Waterways and water days…
“To escape and sit quietly on the beach… that’s my idea of paradise” — Emilia Wickstead
It’s a good idea.
But try doing it with Bow.
She’s not much for sitting, or quietude.
Her idea of paradise is swimming in the sand, running with pals and playing chicken with the tides. She thinks Rosie’s Dog Beach is her beach. Her favorite guests? Large canines and stooping humans.
During a recent outing, she made about 37 friends and did her backstroke-in-the-sand thing. She’s suspicious of the Pacific but waded up to her torso, a milestone. It seems she was inspired by two retrievers, both of whom fetched balls far beyond the shore-breakers.
It was a proud day for the family. Up until this trip, she’d treated water as a plaything, with a particular fondness for hoses, but immersion freaked her out. It helps that the surf at Rosie’s is rarely big because of the breaker walls.
This beach offers easy parking, a boardwalk for walking, biking and rollerblading, a pristine view of downtown Long Beach and a well-kept, 4-acre stretch of sand and sea.
Here are the nuts and bolts:
—Rosie’s, 5000 E. Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach (a short drive from northwest Orange County)
—Open daily from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
—Large parking lot, at a cost of $2 per hour
—Free waste bags
—Restrooms and showers
—Contact: 562-570-3100
The beach borders Belmont Shore, so you can close your visit with lunch at a pet-friendly restaurant or bar that offers patio dining.
We marry Bow’s Rosie’s outings to her baths, and when we arrive home, she turns doe-eyed and furtive. She digs deep for some superpower of invisibility. It’s the only time she’s got the slightest interest in solitude.
It doesn’t work but she runs the hustle every. Single. Time.
We’re guessing that someday she’ll solve the rest of the equation: after her bath, she gets a beef bully stick.
