Living in Minnesota has sheltered me from oceans almost entirely, but the first time I went to the ocean was when I went to Key West, Florida when I was five years old. We went on a family vacation with some friends of our and this experience was very interesting. I remember feeling the cool, crisp air from the ocean hitting me in the face when I visited the beach for the first time however I also remember smelling a lot of salt and seaweed that had been beached. My parents walked with me holding my hand as we stepped into the freezing cold ocean water. This experience however would be overshadowed by a dilemma that I encountered when I was running around with my uncle and brothers. Unbeknownst to me, I would spend that night in the hospital because as I was playing tag with my family I would run myself into a light post on the beach and lose my entire big toenail. As I sat there crying in the wet sand of the beach with the smell of salt…show more content… Now this was the trip I had been waiting for in terms of having a good time at the ocean. When we arrived at our hotel, my brothers and I ran immediately to our room to unpack so we could go to the ocean. The beach had sand as white as snow and the ocean had crystal clear, warm water. Upon jumping in the warm ocean water, I knew that this was the experience I had expected from the ocean. This vacation is one that I will remember for the remainder of my life because I got to spend a lot time with my family and grandparents. I can tell you from my experiences that the ocean and its beaches differ a lot from the shores and lakes and that we have in Minnesota. I was not at all expecting the perfectly white sand with the warm water when I ran into the ocean in Mexico. In Minnesota, the lakes are usually pretty cold and the shores of the lakes are very rocky so this experience was definitely very
