Lucky Enough...

Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war.

~~~~~Loren Eiseley


I was lucky enough to take a road trip to the ocean prior to our Independence Day holiday.  The drive down through Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and eventually into Florida was fast and virtually non-stop. Well, other than the required pit stops for fuel and a short 40 winks soon after I crossed the state line into Florida.  I haven't done a road trip of that length in several years, 14 hours spent on the highways and byways in all.  Whew! Talk about being glued to the seat, I was.

But I arrived, slept for a few hours then woke to friends ready to start the weekend with a BBQ.  It was several days of food, fun, and friends. Good times to be sure. On Monday the 4th, we packed the jeep with the required necessities, threw on our bathing suits and headed to the local beach.  Sweet!  My soul was in need of restoration which always happens when I visit ocean-side.  The two short hours I spent at Tybee Island back in April hadn't been enough to complete the process.  I was more than ready to soak up the sun, people watch and run my toes through the sand. 

I was even ambitious enough to take a few pictures with my phone camera which I'll share with y'all below.  While it's not the same as being there, there's still a sense of peacefulness that I can draw on just from looking at them.  

The Atlantic Ocean was just the right temperature to soothe sun warmed skin. 

The beach was littered with quite a few of these Jellyfish decaying bodies.  The lifeguard chairs dotted along the way had the purple flag flying which indicated that there was a potential for hazardous conditions while swimming.

 

There were several families whose children preferred to play in the tidal creeks away from the ebb and flow of the waves wake.  

One of the pieces of art that Nature left painted on the beach from water flowing back to it's origin.  It was just too cool to pass up and not take a picture. 

Yes, that is my sand encrusted foot as I rested under the shade of the beach umbrella.  I kept going back in the water to rinse all that sand off but, to no avail... eventually I just enjoyed the feeling of having sand on me.

And this is the visage that accompanied me as I drove through my home state.  I like to call it...Misty River Road Home.  Most definitely, I was lucky enough.



And so it goes......