Monday. Memorial Day. A day of celebration. A day where most of corporate America is off work and enjoying the day. Enjoying the beach. Enjoying the very cold ocean. Enjoying the crisp feeling of the sand striking their faces as the wind blows.
After a painful night of no sleep, J and I decided it really wasn’t that big of a deal. After all, we were headed to the beach and what better way to enjoy the beach than to sleep on it? Needless to say, the beach was hot, but a nice breeze kept some of the heat at bay. We spent part of the morning waiting in line at what appeared to be the only coffee shop in the town. The line was long, but the coffee and cranberry scones were delicious! And they had some neat artisan work for sale as well.
To the beach we went, which just so happened to be in a national park, being sure to lather ourselves in suntan lotion. By the time we had finished our coffee, the temperature was in the 90s and we were aching for something cold to drink. While yes, technically alcohol was prohibited on the beach, that didn’t stop us from having a cold one as a mid-morning snack. By 1 PM we were starving and decided to head to the local grocery store and grab some ingredients for lunch and dinner.
We bought some packaged hot dogs for lunch and steaks for dinner, thinking it’d be good to get some real grilling in while we were out camping, since our complex back home doesn’t allow it. Since the beach was in the park, there were supposedly other places we could grill out besides the beach itself. We stopped at a parking lot to walk to an area, but as soon as we opened the car doors, we were swarmed by a herd of mosquitoes. Since there was no breeze here as there was at the beach, we were flesh that could easily be eaten. Obviously, as soon as the doors were opened, they were immediately shut. Back to the beach we went.
Lunch was efficiently made and eaten. A few more drinks consumed (and yes, water, too, this time). At approximately 4 PM we decided to head out and find our camping spot for the night. We drove to a different campground than the first night we stayed, but found the price was too high. We then drove to the only other campground in the area and decided to stay there. Little did we know just how rotten the bugs were going to be there. Apparently they didn’t feel the need to spray their campground as much . . .
On top of that, we bought some firewood from the camp store and found that making a fire was pretty much out of the question with it. Since there were no actual grills there either, dinner was, well, out of the question. We went to bed hot, cranky and hungry. And somehow I had managed to hurt my shoulder either the previous night or at some point during the day and couldn’t sleep well. Ahhhh yes, another sleepless night into a loud and bright morning . . .
To be continued . . .
