I had a grate time!
My wife was happy because my daughter and my new son-in-law came over to Myrtle Beach on Tuesday night after they had returned from their honeymoon in St. Lucia. So she was not stuck with me for an entire week without “kids”. Her only source of grief was the fact that our other daughter and son-in-law could not come down because they had already taken their vacation the week before.
I did manage to stay pretty much away from the news while I was gone. It seemed to me to be 24 hour coverage of Paris Hilton. In one week I saw that she went to jail, was released from jail and then sent back to jail. And to think our justice system is a model for the rest of the world.
I saw a brief blurb about a cyclone threatening the Strait of Hormuz. Just after I filled up expecting a spike upwards the price actually came down a couple of cents. Who in the hell can figure out gas prices? Who in the hell even tries anymore? After the initial warning about the cyclone I never even heard it mentioned again. Not even on the weather channel. Good thing I do not trade in futures.
Most of the time I spent watching the sun come up over the ocean or watching a giant orange moon hang over it late at night. I did force myself to sit out on the beach during the absolute heat of the day with my wife for a few of the days we were there. I will never understand why folks enjoy doing that. Even watching people read on the beach is comedy. They fight the wind and they fight the bugs and they fight the sand. And about the time they think they have won the war they have to move everything because the tide is coming in. In my opinion the beach is wonderful just before the sun comes up and just after it goes down. The time in between is best spent on the balcony close to the air conditioner and the refridgerator.
I did go and see Le Grande Cirque while I was there. You would not believe what some folks can do with their bodies. The juggling and the acrobatics was fun to watch.
We also ate out quite a bit. Too much in fact. When you see the prices charged by Big Restaurant it makes you a little more merciful to Big Oil. I still thank God daily for Big Tobacco.
But now here I sit with the work piled around me like a sand castle. There ain’t no tide gonna come and wash this away. I will spend the rest of the week trying to get my land legs back under me.
But in about 365 days I’ll get another week. I am already counting them down.
Hey, my family usually treks to Myrtle Beach every year, too! My in-laws have a camping space that they use and their camper is big enough (heck, it’s bigger than most mobile homes) to fit all of us so the rest stay in their pullout beds while I take up most of the floor with an inflatable mattress. You’re quite right about fighting the elements…I recall about 6 years ago I had a fantastic time as a hurricane had just finished going by & so just after the wind had died down the bugs weren’t quite back yet and I could sit in a lawn chair on the beach and read in peace & quiet. Probably the last novel I read, actually.
Ever since then it’s been one big hassle, fighting flies/mosquitos or feeling the wind serve as a sandblaster on my legs….daytime is best spent with the kiddies in the pool or watching them swim in the 60 degree ocean (no such thing as warm ocean water in the USA unless a hurricane just left) while the actual “beach” is truly best in the morning and under the moonlight. Yeah, if you’re a teenager its great to check out the ladies in the skimpy swimsuite but that’s for Florida beaches during Spring Break (been there, done that). An actual vacation on the beach during the southern summer sun is best spent away from the beach during daylight hours. If you’ll note, I put “my family” in the first sentence, because I usually don’t go, with the reasons given above. If it weren’t for watching my kids play in the ocean, I probably would go even less. Hey, I can lay down on my own couch in a 72 degree room and read a book!
Related: We spent last Sunday afternoon watching the Braves’ class-A affiliate play a day game while my son’s baseball team had its version of a ‘banquet’ in the right field section, which is really a grassy hill that is setup for picnics and laying on blankets while watching the game. The low temp during the game was 94, with nary a cloud in the sky.
Tells you how spoiled we are as Americans when most of the section was empty after the 5th inning while the opposing pitcher was throwing a no-hitter as the heat was too unbearable…..and to think that our grandparents were out there working in the fields during the dustbowl periods and oppressing droughts while there was no such thing as ‘freon’ to add comfort. All the while, we’re complaining that it takes the A/C too long to cool the car down while waiting in a long auto-line getting out of the stadium.
Oh, and smijer, get well soon. I fought bronchitis (again, for, like, the 70th time in my life) last month….no fun.