Iona Beach Park

From the beautiful, clean, sandy beaches of California, to the not so clean or sandy Iona Beach, was quite a shock. But it was a beach and it was beautiful nevertheless.  Raw and natural beauty, just 15 minutes away from home. It can't get any better than that. This beach was so close, yet it took me over a year to explore. Better late than never.

Iona Beach Regional Park

The exploration would not have happened had the Nature Park been open. We actually left home to go to the Nature park. I was under the impression that the Nature park is open until sundown which is usually around 9pm. However, the park closed at 4pm. I found it a little disappointing because after a scorching day , it was beginning to get cooler and better.  I couldn't imagine myself walking in the park in the summer heat and fasting at the same time. So, we stayed home and didn't leave home until around 4:30pm. And when we reached the Nature Park, it was all deserted and quiet. It was time for a quick
u-turn.
With the Nature Park postponed for another day, the next place to go on our list was the Iona Beach. Thanks to our GPS, it took us straight to the beach. They were not many people. Just a few families with
kids and the rest were couples young, old and in between.

I had stopped over at McDonalds and picked up some fries for the kids to munch on. I had also kept some cookies and other snacks but the kids liked the fries more and that all they ate. It took me a while to get into the dirty looking water. But once I put my foot in, I forgot anything and everything about cleanliness. Ayaan and Aaliyah had fun too. Aaliyah found a stick that looked like the number 1. She tried building her "sand castle" around it. I so missed the beach toys that I had bought for them. They were nicely sitting at home in our backyard fading in the sun.

Ayaan did not want to come outside the water and was testing how much further he could go into the water. I stayed behind him all the time, holding onto his t-shirt. If this was a planned trip, I would have had some change of clothes and would not have minded his falling into the water and getting his t-shirt wet. Since it wasn't a planned trip, I couldn't take the risk of taking him home naked or in wet clothes. After playing for a good hour or so, we headed home.