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Orient Beach Becomes Part of Top 10 Family Beaches in America

According to Travel.msn.com, Orient Beach (better known as Orient Beach State Park in New York) is one of ten best family beaches in the USA as of 2007. Orient Beach maintains frontage spanning 45,000 feet along Gardiner's Bay, and is also home to a unique maritime forest where you can find prickly-pear cactus, black-jack oak trees, and red cedar growing and thriving. There is another Orient Beach in the world, to be found in the Caribbean, and which is famous for its nude beaches where nudity seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Orient Beach State Park is different from that Orient Beach since it does not have a nudist population.

Events and Activities

Orient Beach can be found 118 miles away from Manhattan, in Suffolk County, New York actually. It is open to the public from dawn to dusk, seven days a week, throughout the year. In late June, visitors can enjoy the official opening of the swimming season which lasts until sometime in early September. People who visit Orient Beach State Park can enjoy various family-oriented activities such as frolicking on the beach, open-air picnics with family and friends with barbecues on the grills found within the picnic grounds, various forms of recreation (including a trip to the playground for the kiddies), hiking through nature trails, and cycling on a bicycle rented from bicycle concessions found within the state park. There are environmental tours of the whole state park and you can also have parties held at the pavilions. Other activities you can participate in are kayaking with your rented kayak, volleyball, badminton, croquet, and shuffleboard. Unfortunately, the Orient Beach State Park does not permit pets to be brought along during your visit. If your child makes a mess while eating or you get all sweaty and stinky from all that hiking and playing in sports, you can always take a shower at the shower facilities provided within the park.

If you time your visit for December 1 every year, you can witness and participate in the Christmas-tree-lighting ceremony with music performed by students from schools in the area, and even a special visit by Santa for the children. Other events that you can look forward to attending this 2007 are: the September 29 observation of the migration patterns of birds within the park; the October 6 lessons about the seashells that you can find on the beach, and what animals used to live in them; bird watching on October 21 using your rented bicycle to get around; and keeping an eye out for "snowflakes", the term used to describe snow bunting birds on November 3.

Near by Attractions

If you happen to be driving your own private vehicle, you can also try visiting other state parks in the vicinity (including Montauk Downs State Park, Montauk Point State Park, Hither Hills State Park, and Wildwood State Park.) From Orient Beach Park, you can see the Long Beach Bar Lighthouse which was once destroyed by fire set by an arsonist but was eventually rebuilt in 1990 after almost 30 years of dormancy.

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