By The Beautiful Sea

    ... Continued from yesterday:
      Last Friday my daughter suggested that we spend the day - that is, the pre-napping segment of the day - at the beach, an easily accessible and frequent destination  as my daughther and her family live 2 miles from where the neighborhood ends,

...and the sand begins.

     The Manhattan Beach panorama is so beautiful,

...with the Palos Verde Peninsula to the south,

...and Santa Monica to the north.
Okay, I totally cheated here with my super-zoom lense,

...but it's still  a really nice view - a little  less zoomed-out here,

…the palm trees and  architecture behind us,

...the sky above, and the sparkling blue sea below,

…this being the deepest I ever venture out into, and I'm perfectly happy just to walk along the beach, "close by the margin of the water",  as the Stephen Foster song goes.

     The thing is, despite being a native Philadelphian -  meaning that I should have some Jersey Shore in my DNA -  the ocean has always scared me.  Maybe it's because I never learned to swim.  Or maybe I just don't like being tossed around. 
      However, for those who do, Manhattan Beach is known to be a great surfing beach,

...and there were quite a few surfers out looking for good waves the day we were there.

      Manhattan Beach is also considered the mecca of  beach volleyball, and The Manhattan Beach Open national beach volleyball championship tournaments are held here.

      However for the rest of us there was the sun and the sand,

...and the surf,

...and the swings,

...and a cute  little carry-out restaurant on the beach

...from which we bought surprisingly yummy wraps, salads, grilled cheese sandwiches, and french fries.

      Or maybe everything just tastes better he sea.