Honey-Gold | New Smyrna Beach, FL

I learned it all again in this honest, honey-gold beach town.

6:58AM - Very few things can beat the early morning sun.

The umbrella, dad’s fishing pole, a handful of mismatched towels, beach chairs that were older than I was, and, of course, a week-long supply of cold cuts and chips so that we never had to leave the beach for lunch. As a kid, these were standard essentials for our annual trip to Beach Haven, New Jersey. It was, without question, the best part of every summer, always arriving at the end of a countdown: one month until the Ferris wheel, one week until Pinky’s Shrimp, one day until the ocean.

March had been one of those countdown months, but this time New Smyrna Beach was the destination. Like all of our former road trips, we packed up the car and headed out in the early hours. With mom in town for the weekend and serving as co-pilot, I already felt closer to home.

Driving up the coast, you realize how the landscape of Florida, much like the weather, can change in an instant. Miami, dotted with palm trees and tall buildings, was replaced three-and-a-half hours later by NSB with its pebble driveways and the Ponce Inlet.

“It’s as though I could smell summer everywhere. It was on every sun-soaked street corner and in the air that was scented with coconut sunscreen, bug spray and BBQ food. This place, I already knew, was summer.”

Surfboards always seem to radiate the potential of summer.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget how it felt first turning onto Flagler Avenue. Like a breath of fresh air, it held its own pieces of everything I loved about road trips and new places. Rocking chairs on the front porch of the Hampton Inn, cold brew from Beachie Bean’s Coffee House, oceanfront restaurants, storefront windows piled high with bikinis and surfboards, the entire town awash in saltwater and seafood. It’s as though I could smell summer everywhere. It was on every sun-soaked street corner and in the air that was scented with coconut sunscreen, bug spray and BBQ food. This place, I already knew, was summer.

I won’t give a play-by-play of the entire trip, but I will tell you that it was all bliss. Tanned skin covered in sand, the SpaceX rocket launch, kind strangers, local beers, a friends’ wedding at The Mulberry, smoothies from Go Juice, and chasing the sunrise with my camera in tow. It’s these kind of beach town moments that I live for. All of them—bliss.

The sun, the sand, the breeze — it was all golden here.

NSB suddenly felt like Florida’s own Beach Haven, and all those days that were once spent boogie boarding and playing mini-golf—the wipeouts, perfect waves and all—came back clearly. These moments follow us, not always because they are monumental, but because they remind us of the little things that mattered most all those years ago. They make sure that in these later days, when I am seeing the world on my own, anything and everything is appreciated.

NSB is the honey-gold beach town that finally slowed me down enough to take it all in. A place that smells like summer and hums with the early morning surf, leaning in over and over again to remind me that all moments are of importance. And, until proven otherwise, I’ll be reveling in the countdown every chance I get.

“A place that smells like summer and hums with the early morning surf, leaning in over and over again to remind me that all moments are of importance.”