Life's a Beach

Zippety Do Dah Zippety A, My oh My, What a Wonderful Day, Plenty of sunshine coming my way...

Yes, fellow bloggers and lurking readers (yes, I know you are out there, and that is just fantastifastical), I went to the beach today.

The original plan was to go to the beach yesterday or Saturday, but I decided I didn't want to have to rush home to finish something I had to have done before tomorrow, so I did all that stinky stuff on Sat. and Sun. and today.... today I had a rip roaring time at the beach.

I am so glad that Pepe La Pew joined me, for indeed, just as Alex had predicted, no one came anywhere near us. I couldn't see the whites of anyone's eyes, I couldn't hear anyone's screaming children (yes, I love them, but I spend most of my time with 22 five year olds each week, the last thing I want to hear at the beach is a screaming brat), or anyone's obnoxiously loud and lewd music.

I drove to the National Seashore at Corpus Christi. It is 20 bucks for a year pass, and I usually go about once a month, and in the summer more often, so it is worth it. At the "ranger station" where they check your pass, there is a sign describing the tide, the status of the water, the sand, when the high/low tides are and any warnings... today was a great day. It was almost low tide when I got there and if I stayed til the last minute before returning home (which I did) it would be high tide. There weren't any Man of Wars, or blue jelly fish (lol), always good to know, and then I saw IT>.. the warning>>>>

2 wheel drive vehicles should avoid the south beach, the sand is soft and people will get stuck.... Oh bummer
was my first thought... then I remembered... my vehicle is a 4wd.... woohoo, South beach here we come....

You may ask, how could I forget I have a 4wd vehicle.... well simple simon, I drive a Honda, it has 4wd that automatically kicks in when it is needed, and up to this point, I have never needed it. Plus I gave the car, my good workhorse car, to my son for graduation, so I haven't been driving this one much until then....

LSShort, soft sand equals fewer folks down the beach, I had a great spot all to my lonesome. Shortly after arriving and deciding where the chair would go and where the cooler would sit, I was walking back to the car to get something, and I saw the sand move... ok, I thought it was the sand moving... it was grandpa ghost crab... who you usually only see at night... I say grandpa, because it was about 7 inches in diameter and I don't think I have seen a ghost crab on the beach that was that large before. He stopped in his tracks when he realized he was in my shadow. I played cat and mouse with him a bit, and then I told him he should get out of the road before he got run over.

*An aside: Did you know that crabs have one claw larger than the other so they can tear food apart with the big one and put it in their mouth with the other one.

I played in the surf, sat in the sand in the shallow water and played in the sand and sat in the sun for a great while, reading my HP book... I have had it awhile but haven't been able to justify reading for pleasure when I have so much else to read for class or work. Finally I got the lounging chair from the car and laid down on my stomach. I was reading and moved my swim suit down around my hips to get more back sun.... uh... oops... I fell asleep... I have no idea how long I slept, but it had to be over an hour... I woke up, because I was hot and somewhat thirsty and I had a headache, I instantly knew I was a crispy critter, so I drank some fluids and pigged out on pistachios. I went back out into the surf and played awhile, always careful not to cross the second sand bar (some crusty salty old fisherman told me that sharks don't usually come inside the second sand bar). Then I went back and sat in the sun and read my book some more.

There weren't any seashells on the seashore, I guess Sally sold them all, so no souvenirs this trip, unless you count this pink backside of mine.

I was there from 10 am til 6 pm and I wanted to stay longer. I think you can all see what wonders it does for me. I can't wait to go back. If gas wasn't so high, I would go every weekend.

The sun, the surf, the wind in my hair, the salt in the air, I am home...