With the gray-green ocean waters lapping at the sand, the boardwalk that smells like french fries and caramel corn, the sunburned nights spent wearing flip-flops and sipping beer, the beaches of Maryland and Delaware are a summery siren call.
But, not if you have a dog. In the height of the season, most of the quintessential beachiness - the popular resorts, Ocean City's boardwalk, the nightclubs, are, for the most part, off-limits to the four-legged kind.
That's slowly changing. A recent survey by the Associated Press and Petside.com found that 50 percent of dog owners have taken their pet on vacation. With a statistic like that, even spots not known as the most pet-friendly places, like Delaware's Lewes, Rehoboth Beach and Bethany Beach, are starting to if not exactly see the light, then hear the potential ka-ching of the cash register.
Of all the oceanfront real estate along the Maryland/Delaware shore, tiny Lewes seems to have become the most welcoming for dogs.
It's not only home to the area's only always-open dog beaches, but it's a spot where one can find a delightfully canine-centric bed and breakfast and places to dine - not just eat, but dine - with your pet.
Joan Rabin and Barbara Slater of Timonium travel often, heading to Lewes at least four times a year - but not without Tala, their aging standard poodle.
"Our dogs are part of our family," Slater says. "They kind of need to go with us."
"That's how we relax, when she's totally safe," Rabin adds.
As frequent travelers, they know how challenging it can be to find a place to stay that's more luxurious for people and more accommodating for pets than a roadside motel with lumpy mattresses and a concrete parking lot for a front yard.
In Lewes, they say they've found dog "paradise" at a bed and breakfast called the Lazy L. Dogs are not only allowed at the inn, they're celebrated. Owned by true dog people, the Lazy L is designed to meet a dog's every need while giving vacationers a warm, serene destination to unwind.
At the inn, people enter through a threshold where the doormat says: Must Love Dogs. Dining-room tablecloths are decorated with tiny paw prints. An expansive, grassy dog run stretches across the lawn. An outdoor dog shower, stocked with doggie shampoo and conditioner, washes away all the sand after a swim.
