I was eleven before I first saw the ocean. Kure Beach NC was the closest my military family had been to salt water. My mom had grown up on the Jersey Shore and couldn’t wait to show us the Atlantic; I was hooked.

Many years later, her home on the Intracoastal in Indian Rocks Beach FL was just short of a mile to the Gulf of Mexico where a number of these photos were taken.

I would have to say that the beach is probably my favorite place of all time. Mom introduced us to the ocean and it remains.