Saturday, November 29, 2014

How to Switch Your Family Vacation Destination And Love It

TV room in our South Bethany Beach House
This past summer, my family reluctantly switched our vacation from Sunset Beach, NC to Bethany Beach, DE.  We always thought we would have to end our time in Sunset Beach when my mom and dad became too elderly to travel.  Not so!  They are in their early 80s and are healthy.  They love our vacation.  Turns out our adult children needed the change to somewhere closer to home. They all could make it for at least a few days around their jobs and various places they now call home.  Who knew.

Our bright and cheery bedroom!
Our last beach experience in Delaware was a week in a townhouse at Rehoboth Beach.  We weren't up for that after our great two weeks at Sunset.  Also, none of us were relishing the COLD water of a Northeast Beach in June. We kind of resigned ourselves to the fact that it wouldn't be as good of a gig as Sunset, but we would all be together and that would be what would be important.  Well, guess what?  We were wrong!

Beautiful beach, lots of space :)

My sister went looking for a place that might be comparable to our Southern experience and she found it in South Bethany Beach.  She worked with Sandcastle Realty.  She described the type of beach experience we were looking for.  They found us a sweet little beach house. It was big enough for our whole clan (15 people). It also had a lot of little "hideaway" places on patios and smaller rooms so if you wanted to be by yourself, you could do it.  It had a large sun room where we all hung out together, laughed, played games and read.

Me, with my rented bike in Bethany Beach


The beach was beautiful, with plenty of room between families. There were lifeguards up and down the beach, which made us all feel safe. The water was not too cold to get in (although on the windier days I opted to stay dry). The best part for me was Highway 1.  There was a bike path that ran up and down the road on both sides.  Hubby and I rented bikes and rode every day. We could ride to Bethany Beach and get breakfast or ride South and take in the old fashioned light house North of Ocean City.
We were also very close to Rehoboth Beach and Ocean City Maryland so we visited those boardwalks too.

Bike ride to the lighthouse.


I almost hate to admit it because I absolutely loved Sunset Beach, NC,  but I think I might like this vacation spot a little better.  What a pleasant surprise!

Where is your favorite beach vacation?  Please share it!