not seem to me to be an appealing proposition. At best, the beach is somewhere you go to get annoyed. 

Thumbnail photo via Pexels