Favourite Things - New Realisation

I am a 'hills' kind of girl.  Cool, fresh mountain air.  Chilly winters, enveloped in still, fog in the mornings.  Roaring fires.  That's my kind of deal.  I adore where I live, and my little town is about the best place I can imagine living.

And then there's the beach.

I grew up less than a handful of kilometres from the beach, in a little tropical paradise.  We swam almost every day, not because it was idyllic, but because we needed to cool off.  It was sticky and hot and we had no air conditioning back those days.  Listening to the ocean roar at night was my favourite sound, after tropical rain thundering on our uninsulated tin roof.

Last week I mentioned that we'd been away with old friends, and we always camp near the beach in a  foreshore caravan park.  It is way more upmarket than the foreshore caravan parks I remember when I was small!  After about 10-12 years of avoiding the beach there, I finally ventured out.  Miss Mischief and I walked to the front of the caravan park, because I just wanted to see the water.  When we discovered the tide was out I was easily convinced to walk back to our caravan along the shoreline.

What I remembered was that I love walking on wet sand when the tide is a long way out.  It's easy to walk on, and it is just so relaxing.  We slipped off our thongs and enjoyed wet sand and water between our toes.  And I said "I wish I'd done this yesterday", about 10 times.

I wouldn't swap where I live for all the tea in China, but I was reminded of how much I love to walk on the beach.  We'll be near the beach again in a few weeks, and this is what I'm looking forward to.  Long walks along the beach on wet sand when the tide is out.

What's your favourite place to be?  Beach, hills, or somewhere in between, like the suburbs?