because everyone should see the beach on labor day

Houston is only about 50 miles from the coast.

The nearness of the ocean to the city is a fact that those of us who live here seem to habitually forget (although when there's a hurricane in the Gulf, we tend to remember right quick). Part of the reason, I think, is because the beaches near Houston aren't the prettiest in the world, and their proximity to many of the area's refineries doesn't help. (Also, on a personal note, as a native of a Caribbean island I am admittedly a beach snob.) So it was somewhat surprising when on Friday evening, I realized that our weekend had opened up with nothing to do, and I suggested to Marcus we wake up early on Saturday and head down to the coast to spend a few hours.

When I mentioned this to him I was thinking of Galveston, the closest seaside town to Houston, but Saturday morning, as we packed up the car with our cooler and beach umbrella, Marcus had other plans.

"Hey, what do you say we go to Surfside, instead?"

"Surfside? God, I haven't been there in years ..."

"So, shall we?"

"Yeah, why not?"

And so, to Surfside we went. The town of Surfside, a little over an hour's drive away, is much smaller than Galveston (and possibly even closer to the petroleum refineries), but weirdly, the water is always prettier and the beach less crowded. So even though I would never actually get in the water (and I only let Alex going in as deep as her ankles), it was still a very lovely, very relaxing few hours.

And so, on this day off in the United States, a day in America that is sort of considered the unofficial last day of summer, I thought I'd share some photos that I took of our relaxing few hours sitting with our feet in the sand in Surfside: