to the sea

Living a solid 4.5-5 hours from the sea, we don't get there so often.  Once a year for sure, twice if we really work to make it happen.  I mean, I always want to be near the sea, but, well....... sometimes even 4.5-5 hours feels unrealistic in the scope of everything else life brings our way.  This was the third year in a row (here are photos from our first trip) we've gone camping to the beach with a group of friends in the spring.  This year we landed back at Edisto Beach State Park in SC.  So, so good.  5 days of zero driving and loads of biking, plenty of time exploring the beach and looking for treasures from the sea.  5 days of her running wild with friends and plenty of connecting between the adults, too.  Seafood and campfires, shenanigans and live oak climbing, trying out some of our new camping gear we've purchased for the big trip this summer..... Just so good, all of it.  I've said it many times before and I will again and again- that salty ocean air is one of my favorite medicines ever.

I'm still finding sand in my pockets and seashells tucked away here and there.

late summer beach trip, part two :: carnival and aquarium fun

We snuck in a trip to the aquarium (homeschoolers get one free family visit per year!) and some fun carnival/fair rides and games during our recent trip to the beach.  The great big "Fun Slide" was a big hit, for sure- as was the ferris wheel.  I realized as we were riding up and around that big wheel that I feel more secure in the ones where you sit two or three astride and face out, as opposed to these that merely dangle from some unseen and hopefully very secure bolt or something.  Sigh.  This mama doesn't always have an easy time trusting carnival rides, but I get by.  The swing made me feel like I was going to barf though.  I kept thinking the sheer power of centrifugal force was going to loosen my swing and fly me across town to land smack into a building or something.  Obviously, happily, that did not in fact happen.  Good thing too, because that really would have put a damper on our beach trip.


Claire, I'd like to note, is much braver than I.

Also, ice cream.  Of course.

late summer beach trip, part one :: salty ocean air

A few weeks ago, after our trip to Maryland whereupon we swam in the Chesapeake Bay in lieu of the ocean because we wanted to save a bit of time in the car, I decided that yeah- actually I kind of needed some ocean time after all before summer's end.  That salty ocean air is such amazing medicine and soul food and it'd been a while since I'd had a chance to dive into the sea.  So we booked a quick trip to Kure Beach, just about 5.5 hours away from home.  We'd never been there before but have enjoyed trying out various NC and SC beaches and we were able to find a place short notice, so we went for it.  I am so glad we did.

The trip, in a nutshell, went (something) like this:  drive, tacos, grocery run to one of the cutest little places ever, beach, solo bananagrams (I always do this on vacation), sleep, rise early- tea and fruit and book on the teeny tiny (teeny tiny as in I couldn't even fit my unrolled yoga mat out there- but I could see the ocean, so.....) back balcony, bike ride to the pier and then up to the next town, beach, a trip down near Fort Fisher to a place that's great for exploring at low tide, seafood acquisition and resulting seafood dinner, beach, sleep, rise early and slip away for a solo walk on the beach complete with hot tea and a fresh loggerhead sea turtle nest, back to the beach with everyone, a trip to the aquarium, dinner out at a super yummy farm-to-table sort of place, carnival rides (photos from the aquarium and carnival coming up in the next post because a zillion and ten was too many photos for one post), ice cream, sleep, up early for a final beach trip, picked up lunch to go at the Veggie Wagon and alas, back on the road.


Thank you, thank you, thank you, salty ocean air and crashing waves and sand in my toes.