Growing up, my friends and I would go to the beach for a bit to pass sometime during the day, or catch up. We had annual beach passes and parking was never a big issue until the summer.

College was different.

A majority of my colleges friends were not from Florida and when they said it was a “beach day” we were there the whole day.

At 12:00 all the girls had grabbed a coffee and were in the car prepared for a the 40 min drive to St. Pete. Once you got there you pay a guy at a taco shop $20 to park there instead of going to the spot labeled “beach parking” that would set you back $50.

You find a spot in the sand to set up camp with the bare minimum: a beach blanket, a speaker and tanning oil. You will attempt to play music that drowns out the people sitting next to you without going to war with who can play the audio louder. When you get hungry you can either take a long stroll down the beach to Publix or take a short walk to a 7-11 ( which was my preferable route for the slushee.)

“Beach Days” slowly became my favorite days, and I didn’t appreciate them until meeting someone who never lived here.