Relaxing It Wasn’t

But, it was refreshing and lovely and who doesn’t like to drink a beer out of a can on a beach each afternoon?

Try taking three kids anywhere, and the idea of relaxation seems downright comical.

I’m a beach girl through and through and that will never change. I spent my teenage years living in a house on the lake in Tennessee and now I live literally in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains. Both of those places were great for skiing, water and downhill, but there’s nothing like the Atlantic Ocean.

My family’s great love for the ocean goes back generations, but was no doubt cemented by the fact that my grandparents had a vacation house a quarter mile’s walk from the beach. Bethany Beach, Delaware was a three hour drive from our house in the Maryland suburbs, and summer was punctuated by beach trips. Mom Mould and Pop Mould’s house was one of the first on Oakwood Street so we were eyewitnesses to the growth that propelled Bethany from one of the quiet resorts to a beach town that attracted families from all over the mid-Atlantic. “Who’s staying next door?” someone would ask. “Oh, they’re renters, I think” Mom would answer. We didn’t say it to be rude, but just to remind ourselves that we were the lucky ones. The ones that didn’t have to wait to rent a house from Saturday to Saturday -we could roll up to the house on a Tuesday night if we wanted. We didn’t have to rush down to the beach all pale and wide eyed after driving all day on a Saturday. The ones that knew all the kids on the street who stayed there all summer.

Now, the tables are turned on us. We’re the renters now and, after unloading our cars as fast as we can, we race to get down to the beach late in the afternoon for that first satisfying dip into the great Atlantic ocean. Yes, we’re pale and wide eyed and anticipating a week of relaxation while cramming all the stuff we want to do into a single week. Delaware has given way to South Carolina, but it’s the ocean and we’re there and that’s what counts.

The dress code and menu are simple- bathing suits are the norm for eight hours a day, and you’d better plan for a least one bag of sour cream ‘n onion potato chips per day. Yuengling is the beer of choice… the Coach likes to ride the silver bullet, but has to do so by himself.

Walks are taken often- exploring the early morning beach or watching a late afternoon storm form over the island.

I watched a lady catch and release this shark. Hope I don’t meet him next year.

Since we are beach experts and also parents, the amount of equipment that we lug down the street to the beach each morning is absolutely ridiculous. Toys, umbrellas, chairs, coolers…

But the view from the blanket is excellent.

Like any proper seven year old, the Bear made friends with another little girl.

She hardly ever got out of the water.

The Llama had a great time.

And Bee took a few minutes from chasing birds to relax.

We all had a great time. Even me. Even though the moments of relaxing time with a book and a diet coke are few. Even though my hair looked like this for most of the week.

So, the relaxing time has gone by the wayside, at least for now. There are seagulls to be chased and waves to ride and holes to be dug. It’s hard work at the beach, but a new generation of beach lovers must be bred.

See you next year, Edisto. We’ll be the ones that show up on a weekend afternoon next July, pale and excited.

 

Relaxing It Wasn't

But, it was refreshing and lovely and who doesn’t like to drink a beer out of a can on a beach each afternoon?

Try taking three kids anywhere, and the idea of relaxation seems downright comical.

I’m a beach girl through and through and that will never change. I spent my teenage years living in a house on the lake in Tennessee and now I live literally in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains. Both of those places were great for skiing, water and downhill, but there’s nothing like the Atlantic Ocean.

My family’s great love for the ocean goes back generations, but was no doubt cemented by the fact that my grandparents had a vacation house a quarter mile’s walk from the beach. Bethany Beach, Delaware was a three hour drive from our house in the Maryland suburbs, and summer was punctuated by beach trips. Mom Mould and Pop Mould’s house was one of the first on Oakwood Street so we were eyewitnesses to the growth that propelled Bethany from one of the quiet resorts to a beach town that attracted families from all over the mid-Atlantic. “Who’s staying next door?” someone would ask. “Oh, they’re renters, I think” Mom would answer. We didn’t say it to be rude, but just to remind ourselves that we were the lucky ones. The ones that didn’t have to wait to rent a house from Saturday to Saturday -we could roll up to the house on a Tuesday night if we wanted. We didn’t have to rush down to the beach all pale and wide eyed after driving all day on a Saturday. The ones that knew all the kids on the street who stayed there all summer.

Now, the tables are turned on us. We’re the renters now and, after unloading our cars as fast as we can, we race to get down to the beach late in the afternoon for that first satisfying dip into the great Atlantic ocean. Yes, we’re pale and wide eyed and anticipating a week of relaxation while cramming all the stuff we want to do into a single week. Delaware has given way to South Carolina, but it’s the ocean and we’re there and that’s what counts.

The dress code and menu are simple- bathing suits are the norm for eight hours a day, and you’d better plan for a least one bag of sour cream ‘n onion potato chips per day. Yuengling is the beer of choice… the Coach likes to ride the silver bullet, but has to do so by himself.

Walks are taken often- exploring the early morning beach or watching a late afternoon storm form over the island.

I watched a lady catch and release this shark. Hope I don’t meet him next year.

Since we are beach experts and also parents, the amount of equipment that we lug down the street to the beach each morning is absolutely ridiculous. Toys, umbrellas, chairs, coolers…

But the view from the blanket is excellent.

Like any proper seven year old, the Bear made friends with another little girl.

She hardly ever got out of the water.

The Llama had a great time.

And Bee took a few minutes from chasing birds to relax.

We all had a great time. Even me. Even though the moments of relaxing time with a book and a diet coke are few. Even though my hair looked like this for most of the week.

So, the relaxing time has gone by the wayside, at least for now. There are seagulls to be chased and waves to ride and holes to be dug. It’s hard work at the beach, but a new generation of beach lovers must be bred.

See you next year, Edisto. We’ll be the ones that show up on a weekend afternoon next July, pale and excited.

 

All Over the Map

When people ask me where I’m from, they get more information than they probably want or need.  But, I honestly can’t think of how to pare down my response.

I was born in Washington, DC and lived inside the beltway until partway through seventh grade.  My entire family is from the DC area, and we lived in an area where I was a brisk walk from both the Metro and my Catholic school.  I walked to school as a kid, passing my grandparents house on the way.  So, right, it follows that my parents would move us from this relatively urban environment where we lived in a little house where we could see into our neighbors’ houses to a 4000 square foot house on three acres of land off a rural road in Tennessee.  Riiiight. 

We had to drive twenty minutes to school, and I remember thinking that our eighth grade field trip to the museum at Oak Ridge National Laboratory was a complete joke.  And, if you were a kid that was used to going to the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian during school, it was.  So, even though we were in Tennessee, we still spent all our vacations and even long weekends back in Maryland.  Mom and Dad would load up the mini-van, pick us up at school, and begin the 530 mile trek back for the summer or just because Mom wanted to watch the Washington Redskins play in the SuperBowl among friends. 

So, the DC area has always been important to me and after a few years of living in the South, it grew on me too.  I spent my freshman year of college in Charleston, SC, but then went back to Knoxville to go to the University of Tennessee.  There, I learned the importance of football of Saturdays, the beauty in wearing orange, and why the Southeastern Conference Rocks.  Something that I would have been too ignorant to do while in high school- I became proud of living in the South- with all its inconsistencies and lovely rivers and fierce pride and warm April days. 

Life just playing with me…I met my future husband at perhaps the biggest dive bar in the southeast, and he turned out to be from Wisconsin.  Right, so enter the midwest.  We lived there for three years after we got married.  I guess Wisconsin would be great if it weren’t for the bone chilling, freezing ass cold weather that characterizes that state.  As someone who had taken on the Southeast as their adopted home, it was hard to realize that, yes, I found that I could tell the difference between 20 and 30 degrees.  Yuck.  I do like most of the people there though.   They are authentic, tough, and practical.  They will tell you when you have broccoli in your teeth and then hand you a beer.  I remember when there was a cocktail hour after work once and I came wearing, shockingly, a dress (like any good girl who had pledged Chi Omega at the College of Charleston).  They all laughed at me…and then they handed me a beer.

Utah is my fifth state.  And, its pretty true to its reputation.  Its amazingly conservative, the liquor laws are the stuff of comedy, and its pretty far from home…wherever that is.  But, unlike any other place in this country, you can ski a world class resort thirty minutes from the airport and that is unbeatable.  Its taken three years, but we finally found a niche…with ski bums, lapsed Catholics, and other sinners like ourselves.  We know where the liquor stores are, know how to (mostly) keep the missionaries away from the house, and where to get good deals on lift tickets.

Its working for us right now.  Until the next spot beckons.