2002 was the best summer of my life. I had joined the national guard and came back from about 6 months of Army training with a good chunk of change saved up so I could get by for the summer without working.
A couple of my friends were in a similar position where they had the summer off as well. I would go to the beach and drink beer every day, I was 22 and in incredible shape from my training, I banged a ton of bitches, and had zero worries in the world.
As far as pop culture goes...
These kind of bowls were the most common...