i avoid landlock
Long ago, there was an extensive hiking trip begun by some enterprising inhabitants of Africa. Starting not too far from what became Dikembe Mutombo’s house, some folks went South, narrowly beating Cecil Rhodes to the punch by a scant few thousand years. The rest went searching for the elusive Northeast Passage and eventually reached Florida as the Seminole and Miccosukee Indians, again beating Ponce De Leon to the punch and wrapping up all future gambling and tax free cigarette concessions.
The goal of all these moves is to have a place to stay, but as it stands in most countries, the coastlines hold the vast majority of population. I am part of this populace in social construct and genetics. I’ve lived near the beach my entire life, about 5 minutes bike ride in high school and less than 45 minutes now. Can’t imagine living somewhere that the ocean was not. It’s a draw that I don’t want to force myself away from and a reason I could live in Boston, but definitely not Chicago. Don’t care that there’s a “beach” on the shore of the “lake” where I could swim or that there are in fact girls in bikinis that sound like Mike Ditka.
I need the vastness of a real ocean, Northern tourists : deep fried tan spring breaker or Quebecois old man with a huge gut and inversely proportional Speedo, Grouper fishing and casino cruises rated with a vomit factor. My dad lived in a condo on Redington Beach in between St. Pete and Clearwater for a couple of years and Gulf side has the best dusk and sunsets. I have a camera I’ll be getting soon as it comes out (MZ67 for the 6x optical) and first job is to head to the beaches. Picture quality will definitely improve but for now, here are the pictures from his back yard with my phone.
Right near de beach, BOYEEEEEEE!