Readers' Choice: Where's Your Favorite Beach?

With temperatures slowly creeping up – how about that Memorial Day weekend weather? – the pool covers are starting to come off and the sunblock is being uncapped.

But if a pool deck is not where you yearn to be, where do you go to take a refreshing dip and then sit on the shore to relax? Do you make the trek to Rhode Island or Cape Cod to plop yourself down on an ocean beach? Or do you stick closer to home to enjoy a local swimming hole or state park?

Last week the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection gave the green light to  and lounge on the beaches along Long Island Sound.

Some popular state parks on the list include:

• Burr Pond State Park, Torrington
• Mount Tom State Park, Litchfield
• Stratton Brook State Park, Simsbury
• Hammonasset Beach State Park, Madison
• Rocky Neck State Park, Niantic
• Silver Sands State Park, Milford

But what about your favorite places in the Manchester area? Tell us where your favorite place to lounge by the water is during the summer. Please tell us in the comments section below about your favorite beach spot by the end of Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, we compile the top five suggestions into a poll. The poll closes Friday at 9 a.m., and we'll announce the winner on Saturday.

Readers' Choice is all about you — your ideas, your feedback and your voice — so we hope you will chime in and post your reviews of local hot spots.