What does your beach house represent?

[Donna]

Here's a question for all you SoWal fans...What does your beach house (the one you own or the one you think of as yours) represent to you? For example, I think of Conch Out as my escape hatch, both literally and figuratively. When I/we can get down there, all thoughts of work and our daily life here evaporate. (Like it's so terrible :oops: ) It's as if those spray planes are hosing Valium into the air we breathe. And if I have an occasional night of insomnia, I take my own virtual tour of Conch Out, from the cozy bed down to the great room's sunshine and coffee, then out onto the beach. The only problem is that I seldom stay awake long enough for the beach part. Who needs drugs? (Please don't answer that last question.)

[gotothebeachmom]

Here's a question for all you SoWal fans...What does your beach house (the one you own or the one you think of as yours) represent to you? For example, I think of Conch Out as my escape hatch, both literally and figuratively. When I/we can get down there, all thoughts of work and our daily life here evaporate. (Like it's so terrible :oops: ) It's as if those spray planes are hosing Valium into the air we breathe. And if I have an occasional night of insomnia, I take my own virtual tour of Conch Out, from the cozy bed down to the great room's sunshine and coffee, then out onto the beach. The only problem is that I seldom stay awake long enough for the beach part. Who needs drugs? (Please don't answer that last question.)

Our place to run to, not from. It means family, friends old and new. A place to enjoy and give back to, not take away from. A place we've dreamed about and been lucky enough to have. A place to heal, recharge, and just enjoy. The place we are sad to leave and always happy to go to. The place you miss so much you are on a message board talking about, if you are not there! A place to celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, new grandchildren, holidays, life!

Glad you get up on sleepless nights and tour your place. Now I don't feel so strange. I can pull up our VT and almost imagine sitting on my deck and hearing the tree frogs on a starry night, with the jazz station on low and loving life!

Great thread Donna! Going to take the tour!:wub:

[Beachlover2]

No house - just a condo - but it represents our future!!! We have been coming down there since 1985 and made the decision 7 years ago to buy something before prices increased anymore - thank God!!!!!! We are ready to move now and live our dream - sure we will make half the money we make here - but that isn't so important anymore - the nest is empty - the only thing holding us back - parents that need us right now - so the dream is on hold for now. It might be on hold - but it is still alive. SJ's comment on 20+ hours for insurance at Starbucks sounds real good to me. :wub: :wub:

[kathydwells]

I don't own. Have stayed at Seagrove Villa's and Motel for the past 7 years. Anyway, I think of it as my beach home away from home. It is really hard for me to put it in words as to what it represents, but I will try. Solitude, Serenity, Beauty, Friendships, Love, it is that feeling of getting there again after 12 months and really feeling like you can just let all the cares of the world go. I work in the corporate world so I am stressed some, and it is so nice to let that go for 7 days. It recharges me!

[Rita]

Our dream, retirement home/second home.... Back in the 80's we had a rather jaded opinion of Florida as a place that was being over developed and natural areas ruined.

We had little interest in the beach, but after living in FL for 6 years and making occasional weekend treks to Crescent Beach on the Atlantic we fell in love with it.

Then we discovered the Gulf Coast beaches and :wub: .

We only get to look at our "beach house" when we come to SoWal and wish we were able to use it. (It's rented long term)
But boy do we enjoy working on it - in the yard and cleaning on the outside, putting in irrigation while listening to the surf in the distance and just knowing it's ours. :biggrin:

Then we look at the picture on the fridge at home and sometimes put it on computer screen. And keep dreaming for the day to come......................

[RiverOtter]

Profit :biggrin:

[kathydwells]

Profit :biggrin:

So sentimental....;-)

[Donna]

Oh, you Otter! Didn't take you for a robber baron. But, hey...what better way to invest than in a place you can love and enjoy in the here and now?

[Beach Runner]

Where do I begin?

First of all, I have always loved the beach. I am the child of a beach bunny who gets so brown in the sun after a few hours that she no longer looks Caucasian. We always went to St. Pete for spring break, Daytona Beach and Panama City Beach for about a month every summer, and then we'd stay at The Diplomat in Hollywood, FL, for the week following Christmas. Mom would take an array of formal gowns to wear to events in Miami Beach - The Supremes at The Fontainbleu on New Year's Eve, etc.

Just the sight of the beach and the Gulf brings tears to my eyes. My husband, who was born in Wisconsin and never experienced anything but the beautiful lakes up there, fell in love with the Gulf Coast as a student at Tulane. When we lived in South Carolina, we always went to Hilton Head, Kiawah, Isle of Palms, The Cloister, or Amelia Island Plantation, and kept doing that when we moved to Georgia. We noticed that everyone here took their beach vacations on the Panhandle. So we decided we'd try it. We were immediately hooked. Not to offend anyone, but there's no comparison between Atlantic beaches and the beaches on the Florida Panhandle.

We started rented condos at Sandestin. But after two summers in a row when the pool had to be closed for several 24-hour periods because a baby had pooped in the pool, we decided to rent a house with a pool. Randomly we ended up renting a house with a pool in Seagrove. We loved it! It was so great not to have to fight to get a chair by the pool, not to have to pack up to go to the beach/pool because we could just step out the door.

That's when "The Dream" started. We started looking at property, didn't find any house with a kitchen I liked, and made the crazy decision to build.

We love our home in Seagrove. It is such an oasis of relaxation for us. Yes, it adds a dimension of responsibility to our to-do list in that we have two houses to maintain. But it's worth it. The freedom from the clutter of the things at our main house just simplifies our experience at the beach house. Even when the weather is bad, just to sit on the sofa and look out at the Gulf brings tears to our eyes.

I rambled. Sorry. The bottom line is that I guess you'd say that our beach house is our stress relief and source of sanity from the pressures of life back in our world of work back home. Moreover, the beauty of nature just comforts us and reinforces our belief in God.

[Kimmifunn]

Profit :biggrin:
Inheritance!

[jdarg]

Inheritance!


Your honesty cracks me up! :funn:

[Kimmifunn]

Your honesty cracks me up! :funn:
:lolabove: Parrothead and I are going to have to split it I guess!

[jessifunn]

i thought you already spent yours?

[Kimmifunn]

i thought you already spent yours?
My dad says he's not old money or new money. He's no money! :funn:

[Miss Kitty]

My dad says he's not old money or new money. He's no money! :funn:

Better than FUNNy money!!!! Tell him about Kitty Kurrency!

[Rita]

Better than FUNNy money!!!! Tell him about Kitty Kurrency!
:lolabove:

[RiverOtter]

So sentimental....;-)

Maybe I should have said Capital Gain :idontno:

[RiverOtter]

Oh, you Otter! Didn't take you for a robber baron. But, hey...what better way to invest than in a place you can love and enjoy in the here and now?

I'm not. I had no idea what I was getting in to. Just along for the ride. Then I started watching the prices of surrounding properties on the N side of 30A. Realized I made a good purchase.

[Mermaid]

I am the child of a beach bunny who gets so brown in the sun after a few hours that she no longer looks Caucasian. We always went to St. Pete for spring break

This reminds me of something my son said more than a decade ago, and it still cracks me up when I think of it. We were at Treasure Island one summer, not far from St. Pete. One morning we were on the beach and all of a sudden my little boy yelled "Look Mom! There's an ORANGE man walking towards us!" I looked up and sure enough, this old grandpa was strutting by and he was so deeply tanned that he really did look orange! That was a generation that didn't know a blasted thing about sun protection, for sure.

Great thread, Donna. The beach to me is the place that all's right with the world. I look at that beautiful water with all those shades of turquoise and blue and I feel so at peace and happy. I could never get tired of it. I love walking along the shore. I love putzing around the little shops that dot 30-A, and riding my bike for miles. Throw in a beautiful beach house and I'm in my own personal nirvana.

The beach to me--our beach on 30-A--is perfection. And it's even better for the people, but that goes without saying. I'm talking about family and friends, both new and old, that have been down at the beach with us. That's the icing on the cake (and what a cake it is!). :wub:

[Donna]

Lovely thoughts, Mermaid! One of my favorite times at Grayton was a foggy winter morning where everything outside was white/white/white. I walked down Hotz Avenue to get a newspaper in front of The Red Bar (pre-Grayton General Store). Not a soul on the streets, just silence and that beautiful white light. :wub:

[steele mama]

Graytona Lodge (The Pink House) was built in 1956 by my Grandaddy, Daddy, Uncle Gene, Aunt Ann and Aunt Dot. It has always represented a gathering place for family and friends. We have one of the journal entries framed and hanging in the dining room. I am not remembering the words at this moment but maybe Oldtimer can help me out. Was always and still is a place for being together. Sitting around the kitchen table and talking, yelling out the window to the kids on the dock, filling the beach buggy with children and adults and heading out 2, 3 4...times a day. Read more here.

http://www.graytonbeach.com/pinkston.html

[seagrovelover]

That was really nice steele mama....I can almost feel the wood floor, and theres nothing better than finding a paperback book in an old dresser.....it reminds me of our lake house, same feelings...... different place :wub:

[Beach Runner]

There's an ORANGE man walking towards us!"

The beach to me--our beach on 30-A--is perfection.

Mom doesn't turn orange - she turns a beautiful golden brown color.

Yes, 30-A is such a blessing!

[Miss Kitty]

Mom doesn't turn orange - she turns a beautiful golden brown color.

Yes, 30-A is such a blessing!

Thanks for clearing that up BR. I'd hate to think your mother was ORANGE!

[Beach Runner]

Thanks for clearing that up BR. I'd hate to think your mother was ORANGE!
You're funn, girl.

Actually Mom is more red (as in, neck) than orange, but I love her!