Dinner at the beach (or cheapskate dining out)

our view from the bench

We've skipped this family favorite tradition the past few summers. Prior to the Covid shutdowns, my family has taken dinner to the beach one night during summer. 

In case you missed it, summer is running out of time. When this occurred to all of us, we decided to do a dinner at the beach right away. We had fabulously warm weather over the weekend, with Sunday slightly warmer. My daughters wanted to swim, so we chose high tide in the late afternoon. (High tide allows for less hazardous swimming at our local beach.)

my dinner 

We made burgers at home, washed some of our tree apples, filled a jug with water, and packed supplies like cups, plates, napkins, and a fork and knife for my bunless burger.

Of course, with this beautiful, end of the summer weather, we weren't the only ones who thought to make an excursion to the beach on a Sunday evening. One pass through the packed parking lot told us we'd have to park up the hill in town and walk down. Fortunately, once at the beach we found a nice bench available to eat our dinners and to use as home-base for our seaside activities. Fun swimming, wading and a little sand play as a bonus to our waterside meal.

You already know this about my family, we rarely eat in restaurants. Eating in our own kitchen. dining room or on the patio can feel repetitive and mundane after a while. Taking our dinners someplace else is our way of combatting home-meal fatigue, without spending extra $$ on the meal.

I'm really glad that we restarted this favorite summer tradition, even if it was just in the nick of time. Summers fade quickly in the PNW. 

What are your must-do end of summer plans?