Showing posts with label Beach. Show all posts

Beach Rundown

 This is my blog view today




Yep. We are now heading home from a week at the beach. The camper is cleaned and closed and the car is packed and safety prayers have been said. We take mostly backroads and see lots of pretty farm lands. 


It was a beautiful week with all sunshine and temperatures in the upper 90’s. Leaving is sorta sad, but once we get on the road, the comforts of home kicks in and it’s nice to open the door to the house. This means we made it safe and put another memory in the books.


Nick took this photo the morning before we left


I learned the first day on the beach that I can’t fight the ocean the way I used to when I was a younger. I walked myself out about knee deep and along came a wave and swept my feet right out from under me. “Hey! That was mean!’ Needless to say I walked out with a bloody knee and a shell rash that lasted all week. It’s healed up now but left a white spot that didn’t tan.


A bird pooped on Nick and I laughed. The next day I got pooped on. Wasn’t so funny then. Ok, Yes it was. We both laughed. I heard it was good luck anyway. I wanted to go kayaking for the the first time at the campground lake and don’t know why I didn’t. Eh, maybe on the next trip in a couple months. 



It makes Nick really nervous when I do things on a whelm like this so I mentioned it a few times but didn’t pout about it. Neither one of us can swim. But I did find this little prince by the lake while we were washing some clothes at the laundry mat (or is it laundro mat?)



We enjoyed dinner by the water way with friends and family. We shopped at some outlets and walked around a brewery, but no, I didn’t get a beer, ha. The last night there, we tried a new place called Barefoot Bistro. It was a little swanky little place with a one man band and familiar foods. The people all seemed to know each other as if this was a regular hang out for locals.



I ordered the chicken pot pie and Nick got the smothered chicken with beans and potatoes. My pot pie was huge. It was all so good! I have leftovers back there in the cooler.


Well, we are now half way home and fixing to stop for a little road side picnic before we drive another 100 miles. 


Work will come early in the morning and shoes will be hard to wear.   


Tugboat

 This is my blogging view today.



It’s day three here on the beach and we have been sitting out here watching the waves and people. It’s not too crowded this week so far but more crowded than usual in the middle of August.


We sat with some beach friends earlier in the week and enjoyed some good laughs and cutting up. 


As we sit here, we can see way off in the distance about 2.5 miles at some small boats and a large barge. I think that’s what it’s called. It was a large flat vessel with a crane on it. Jack with the Shiplog blog can correct me on that. He’s a sailor man.


On August 8th a tugboat sank 30 ft deep off the coast of Myrtle Beach. They rescued three people and spent several days retrieving the 59 foot push tug from the ocean. As we sat here in the comfort of our beach chairs and umbrella, I couldn’t help but think about the hot struggles they were having out there as the pulled in the tugboat. I just hope the money was good. 



The tugboat was finally brought to shore yesterday and moved to a South Carolina shipyard. I wonder why they didn’t just leave it on the bottom of the ocean? Maybe it was the loads of fuel and oil? Maybe it was too shallow to be safe for other boats? But I’m glad no one was hurt and families were reunited. 


Later that afternoon, we cleaned up and went to one of our favorite places to eat. A place called Taco Mundo. We love sitting out on the patio over looking the inlet where there are boat docks full of fancy yachts. But this time, there was a little entertainment. We got to actually watch a reverse activity of a tugboat pushing a barge between some buoys and under a drawbridge. 




That was all the excitement for today. I don’t remember ever seeing a tugboat before.  Have you?

                                                                    

Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ian has been tearing it up down South. We are feeling the affects all the way here in North Carolina with lots of rain and wind. It has now moved through Florida and back out to the sea. Hurricane Ian is now heading up the South Carolina coast and getting closer to home. 

Bad weather and storms are expected around here for the next couple days. Schools are closed and since I work for the county Government, we are closed too. I guess they are expecting it to get worst. Heavy rain and wind has never shut things down in the past as I can remember.

So today I worked from home. The temperatures were in the lower 50’s. The first of September, the temps were in the 90’s. Thats how fast the weather shifts here in the Carolinas. It’s been raining all day and the winds are high. I have been keeping up with thing going on down on the coast. We are 400 miles from our camper at the beach. We suppose to go down in a couple of weeks. 

Once again, our campground is flooded and the dunes are washed away. The water will reside quickly once he rain and high tides stop. We have seen this before with Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. The campground rebuilds quickly. Below is what the campground looks like today. The dunes are gone and debris is everywhere. It looks like the campground is in the ocean.

Below is the steps the lead over the dunes to the beach. And a photo of me sitting on those stairs on a pretty Summer day. The dunes came up as high as the rails in some places. 



Our camper is packed tight in storage so the worst damage it can have would be if a top vent blows off and gets the inside wet. So far we have never had such damage. 

The weather we have here at home does not bother me. We have no trees in the yard to worry about falling. I have a butterfly bush in the front yard that has broken in half but it will grow back next Summer. 

The wind and rain keeps me in. I am enjoying these cold rainy days with a coffee and blanket snuggled in my recliner watching Hallmark movies. I had a bad week last week and it just feels good to do nothing. 
 
What is the weather like in your neck of the woods?


1st Beach Trip of The Year

Finally! We were able to take a beach trip. It was just a short one, but we will be going again in June for a long weekend and then a whole week in August. I wish we could go more but work happens.

With my job I had to wait until I had been there for 9 months before I could take any vacation. That’s how long the probation period is. I made it. My husbands job is 7 days a week so it’s hard for him to get days off. We will manage. 

We stopped half way down at our usual spot and grabbed some fresh garden tomatoes. They were so good. It’s hard to find good tomatoes now days. These were red juicy and sweet. We had the perfect tomato sandwiches on the beach.

The temperatures were in the high 70s and 80’s with a cool breeze. We did some walking and relaxing. I got in the ocean about knee deep. The water was cold but not too bad. We also walked a mile down the shore to visit my brother in law that lives at the next campground over from the one we stay at. It was a surprise since he did not know we were coming down. I grabbed an ice cream cone from the camping store to eat on the way back to our place.

It was also our 28th anniversary and we enjoyed some good food and fun. We are still so much in love. I can not imagine doing life with out this man. He spoils me. We rarely argue, and when we do, it turns into laughs. Through the years, we got good at understanding each others sarcasm and never stopped being each others boyfriend and girlfriend.

We paid for an extra night so we did not have to worry about signing out before noon on our leaving day. We spent the morning on the beach. Nick snapped a photo of me enjoy my coffee as I stood in the water one more time. 

Later we had another tomato sandwich and left for home. It was a fun time and I can’t wait until we do it again next month. 


Rain

I have been at the beach all this week. It is absolutely my favorite place to be. However, I have never been here in the Winter but I think I would enjoy it just the same. I feel like I am away from the bad things in the world when I am down here. The internet is bad and half the time the cable goes out but that gives me a chance to reflect on the nature around me. 



The days have been hot and sunny but we fight the pop up showers that come around 2:00 each afternoon and last about 15 minutes. One afternoon, Nicks brother and his girlfriend came to spend time with us on the beach. It was sunny one minute and all of a sudden it came a down pour. Everyone huddled under their beach umbrellas until it passed, but not me. I mean, we had on our swim suits so why not just get wet? I stepped out from under the umbrellas and played in the rain. Needless to say, they stayed dry and I looked like a wet rat the rest of the day. Ha. 

We went walking down the beach one day and we could see the rain in the horizon. It looked like we were walking right into the storm but we could tell it was moving West and away. It was a beautiful sight. We would also sat on the sunny beach and watch the rain bans move across the ocean. It was amazing. 



There was one day, so far,  that was a wash out. There was no lighting or thunder but we could hear the rain pounding on the roof. It was raining so hard, you could not see out. We could hear the strong winds flip a few awnings from other campers. We never leave our awning out for this reason. The weather is so unpredictable at the beach. So we stayed in and watched lifetime movies until the rain tapered off that evening just in time for us to go out to dinner. That night it was clear and we took our chairs out to the beach and sat under the stars and talked about life. 



We have a few more days down here before it’s back to the real world. It looks like it will be sunny from here out. 




Tried Something New

We were able to get a couple days off work last week so we made a four day weekend. Of course we headed down to our camper at the beach. 
Our four hour drive was a wet one. We drove through rain 90 percent of the way. Once we got to our camper, it was cloudy but no rain. 
We unpacked the car and I made the beds and set up the inside of the camper while Nick hooked everything up on the outside. It takes us about 45 minutes to get settled in.

I clicked on the campground app and seen where they now have paddle boats, kayaks and paddle board rentals on Saturday. 
I got all giddy because I have always wanted to try stand up paddle boarding. He was not happy about it. He said, “I do not think it’s a good idea. You can’t swim”. I was not worried because I knew they would make me wear a life jacket. “What if you fall off?” He questioned. “I will just get back on”. I was determined to do it. I like adventure and trying new things. The fear of getting old and not being able to do things bother me.

The lake at the campground will sometimes have an alligator visit. It is also full of fish, turtles, and families of ducks. 
But this was my chance. We walked to the kayak shack as soon as it opened and they helped me to a life vest and a paddle board. 
I told them I have never done it before, so they suggested I start out on my knees and when I feel comfortable, I can stand up. I slipped off my shoes and got onto the board. With a tiny push, I was in the deep waters of the lake. 
(Note: the alligator was in the lake just last week but I did not know that until a friend told me later that she saw him).



It was not a wide paddle board as I expected. I tried several times to stand up but I was afraid I would loose my balance so I headed back to the shore so I could bottom it out and stand up. Another little push and I was back out on the water. 


This time I was standing. My legs were shaking and I was a little wobbly, but I was paddle boarding for the first time and I was so excited. Nick took videos and snap shots of my little adventure. He was so afraid for me. He was relieved when I told him I was finished. I only stayed out for about 20 minutes. It felt like I got a nice little workout. My legs got tired easily and I didn’t want to be dinner for the alligator. 

Afterwards, we ate lunch and headed out to the beach. It was cloudy and raining most of the time with little peeks of sunshine. We enjoyed our stay regardless of the weather. But don’t ask Nick. On our last day, He had to tear down the camper so it could go back into storage. It was pouring rain and he was drenched. Here is a picture of him standing on the picnic table trying not to get wet but he finally gave up. We had to be out by noon. 


Now Back to work.

Pebbles On The Beach

Here it is the middle of April. We usually have already been to the beach but with us both having new jobs, our vacation time is limited. Fortunately, I work for an accountant so he set aside April the 16th as a tax holiday and gave us girls the day off. Nick was able to get off too so we jump at the opportunity to head down to the camper. 

Once we unloaded the car, and got everything set up and in order, we headed out for a walk on the beach. It was rather chilly with the temperatures in only the 60s. The wind made it even cooler. We walked about three miles. During our walk, I kept seeing these little burlap bags washed up on the sand. They were tied tight, but curious me had to see what was inside. 


Inside each bag were little rocks or pebbles. They seemed to have been in the water for a while as they were covered in sand that had settled into the bags  over time. 



I didn’t keep them. I put the pebbles back into the bags and returned them to the sand for someone else to find. I did not see any on our way back so they must of either washed back out into the ocean or someone else came alone and scooped them up. 


I just wonder what the intentions were or if they were just washed away from someone on accident. 

We ended the day with dinner at Hamburger Joes and a trip to Walmart for a some camper needs and few snacks.
Now we are back at the camper. We have had our showers and now relaxing a bit before we call it a day.

I can’t wait to see the sun tomorrow and enjoy all day on the beach. This will be our only full day as we will head back home on Sunday. I do not get a real vacation until August. That is just too long to wait. I plan to ask for a couple days off in June. I do not know how well that will go but it’s worth a shot.


A Toad and a Storm

Nick went out for a walk and I decided to stay in and clean the camper a little. Well, really, I simply did not feel like putting on shoes. We hung around the camper the rest of the morning and headed out to the ocean after lunch. We decided not to take the umbrella and use our old chairs today. We could see a storm brewing in the distance and it would be easier to make a run for it if we had too. Our camper is sitting about 100 feet from the beach.

We grabbed our old chairs that had been sitting out all night and our beach bag and headed out. 
Once we got to the spot on the sand that we wanted to spend the day, we flung open our chairs and plopped them down. When I opened my chair, a big toad fell out. He looked up at me with a grumpy look on his face. I just messed up his day. 


I grabbed the little fella and took him back over the dunes to a grassy area and let him go. The anxiety of carrying a toad was high as I have not touched a toad since I was probably nine years old. Eeeek. But I knew he would not survive sitting out with us all day in the baking sun. 

As we sat on the beach we enjoyed watching the rain bands sweep across the ocean in the distance. It looked near but in reality it was miles away. People were still enjoying the water and bathing in the sun. 


The skies got darker and we could actually see the storm in the distance as the sun was still bright on the coast. It was beautiful and I love storms.


It was nice sitting on mother natures porch watching the storms pass by.  
It has rained all around us all week but never came to where we are. 

It has been so nice here that we have decided to extend or stay a couple more days. 



Seagrass

I have been here at the beach a week now. Sorry for not posting much but I have just been on this routine where I get up, eat, get dress, and meet up with Nick on his walk. He will walk about three or so miles then I meet up with him and do another two or three miles. The other day, I walked up to the laundry mat to put some clothes in to wash and ended up walking three miles while they washed and another two miles while they dried. After we walk each morning, we put out the umbrellas and chairs and sit on the beach until supper time. I would love to sit on the beach and blog but the sun is just too bright. Today is a cloudy day so I’m sitting out here having my breakfast and blogging a while. 

It has been crazy in the Carolinas. Last week there was a hurricane on Monday here in SC, then Sunday we had an Earthquake in my home town of North Carolina. But something else was odd here at the coast. As we were sitting on the beach, we could see dark spots in the waters. They were gaining and getting closer to shore. We thought it was schools of fish and so did others by overhearing conversations. 


As the waves rolled in, we could tell it was not fish. It was masses of seagrass. It laid a pile of brush along the shore as far as you can see. It went from South to North. People were running out of the water and others were lining the shore to get pictures and conversations.


We have a friend that is on Beach patrol and he said it is pretty normal after a storm but this much at one time is a little odd. I have a friends that live down here and they said they have never seen anything like this.


It made the beach look nasty and it is still there today. We were told that the city was in the process of cleaning it up but it was too much for their machines. It will be a slow process and most of the seagrass will eventually work its way under the sand and back out to sea. Meanwhile I made the best of it and instead of building a sand castle, I built a tiki bar.
 

I can imagine this is what the crew on Gilligan’s Island used for roof shelter on their beach huts. You think?
Have you ever seen this much seagrass at one time? Has Mother nature threw some new things your way lately?

Weird Finding

I am once again at the beach. We love it here. Since this is were we keep our 2nd home, we do not go many other places. We have talked about getting a smaller camper to tote along for weekend trips to the mountains or local camps, but for now, we always head to the coast. We can stay a whole week here for the price that most people spend on 3 nights in a hotel. Camping is the best and you always have your own bed and toilet.

Yesterday when we arrived at the campground, it was raining so we decided to go out for lunch and wait it out. It is hard to set the camper up on the outside while its pouring rain. The rain had stopped by the time we finished lunch and we were set. 

Once we got unpacked and the camper leveled and hooked up, we headed out for a walk on the beach.. I was sure I would be able to find some good shells since we just had a hurricane hit two days ago, but oddly, there were very few sea shells on the sand. As we walked further up near the dunes, I spotted a weird looking thing. Nick said he always called it a sea snake skeleton, so I took a photo. Once I was back to the camper,  I googled it. 


Come to learn, this is not a sea snake. It is actually Whelk egg casing. Whelks are sea snells that live inside conk shells. The will lay their eggs in the ocean and the babies will hatch through holes in the coil. Then the egg casing will end up washed up on shore like this one. There were also two little (dead) crabs laying next to it. Not sure about the story on those. 

Below is a photo I found when I looked it up on the internet. Pretty cool huh?

This morning we slept in as we listened to thunderstorms in the distance. Looks like we will be fighting against pop up storms through out the day. That is pretty normal around here. I just finished breakfast of oatmeal and eggs and now we are heading out for a walk. Today is going to be a good day. 

Fun With A Photo Ball

A couple weeks ago I receive a photo ball as a birthday gift from my sister. I have always wanted one of these for some reason and now I have one.

A photo ball is a crystal ball that allows you to take refraction photos. The background shows within the ball creating a cool shot. It also magnifies objects. I learned that the hard way when I tried to bring it out in the full sunlight. 

I brought it with me to the beach so I could play around with it. It is actually kind of hard to master but soon I will be able to get those perfect shots. 
Until then, here are some amateur photos I took this past week. Enjoy.







Pretty cool huh? 
That all I have for today. 

We have decided to extend our stay here for a few more days. Things here in South Carolina are slowly getting back to normal. Stores are open to 80% capacity but they have shortened their hours. Some restaurants are open to 50% capacity and some are open 100%. We have sat down to both. 
Hopefully soon, things will get running again.

Jellyfish and Goose Berries

I am currently sitting in my camper on the beach waiting for the wind to die down so we can go for a little walk. The wind has been terrible today. We tried to sit out on the beach but after a few hours, we could not take it anymore. The wind was blowing so hard that we were getting sand blasted. 

We enjoy our walks. We see things, meet people and make friends. Last night we walked a mile down a side road just to get a good ice cream cone from a little ice cream shop. It was exactly one mile from the campground. 


While we have been here, we have taken several walks down the beach. I love to explore sea life and gaze at the beauty of the ocean as the sun sets. 
Speaking of sea life, we have came across a few different kinds of Jellyfish. The most common is the Cannon Ball Jellyfish which is harmless. If you walk the beaches you have seen these. 

After seeing some articles telling everyone to “beware of Man O Wars”, They have been washing up on the shore this week and have a venomous sting. They will even sting you on the sand if you get close enough. 
So. Far I have seen five. They have beautiful colors but ugly the same. 


Another Jellyfish we came across is the Blue Button Jellyfish. These will not sting but can cause skin irritation if handled too long. 
I did not attempt to find out. I thought it was pretty in a weird way too. 


I seen a lot of little blobs of clear Jelly. They are called Sea Gooseberries. These are harmless and you can pick them up. I didn’t take my chances. I found this out after I came in and did a google search. 

We are half way through our vacation. So far things are ok around here while back home seems to be in chaos with riots. I hope where you are, you are staying safe from covid and other crazy things going on in the world. 

Meanwhile, I think I’m becoming a Marine Biologist. Haha

Wild Life Friends

We are now back home from our recent beach trip. We cut the trip short due to a couple concerns. This pandemic going around has put the whole state on “stay in” order. This means to limit time away from the house. We were fine down at the coast in our own little camper with no contact with other people while we enjoyed a nice relaxing time at the campground and on the beach. Back here at home we have to be in by 5:00 pm. The only places we can go are places of necessities. Well, you know how it is.

While we did not have contact with anyone except for talking back and forth from a distance or a hand wave, we did have contact with some wildlife in the area. Even the animals seem different. These birds refused to move as we walked by. Normally they will scatter. 


These two ducks visited our campsite every morning. They must of could hear my door open each morning to let the sunshine and cool breeze in. Within minutes I would hear them quaking at the foot of my door steps.


They would stay and watch me while I ate my breakfast then I would feed them some bread. 
We talked about the weather and about their other feathered family. 

While we were out walking we saw several of these little turtles. Some were no bigger than an quarter and most were smashed on the road. 


I was able to save this one. I took him over to the lake side and set him free. 

When we got home, I took a walk around the yard to check on my plants. I will occasionally peep in the bird campers to see if they are occupied. As I walked up to this bird camper, my stomach feel on the ground and my heart raced out of my chest as I saw an unwelcome happy camper. 


He looked happy and content so I told Nick to just take him out of the yard, but he got rid of him instead. It turned out to be a pretty long black snake and looked like it just had dinner (Probably from eggs in the nest). I know they are “suppose” to be the good snakes but I am terrified of any snake and the deader the better. The bite of a black snake will still make you extremely sick. 


5K On The Sand

I mentioned in my last post that I would be doing a virtual 5K for my home town’s  “Community Foundation Run”. This is a big event held each year. There is a lot of money raised for different charity/ organizations. I registered for the run a few weeks ago. It was to be held on April the 4th. Due to the Covid-19 scare, they chose to cancel the race and asked everyone to do it virtually on our own time between now and midnight April 4th.

I decided to do the 5k (3.10miles) while I was at the beach. I thought I would be at an advantage running on a flat beach one way and back. 
I was wrong. 
Have you ever tried to run on sand? It was not that easy. I ran on dry firm sand but I did not have that bounce in my run to help my stride.

Nick made sure to stay behind me as he did his regular morning walk. I stayed in his view. He can almost walk as fast as I run. He turned and headed the other way before I started coming back (now he was in my view and I never caught up with him). He did this so he could beat me to the end to take a photo of my finish. 


This was my 3rd 5K. The first one I did was a couple years ago. I was 10lbs lighter and finished at 38.34 minutes. This time I came in at 41.29.
I never prepare for these things. This time I had a big meal the night before and was still sore from a workout my daughter had me doing just a couple days ago. I walk every day, but never run, so when I do a 5k run, I will run a little and walk a little. Maybe one day I will train myself to beat my record instead of lose to myself. 

I logged into the site and entered my time and a photo for proof. I will be receiving a T-shirt in the mail soon. 


I doubt I will, but if I am the winner in my age group (female 50-55) I will receive a great amount to donate to a charity of my choice. My choice will be the Crisis Pregnancy Center. This is a Christian organization that help pregnant ladies make the right choices for their unwanted pregnancy through counseling and/or adoption. 

I am back home on higher ground now. I wish I could have stayed longer at the beach. It was so nice down there but It was suppose to rain the rest of the week and with nothing open we didn’t want to sit in the camper every day. It was fun while it lasted. 

It’s Different Here

We packed the Ford Escape (aka Betty) and headed to the beach. Before we got out of the drive way, a little bird was flapping around the hood of the car in a frantic. Nick said “I bet she has a nest under the hood”. Sure enough, she did.


We hated to do it, but we destroyed the eggless nest and went on our way.
We got wind that the county would be making everyone stay home, so we got out while we could. We wanted to stay at our “other home” since it had a better view. We still practiced our safe distancing. We carefully filled the tank with gas not to touch the grip bare handed. We have kept our hands washed and make sure to sanitize our hands constantly.

We were able to stop at our half way point near Darlington got take a pit stop. They have clean restrooms. We also grabbed some fresh veggies and some Angel food cake. 


The roads were clear with only minimal traffic. That was nice. Once we go to our camper and set everything up, we headed out for a walk. It was quite.
It felt odd and strange.


I get up every morning and have breakfast then walk out to the beach for some quiet time with Jesus and coffee. 

(This cute cup was a surprise gift from Jean at “bjsweetnothings” blog)

There are usually lots of people out, but not this time. It’s just so different here. Sort of a weird vibe. This is normally a busy time of the year. Everyone is behaving, minding there own business and keeping their distance. I’m not complaining though. I actually like it. Throwing up a hand wave and a smile with everyone is fine with me. 


We have been able to get curb side or carry out food from our favorite restaurants and have a stock of food in the camper to get us by for a while. The grocery stores are still open but we are trying to avoid going. We can smell the grills cooking all around the campground. We will be doing some grilling out too. 

We did a lot of walking and tomorrow morning I will be running a 5k...Alone. This is an event I registered and paid for in my home town, but it got cancelled due to this crazy pandemic. They ask that we all do it on our own and turn in our times. What a better place to do it than here at the beach. 

I’ll let you all know how I did in my next post. Wish me luck. I’m not really prepared for running and I’m still sore from a workout I did at home last week.