My Favorite Beaches

I have had a very lucky life because my family loves the ocean. Living in a landlocked state has actually been a blessing in disguise because it causes us to seek out new beaches and plan new beach trips every year.

Lots of my favorite memories with family and friends have to do with beach trips! Life is just better on the coast.

One of my favorite things about the ocean is that it looks different every single day. Every beach has a completely different feel to it, and each individual beach has different colors and vibes depending on the day. Some beaches are better than others. Example...I'm not really that fond of any beaches in the L.A. area. And some beaches, like Mission Beach or Carlsbad, are gorgeous but far too crowded.

So, here is a tribute to the top 15 winners. My favorite beach towns and beaches:

15. Outer Banks, North Carolina

I have fond memories of staying in the Outer Banks! The fact that Rachel threw up in the car on the way there is not one of them. North Carolina has that Atlantic Ocean warm water, without the crowds and cheesiness of Orlando.

14. Cape May, New Jersey

This one wins the New England adorable factor. There's nothing else to say about it.

13. Virginia Beach, Virginia

Virginia is for lovers! I loved walking up and down this boardwalk with an ice cream cone in hand.

12. Ocean City, New Jersey

This is where I learned to boogie board. Of all our beach trips, Ocean City may be the place where we spent the most time actually in the water. These waves are perfect for playing in. We even had one day where it was pouring rain and the water was still nice.

11. Monterrey Bay, San Francisco, California

This water is freezing, but the rocky shores, sailboats, and bridges are beautiful. Plus, this is where are the sea lions are!

10. Indian Beach, Oregon

The colors here were phenomenal. Of course this isn't an ideal swimming spot, but the fact that the forest goes right up to the coast is breathtaking. Standing on top of these cliffs and then walking o the beach was amazing!

9. La Jolla, San Diego, California

San Diego is world famous for its beaches, and La Jolla has some of the prettiest ones. More than once, we have watched 4th of July fireworks from La Jolla beaches and it's just perfect! La Jolla also has a lot of really fun tide pools to play in.

8. Temple Beach, Laie, Hawaii

Okay so...I don't know if this is actually called Temple Beach, but it is the one you can see from the Laie temple. It is gorgeous, and there was hardly anyone on it, at least when we were there. Look at those palm trees! This is one of those beaches you can walk down for a long time without running into a cliff or something.

7. Jax Beach, Jacksonville, Florida

One reason I prefer Florida beaches to California ones is because in Florida there is plenty of beach for everyone. The East Coast doesn't have the rocky shores that the West Coast does, so the beaches just go on forever. Jax Beach is a lovely place to swim, and it also has a beautiful pier and boardwalk. I love this beach at all times of the day, but the best is the sunrise.

6. Coronado Island, San Diego, California

Another favorite SD beach! I have been to this beach with my family, high school friends, and college friends, and loved it every time. It is home to a gorgeous hotel and lots of fancy people. The beach isn't half as crowded as Mission Beach, and I think it's a lot prettier.

5. This beach in Pago Pago, American Samoa

This beach may not have a name, because it's more of a cove, but American Samoa was breathtaking! This is near the harbor, so there are lots of really pretty boats around, backdropped by these amazing mountains. The water was perfect, but it was kind of strange to swim in because the waves were going both in and out.

4. Waimea Bay, Oahu, Hawaii

Probably my favorite place in Hawaii. The "jumping rock" has enough room and enough different heights for everyone to be jumping off from different places all at once. Let me take this moment to point out that every beach we went to in Hawaii was completely different and I liked them all for different reasons. Like...some had tons of turtles swimming in the water. But this one was the prettiest to me!

3. Savaii, Samoa

Savaii is an entire island, not the name of a town or a beach, but since we were only on the island for about five hours, I have no idea what the name of this beach is. One of the cool things about Samoa is that you can swim out into the ocean forever and it never seems to get deeper. This water just feels so different than any other ocean water - it's cleaner and it really feels silky. Plus, the reef creates a million different colors of blue.

2. Sinalei, Samoa

The south side of Upolu has tons of amazing beaches, but we went to this one the most. It had great snorkeling and only like six people on it at a time.

1. Breezy Point, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia

There is nothing really that special about Breezy Point. It's actually not that great of a beach. BUT it was the first one I ever saw! And thus began my love affair with the sea.