By Lara
It has come to my attention that I never gave my perspective on making a sandcastle on the beach in winter. That is going to be my #1 priority today. Right now, in fact.
I believe the concept was born of the fact that neither Beth nor I like to feel hot. The beach is typically reserved for those people who enjoy sweating and sunburns. As I am not someone who enjoys either, I tend to avoid the beach. At least, I used to avoid the beach. Until Kate got a jeep. Assateague Island has an off-roading beach. That is much cooler than a regular beach that you have to walk to.
At several points last summer/autumn, I took advantage of Kate's generosity and accompanied her to the beach. I got two really bad sunburns, but it wasn't as bad as I'd remembered. I still, however, wanted to experience the beach in winter. Thus, it made the list. Beth added the bit about the sandcastle.
I consulted a calendar to find the official end of winter and scheduled us for a weekend on the spring side. That put us at March 7th at Kate's beach house with her jeep. And it was good.
The day of the beach outing was chilly. The beach was much colder than the air temperature inland would have one believe. I was wearing four layers of shirts/jackets, a pair of jeans, and flip flops. Note to interested parties: gloves + sand castle building = counter-productive.
We found a lovely spot on the mostly deserted beach, parked the jeep, and started building a sandcastle. Beth had brought castle shaped buckets, so it was a little easier than I had pictured. It probably took us about 15 minutes to build our rather elaborate sand castle. My fingers and toes were numb by minute 8. Kate went to hide in the jeep with a book. Beth started taking pictures of Boromir and Captain Jack in the castle. I watched the waves and tried to get blood recirculating through my extremities.
When we were done with the castle, and it was well-documented, we got back in the jeep and drove to the Virginia border. Kate took some amazing pictures for her photography class. Beth found some beautiful sea shells to give to her kids. I watched the waves and tried to get blood recirculating through my extremities.
We stopped at Panera Bread to get some soup and sit by the fire. We also noticed that the 5 Below next door was selling big red rubber balls. Beth and I each purchased one for the adventure that was coming...
(Stay Tuned for Painting Daisies on Big Red Rubber Balls...)