We're back from the beach, and I have to say it was a great trip. I'm really starting to love the beach.
I'm from Oregon. Not coastal Oregon, but the other side (high plateau desert, cowboys and indians, dust and sagebrush). My memories of the beach are from occasional trips to the coast about four hours away. I remember it as rocky and majestic with huge waves, rocks the size of homes, steep cliffs, relentless wind, and frigid water. The Oregon coast is beautiful, but you don't go there to swim. At least we didn't. We jumped waves or we played on the rocks. I've been comparing beaches to the Oregon coast ever since--and not always favorably. I like the wild element, the steeped in nature feel, that it has. The Maine coast is the only one that has the same feel to me with its rocky coastline and water too cold to swim in most of the year.
And yet I have to say that I'm coming around to the mindset that most of the world seems to have. I'm really starting to enjoy the wide, flat sandy beaches and the calm, warm(ish) water along most of the Atlantic coast. Maybe I'm mellowing with age, or maybe I'm just changing my definition of what an enjoyable beach vacation should be like.
This was the perfect beach trip--to Folly Beach, just south of Charleston, South Carolina. We stayed in a run-down beach house with a wide screened-in front porch. The furniture sagged from years of use and was covered with old sheets and aged slipcovers. Harry talked about all the work it needed, but I thought it was perfect for a beach house. It had character.
The weather was beautiful and we had the beach to ourselves for the most part. We took long walks along the beach (Maia running ahead, splashing gleefully in the shallow water), went swimming (more Harry than me), built sandcastles and moats, read, sewed, cooked, soaked up the sea air and enjoyed the sea breezes.
We were there with Maia's Aunt Jenny and Uncle Teddy (Ted to everyone else) and Jenny's sister Sarah who was visiting from Australia. Maia was in seventh heaven between the time on the beach and the attention of three super fun aunts and uncles (and, I should probably add, the daily ice cream).
I've always said I'm more of a mountain person than a beach person, but I really do enjoy the beach. We're already talking about when we can go back. What is your favorite beach? I need to take notes for our next beach trip... :)
