He said, "Come on, lets jump in."
I heard, "Come on, lets put our toes in the water, and then squeal because it's freezing and quickly retreat to the place where there is no frigid water to touch my extremities while I watch you do it instead."
He ran and ran further into the waves and all I could think was, "Imagine that, Adam has a death wish."
He returned soaking wet, shivering, but with the biggest grin I'd ever seen.
This weekend was Exhausting. With a capital E. Tons of fun, but also completely and utterly exhausting. The fact that I am able to even type these words without passing out on the keyboard is a feat in itself. The only real cure for this kind of deep in your bones tired is a couple Zanex, fast food, and another vacation.
I'm the sort of person who suffers from extreme buyer remorse. I'll get a new pair of shoes, and the minute I swipe my card I'm debating returning the damn things. So when it comes to booking campsites, my buyers remorse hits an all time high. Seven seconds past the front gate I'm already going, "Shit, I hate this place. We should have gone to X, Y, or Z... The site is way too small, and I hate the weather this weekend, and I'VE DESTROYED EVERYONE'S VACATION!" It's something about the pressure of choosing the location for the whole group that gets to me. If everyone hates it, it's MY fault. Me, the lady who suggested this shit site is the one to blame. Give her the evil eye and never plan another vacation with her because she single handedly sucked all the happiness out of the room. Thankfully after the mini panic attack wore off and I took about 70 deep breaths in a paper bag I looked around and realized that "HELL YEAH I'M CAMPING AT THE BEACH BIATCHES!"
The first thing that popped into my head when we came through the dunes and I spotted the beach was, "Damn it that's a lot of sand." Miles and miles and miles of sand. Sand in your toes, in your shoes, in your food, snuck into your drink, and mostly in your orifices. WAY too much sand. Despite all the sand we had two very different, but equally enjoyable days at the beach. The first day felt more like we spent a day on the moon than a day at the beach. In my whole life have NEVER seen fog like this before. People would stumble off into the distance and you just never knew if you'd ever see them again. As Adam wandered off I'd think, "Guess it was nice while it lasted." I swear there were other people out there on the beach with us, we could hear them, we just couldn't see them. Maybe it was for the best though. Neighbors are tricky.
So far Oly's been pretty anti water, but thankfully under the teachings of Adam's parents slobber factory Jilly she finally took to the water with gusto. The best was seeing her face the first time she got slammed by a wave. She turned back and looked at us like, "WTF people. No one told me these things fight back."
Day two we donned our wind breakers and heavy duty footware and planned for another day on the moon. Then, SURPRISE! The sun decided to join us. Suddenly all those people we heard but couldn't see yesterday were very very visible. I was happy to get a tan, and read in the sun, but there is something about feeling like you're the only person in miles of coastline that sat pretty nicely with me. Day one was an eerie and somewhat mystical experience at the beach. Day two we saw a school bus drive past us on the sand. I'm just saying.
There were so many great moments crammed into such a small amount of time. I met Adam's nieces and nephew, saw true bliss in the face of my puppy as she ran full speed with no inhibitions, remembered the simple pleasures of having someone bury your feet in the sand, read on a blanket in the sun, made smores, collected driftwood, walked along the coast, flew a kite, cooked hot dogs out of the back of a truck bed, snuggled up in a tent, played with fire, and watched as a young girl saw the ocean for the very first time. Growing up with the ocean at my disposal meant that I've come to take its presence for granted. Yet when I looked down and saw the amazement, excitement and even awe in this young child's face, it was as if I was seeing the ocean for the first time as well.
Hand in hand we sprinted through the sand towards the water, and for a moment we were just two girls, giddy with wonder, about to touch our toes to the sea for the very first time.
*Want to see more of our little vacation? Click on the Webshots 'WA Coast Camping' album on the right side of the blog to see all the pictures from our weekend away.*
