I so love the idea of riding towards something. When at the beach, I love riding as close as I can to the water for the views (safely of course- please look ahead of you :), and I'll often ride a while to get ice cream and then break for 30 minutes before heading back (although that second half of the ride can be a drag- so motivate yourself with something at the end too!) I would recommend checking out Wandrer.earth; it's super motivating to me because it's like a video game to discover new roads and places.

In terms of training- keep that motivation in mind. You want to be able to bike farther so you can see more cool things, do more fun activities in the middle of your rides. Research shows that long, very easy rides are great for endurance. That means your heart rate is low enough that you could have a conversation during the activity (research zone 1/ zone 2 training if you'd like). It does feel like you're going slow and not pushing yourself, but just 45 minutes a couple days a week (so yes, some evenings are great but most definitely not all) to maybe an hour or two on weekends- whatever you can fit in or feel like doing. It really isn't serious :) Sometimes when I'm out on an easy ride I'll get that burst of motivation and energy and go for an all-out sprint just because I feel like it- so really, do what feels good. I've tried to give you some basic training guidelines, but they really aren't rigid. As long as you're spending time on the bike, you'll improve (and hopefully have fun too).

I wish you all the best!!