Armchair Travel

I wonder who started the beach house name trend, and why. Did some random homeowner decide to assign a cutesie name to their beachside abode and the neighbors followed suit? Were they trying to compete with condominiums and hotels whose names are well known among potential renters?

Whatever the reason, I’m glad it stuck. It’s always amusing to see the different names as I drive my family by the strip of houses on our way to our own rented beach house. It’s become a tradition to call out our favorite house names as we pass them, and to marvel over the various combinations of words like “sea,” “sand,” and “ocean.”

One of my big dreams is to buy my own beach home one day when I’m rich (after I figure out how to become rich) and give it an awesome beachy name. Too bad this hasn’t happened yet—the pictures of me and the family enjoying our Gulf Shores beach house for the first time might have made a great entry for the “Show Us Your Best Gulf Shores/Orange Beach Vacation Ever” contest (www.myspace.com/algulfcoast).