Ed. — From the Sunday, April 16, print edition.
VIRGINIA BEACH — I love superlatives – such as the tallest, greatest and oldest – and I have always been drawn to the Guinness Book of World Records.
First published back in 1955, it has often been my “go to” source for random fact-finding missions.
And did you know Virginia Beach holds a spot in this publication?
We do.
It’s not for city with the most strip shopping centers or gas station convenience stores.
It’s for our coastline – the 38 miles of it that makes us, as the good people at Guinness put it, “the world’s longest pleasure beach.”
I wasn’t sure what constitutes a pleasure beach.
James Karuga, writing online for The Travel, explains that there must be activities for people near a beach for it to be a pleasure beach. Especially stuff for families.
My own favorite recreational endeavor on the beach is to simply relax on a blanket with a good book.
Other popular activities might include beach volleyball, soccer and frisbee tosses.
And, of course, there are these: the arts, restaurants and so forth in our city.
As a local, this superlative amazes me for two reasons.
First, I never would have imagined we had 38 miles of beach. I have assumed that “beach” means any spot where ocean or bay meets sand.
Guinness gives us credit for having 28 miles of beachfront on the Atlantic and 10 miles of estuary frontage on the bay.
I suspect the most popular of these 38 miles, at least for the average tourist, must be the three miles along the Boardwalk area at the resort.
This stretch has plenty of hotels and many of the tourism-related industries we know so well.
And there are relatively quieter, commercialism-free beaches to the north.
But there are a lot of miles left.
A favorite for many locals who read The Independent News, of course, is Sandbridge, with a few miles of beach, as well as beaches at nearby natural areas, such as Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
In the northern city, along the bay and extending to Norfolk, there’s also lots of beach.
There is another reason I’m amazed by our superlative.
Aren’t there other locations with more coastline which would put them in the record book? Miami? Tampa?
How about Australia?
Isn’t the entire county coastline one big beach?
But don’t get me wrong.
I am thrilled to live in a city with a world record. Perhaps I’ve just taken the beach for granted without really exploring how much of it we have.
I need to start sharing that with my wife’s family in landlocked Nebraska. They may respond with something about a record for acreage of corn fields, but that’s a different record.
While local farmers grow plenty of grain crops in our southern city, it’s an area we can’t compete with Nebraska. I’ll just hit back with something about it being more fun lounging on a blanket on the beach than it is in a corn field.
Perhaps there’s more coastline to think about in Virginia Beach.
The lake at Mount Trashmore? All the neighborhood retention ponds? Puddles in the strip shopping center parking lots?
I am kidding.
Back Bay is another important area, of course, and I think another important chunk might be the miles along the Lynnhaven River. The river’s important watershed covers 21 percent of Virginia Beach and encompasses 64 square miles, according to Lynnhaven River Now.
I think I just want to enjoy my pleasure beach options. After all, we are water-rich in ways great and small. There must be an empty spot for me, my beach blanket, a cooler and the Guinness Book of World Records around her somewhere.
Let’s all celebrate our record and get out and enjoy our favorite pleasure beach spots this year. The beach — and our many waterways — are a big part of what makes Virginia Beach great.
And there’s more than I realized.
The author, a business coach and consultant, is active in community service and enjoys time with his wife, Kim, and daughter, Kara. Reach him via email at mckco85@aol.com.
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