We've got the beaches!

Little Plains Beach, Southampton

In 2010, Dr. Stephen Leatherman (a.k.a. Dr. Beach) named Southampton's Coopers Beach the #1 beach in America, making all us residents very proud. And now, the venerable National Geographic has seconded Dr. Beach's recommendation: In a recent article, National Geographic listed the beaches of the Hamptons as #4 in the WORLD, and the best in America, beating out even Hawaii!! (See the complete article here.)

Okay, you ask, where in the world are there better beaches? According to NatGeo:

1) Seychelles
2) Maldives
3) Bora Bora (Tahiti)

Okay, I can live with that.

Speaking of the beach, we sure hope the clouds clear out for this weekend, the official start of summer, as so many visitors to the Hamptons hope to start their summer tans on Memorial Day. (Check out the live webcam of Coopers Beach here to see if you need your bathing suit or a hoodie!) But whether the sun is shining or not, one event on Cooper's Beach promises to draw a crowd. More than 1,000 people are anticipated on Saturday afternoon at Kites For A Cure, the annual family kite fly sponsored by the nonprofit organization Uniting Against Lung Cancer to benefit lung cancer research. For $30 donation, participants receive a high-quality kite that can be decorated on-site with drawings, names of loved ones, perhaps wishes or messages to be flown over the ocean. All proceeds go to Uniting Against Lung Cancer's national lung cancer research program. How much fun is this, and you're benefiting a worthy cause?

(By the way, this native Californian tips her hat to Dr. Beach's 2012 winner of the best beach in America: Coronado Beach, in sunny San Diego...Congratulations!)

Quote of the Day: Everyone can reach back to one summer and lay a finger to it, finding the exact point when everything changed. That summer was mine.”   ― Sarah Dessen, That Summer