SeeCalifornia.com

All the lovely people–where do they all come from? California’s summer of 2012 has arrived and people are taking the beaches by storm. From Doheny to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, people come by the swarms–millions of them. How many exactly? In one city alone, Huntington Beach (shown in photo,) they estimate they get around 15 million visitors per year at the beach and most come during the summer’s main 13 weeks between June and Labor Day weekend.

Tips for the beach trip:

• Check the weather before you go. Some days the sun may never break through and you’ll see overcast, clouds and cool weather–not exactly hot bikini bathing time.
• Don’t be naive. If it’s 4th of July or US Open of Surfing (July 28-August 5), there is no parking during the prime times when you’re probably going. Get there early and be prepared to travel the distance to your favorite spot. Traffic backs up because the parking is sold out, street closures are enacted and people have no backup plans.
• Take money. Some places such as parking lots may not be equipped for credit cards. Cash is still a good thing to have. Keep some quarters in the car, too.
• Don’t take the dog. Unless you’ve checked it out ahead of time, many beaches won’t allow dogs in the summer and the limited dog beaches may not have parking. If you really want to “do the beach”, you’re not going to be able to leave a pet in the car all day.  Do your homework and make sure the dog will work out for you.
• Keep the car filled with gas. If you’re stuck in one of those notorious L.A., San Diego or  San Francisco traffic jams, it’s not a good time to run out of gas.
• Have back-up plans. Everything at the beach  is taxed on certain days. You may have told your friends you’d have a wiener roast but then there’s no available bonfire pit. Maybe you told them you’d have a party, but they can’t find parking to get to it. We’ve made those mistakes and our birthday party attendance was down 50% due to parking issues. In our instance, we even used a beach concessionaire caterer and spent a lot of money on wasted food. Bummer!