California Livin': The beach

If you missed it, we are moving to California! While I am excited about the move, I have some questions about California living that I need your help to figure out. I'll be posting a topic once a week before the move to hopefully get some answers before we get to California. If you live in California, have lived in California, have moved across the country or just have some awesome insight, I need your help. Today's topic: the beach.

I am not a beach person. I mean, I like going to the beach for a little bit, to walk in the sand and put my feet in the ocean, but that's just about it. I'm really more of a mountain girl. Don't get me wrong, I love the view of the ocean and waves, but the beach is just so... sandy. When I've been to the beach in the past I have gotten sand in my swim suit or clothes, sand in my hair, sand in my ears, and if the wind is blowing, sand in my yummy picnic lunch. Then, when you try to leave you have sand stuck to your body and on your towel and in your beach bag which leads to sand in the car and sand in your house and on and on.

I hate bathing suits and I'm pretty sure Californians would equally hate me in a bathing suit. The idea of  being in public in a skin-tight, skimpy piece of nylon just isn't appealing to me.

Inevitably we will have visitors once we move and surely they will, at some point, want to go to the beach. So, I need your help to tell me how to survive this.

Do you have any tips and tricks for dealing with sand or how to dress comfortably yet modestly? Are there any gadgets or must have items that make beach trips easier or more comfortable? What is proper beach etiquette and are there any unspoken rules for how to behave at the beach? I would love to hear anything you have to share.

P.S. I hear there may be a difference in beaches depending on where you live. If it does matter, we will be living in northern California  :-)

Thanks so much for your help!

California Livin': Moving basics

If you missed it, we are moving to California! While I am excited about the move, I have some questions about California living that I need your help to figure out. I'll be posting a topic once a week before the move to hopefully get some answers before we get to California. If you live in California, have lived in California, have moved across the country or just have some awesome insight, I need your help. Today's topic: moving basics

The furthest I have ever moved is about 75 miles from where I grew up, and that was to go to college. I have never moved to another state. I know that we will need to find a place to live, change our drivers licenses, register our cars there, find new medical homes... and most importantly, I need to find a new brand of milk that I like. Long story short, I'm a picky milk drinker and I only like the milk with the purple label from King Soopers (Kroger) which happens to be a Colorado brand. But back to the other stuff.

So, do you have any advice for moving to another state? What all needs to be done as far as transferring records, establishing residency, registering to vote, etc.? Is there a specific order I should do things in? Are there things I shouldn't do for a while? Are there any additional resources that I should check out? How can I sample new milk brands? (haha!) I would love any advice you have!

Thanks so much for your help!