Jones Beach June 14, 2014

Jeanne and I had an unexpected trip to Jones Beach on Long Island today. Jones  Beach is part of Jones Beach State Park, which has over 6 miles of beaches for swimming. The park is located on Jones Beach Island which is a barrier island to Long Island and we accessed it by taking the Meadowbrook State Parkway from Long Island.

There are six different beach areas with adjacent parking lots. We drove into a parking lot only to discover a ticket is needed to enter the park. The ticket must be obtained from the bath house we passed on our way in. To get back to the bath house we continued down the road until we arrived at the historic water tower monument and circled back around to go back the way we came. We purchased a $10 ticket but New York State Empire passports are also available for $65 which allow free admission to all NYS parks all season.

We parked at field #4 which is on the opposite side of the road as the beach. To get to the beach there are tunnels that take you under the roadway and bring you to a beautifully landscaped area that leads to the beach. The beach has a boardwalk with food concessions and gift shops. There are also swimming pools, mini-golf, a bandshell that has live music, golf, beach volleyball and other activities we did not see.

It was a warm windy sunny day and the waves were splashing on the shore. We took our shoes off and walked down to the waters edge. I saw a few people swimming. I stuck my toe in and oh, it was way too cold to swim! So we walked along the shore and after awhile the water did not feel cold at all. I walked in up to my knees and felt like a kid with the waves crashing into me and knocking me backwards. It was fun to be in the ocean waves again. We only stayed an hour but plan to come back again and stay the whole day!