A Trip to the Beach

Ward and I recently returned from a trip to the beach with his family and a good time was had by all--including me. You see, I'm not a beach person--meaning when I think about going to the beach, I don't think about the mesmerizing waves, interesting sea shells, and cool ocean breezes. I think about the burning sun and the annoying sand.

You might say the beach is not in my blood. I didn't grow up going to the beach, in fact I didn't see any ocean of any kind until after I graduated college. My family was more of the mountain type-- both for living and vacationing. When I finally gazed upon the vast waters of the Atlantic, I was fascinated, but not drawn to it. I think the main reason for that was the sun--it's my enemy. You see, I'm very fair--so fair that if it were up to me, we wouldn't need the word tan in the English vocabulary (at least as a verb). My skin has two colors--translucent white and red. It never takes a visit at the in-between color of tan. So while I was looking forward to spending time with Ward's family, I was not looking forward necessarily to doing that at the beach.

But I needn't have worried. Ward's family arranged the perfect trip for a non-beach-lover like me. We had a big house right on the beach where I could watch the mesmerizing waves from a balcony that was shaded. Our location also meant that I could take a quick trip down to the water without a big production of carrying everything I think I might need. But best of all, was the general area. We visited Nags Head, NC, which besides having very nice beaches, also has a lot of interesting history. So during the sunny times in the middle of the day, we explored the surrounding area instead of spending it on the hot sand. As I said, a good time was had by all.

Do I think I'll be vacationing at the beach on a regular basis now since I've had this positive experience? Perhaps. But for now, I'm just relishing the fact that I spent several days at the beach and I didn't get a sunburn!! Miracles do happen.

Here are a few pictures from out trip.

We woke each morning to a beautiful sunrise.

We visited Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers Museum.

 

We watched fireworks that had been postponed because of Hurricane Arthur.

We saw charter fishing boats come in and display their catch for the day. One of the kids' games during this was to touch the eyeball of a fish.

We took a family kayak trip through the Alligator River swamps.

My skilled nephew and brother-in-law used only paddle boards on our swamp trek.

We climbed the spiral stairs to the top of the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

We visited The Elizabethan Gardens. These were on Roanoke Island, the location of the Lost Colony.

We spent one hot afternoon visiting a nicely air conditioned aquarium.

And we finished each day with a beautiful sunset.