The Nude Beach and the Single Female
What it’s like to bare it all outdoors as a woman
“Hippie Hollow.”
“What’s that?” I asked, staring over my margarita at my date for the evening.
“It’s a clothing-optional part of Lake Travis in Austin. I think you’d love it.”
He had officially lost me at “clothing-optional,” but that didn’t mean I wasn’t intrigued. I listened as he told me all about the specific area of the lake where going nude was the norm. Even though I lived about two-and-a-half hours away in Houston at the time, I’d never heard of the place. But it was pretty well-known among the locals, which I discovered as he regaled me with the tale of the boat that had capsized from curious oglers leaning over on one side to get a good look at the nude sunbathers.
And I have to admit, I was curious myself. A place where people take off…everything? In public? I couldn’t even contemplate doing such a thing.
Until a year later.
I had just turned thirty and was in the midst of one of those minor life crises that are too early to be “mid-” and too late to be “quarter-.” Mine manifested in a quest to try one new thing every day for a year, inspired by a blogger I had heard about who had done the same thing.