Last Friday could well have been the last gasp of summer for the year, and I thank my lucky stars we made it to the beach before it was too late. Only 25 minutes’ drive away, west of Haarlem, were the quiet, relaxing, and weather-perfect shores of Zuid Kennemerland.

We sat ourselves down in a restaurant front and center of the beach and for a few minutes felt the luxury of time well spent. I loved that since it was just past lunch that not too many people were there, the crowd was middle-class well-behaved, and the apple pie wasn’t too bad. I got to hear the sounds of seagulls swooping by, feel the sand under my feet, and breathe some cool, fresh sea air. Since it won’t be long before this is all a distant memory, as a final hurrah, it wasn’t bad at all.