I'll be honest with you - I'm still mourning the loss of my most favorite Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses, which I apparently left in the grass at Nissley after last Saturday's concert. I can't remember if I bought them one or two years ago at my favorite little sunglasses store in Rehoboth, but I must admit it's been distracting me. I just spent 10 minutes trying to find them online, but to no avail.
We didn't see any ponies yesterday, so that was a disappointment - but the only one. The seas and skies in North Carolina have been good to us, showering us with sunshine and perfect temperatures. I'm not sure I've ever swam in an ocean as warm as this, and there were plenty of jellyfish to show for it. We have lots of questions about these gelatinous creatures - for instance, do they all sting? (We think so.) Even when they're dead? (Probably shouldn't risk it.) We saw one super mama jellyfish - she was pretty scary looking, but she got carried back into the sea.
And I should mention this - I'm suspicious of these sandbars. First of all, I'm not used to them. Where I typically vacation, waves crash right there on the beach. Second, if you're going to be called a "sandbar," shouldn't you serve booze?
As promised, we worked hard on relaxing. Miller Lite and Combos for a mid-morning snack, and I finished the book I was reading as well as two magazines.
We marveled at the cute sandpipers, who scurry along chasing the tide, snacking on crustaceans and insects, and watched pelicans make their dramatic descent into the water, fishing for lunch.
The 4-wheel drive beach is a different experience. The space is amazing - no families setting up oversized tents or moving chairs to steal your sandy real estate. Just us, then some surfers plenty of feet away on one side, some fisherman down the way on the other side. What is unusual and at first almost off-putting, is the near constant traffic of trucks cruising down the shore behind you. But people are friendly, and we wave as surfers and fisherman and otherwise tourists make their trek to their slice of the beach.
As the tide came in, we tired of repositioning our blanket and chairs, tossed them up by the parked trucks and SUVs and decided to hike north to well, we don't really know where - north of where we were. The terrain was uneven - soft, sinking soft and hard sand alternating in no particular pattern - which made for a good leg workout. On our way, we spied a sea turtle refuge, or something to that effect. Though, the discovery was a bit anticlimatic as we didn't identify any sea turtles or eggs or anything sea turtle-y at all. And I should give credit - Rachel commented on the area - I didn't even know sea turtles inhabited North Carolina.
Dinner was a delicious treat of hamburgers, potatoes, bean salad and watermelon (for dessert). After dinner, we played Bananagrams and Balderdash. I'm not good at Balderdash.
Much of the same is on tap for today - a new book, different magazines, appropriate sunblock. I'll be back with more of our adventures tomorrow.
Typical in North Carolina waters this time of year are something I heard someone calling pumpkin fish. These are in the same family as jelly fish but do not seem to sting. I have never been stung by one, nor have our kids. I have seen people holding them in their hands, though I have not tried it. I have looked them over closely in the water and I do not see tentacles. I could not find a picture of them online using the name pumpkin fish so I am not sure whether this is what you are seeing or not. I do know that I see a whole lot of them in North Carolina waters and they do not see to sting.
Posted by: Scott | August 19, 2009 at 06:28 AM