What homepage about Southern California would be complete without at least a little about the beaches? None, because the beach is such an essential part of living here. Southern California is famous for its incredible white sand beaches and amazing weather. But lets not forget that the entire state of California has a Pacific coastline and up and down the state there are hundreds of fantastic beaches. There's just something magical about feeling the warmth of the sun, the rhythm of the surf and the sand. For me one of the most relaxing things was to go watch the sunrise on the beach as a way of starting my day, I sure wish I could do that now!!

Most of the fun at the beaches is obviously in summer. The surfers will be there year around pretty much year around, but you don't need to be afraid of being overrun by by surfers, there is pretty much an informal separation of the beach into areas for surfing, sunbathing and everything else. When the weather warms you will see the beach come to life. Skaters all over the place, bicycles, all sorts of people. California beach volleyball is intense and a fair number of the members of the US Olympic volleyball team are originally from California.

Beach Volleyball
Courtesy of Hermosa Beach Wavenet