Little Beach Bag on the Prairie

Beach season is in full swing here on the French Riviera and last Sunday was my first real day at the beach. It was nearly a perfect day as the weather forecast called for rain but it ended up not raining, at least where we decided to go to the beach, down St Tropez way. I had to stuff our beach stuff in a lame backpack and it drove home the fact that I’ve been searching for a really great beach bag and have yet to find it. Here are my meager requirements: it must be big enough to hold 2 beach towels, 2 kinds of sunscreen, a litre bottle of water, 2 books, keys, phone, small bag with money and lip balm, and snacks. So we’re talking a pretty substantial bag here. But I can’t seem to find one anywhere. Did I mention it has to not look like ass also? Something quirky and interesting would be good, but it can’t be meshy or open, as I don’t want to be lugging a kilo of sand mixed up in my stuff around with me too. And it must be washable. I just spent a good hour looking online and still haven’t found anything. A lot of beach bags look like pieced together remnants from a quilting store- Laura Ingalls Wilder heaven. Do not want. The search goes on…