HERB BENHAM: Every summer Del Mar beckons

Sue was talking to our neighbor recently. She and her husband and new baby were heading to the beach for a week. In their case it was Huntington Beach, as she said, "a family favorite." We have now been leaning in to our own beach time; the anticipation is almost as good as the beach itself.

Every family has their special patch of sand and water to which they return every year. It's so well-established inside them it might as well be part of their DNA. They return to the same spot as if they were migratory birds. They might as well be swallows finding their way to Capistrano.