Another day at the beach

For those of you that don't know I recently moved to the Charleston area. I have never lived so close to the beach. Although I have spent many years living in the beautiful Appalachian mountains. It's an interesting change of pace. I do miss the cool, crisp, peacefulness of the mountain. But the warm, sunny, exciting shoreline is pretty awesome to be near too.

I have never been closer than a 5 hour car trip to the beach. That made it a great destination for vacationing when I was a kid.

During those trips the best part about going to the beach was finding shells...

And making sandcastles.

When my sister and I got older the more complex they became. We would find shells and other sea junk to decorate them with. Sometimes we would make moats or pools and put tiny fish in them.

 We also fished on the shoreline, on the pier and on deep sea fishing expeditions.

We had old butterfly nets that we'd use to catch little bait fish for my dad to use on his big surf casting pole. Later on my sister got a really cool surf casting nets, that had little weights that would sink and trap small fish. That created hours of entertainment for the two of us.

We also did a lot of body surfing in the waves, we even got boogie boards one year. Sometimes we'd take our swimming noodles out and just bob in the waves.

Although I don't suppose I will be doing much of that anymore, since I saw two grey fins 30 feet from me in the water on Saturday. After I ran panicked from the water I was able to see they were just dolphins. But as far as I am concerned they were sharks when I was in the water.

The older I get the more my idea beach time fun has changed. One of my favorite things has become taking a walk with someone on the beach at sunrise to find shells. Early morning is really the only time to find good shells. They get picked through quickly through the day. If it storms that night before, you have an even better chance to find some interesting shells and sometimes sea creatures.

Mostly I just like enjoying the warm sun and lounging with friends and family digging my feet into the cool, moist sand.

I suppose just sitting quietly and reading a fun book would be fun for me now. After watching my mom do that for years, I feel like I am finally sophisticated enough to enjoy it as well.

Be sure to enjoy your vacation to the fullest! Whether its the mountains, beach or a big city.

If you already live in one of these places don't forget to enjoy it too! We are the lucky ones. Take advantage of living in a place that people spend hundreds of dollars to come visit.