Your Host on Toronto Island

For all the bitching I do about Toronto, we do enjoy four non-wintry months of the year, when the city is considerably more bearable — terrific, even. Sunny summer weekends inevitably find Champ and me hanging with pals on Toronto Islands’ Hanlan’s Point Beach. The OutTraveler magazine recently featured “The Best Inland Gay Beaches” and, whaddyaknow, Hanlan’s Point owns the #5 slot:

The sand’s not the best — or the cleanest — and many of your blanket-neighbours could stand to take advantage of their dormant gym memberships, but… there’s something so quintessentially… Toronto about Hanlan’s Point Beach. It aims low and manages to hit that mark. On the upside, it’s friendly, it’s totally unpretentious and, when the city heat and crowds get too oppressive, it’s just a short ferry ride to a calm, green parkland.

Also? Occasional, Graying, Well-Built, Naked Hotness. Grab your sunscreen and your iPods (please, no stereos!) — and, for those of us tanline-appreciators, your Speedos — and see y’all there!