Lovely

Our last two days at the Cape were lovely. Intense blue skies. Sunny. Just enough warmth so you could emerge shivering from the chilly water and slowly warm up. Cool and breezy enough to be able to take a walk or sit and read without sweating. I realized that's what I dislike about the southern beaches. Sweat + sand. Not a texture I enjoy.

We discovered a beautiful, beautiful beach. Powdery sands (no painful exfoliation here)! Dunes carving toward a clear ocean. Lovely sandbars revealed during low tide with shallow pools that were perfect for carefree splashing. Perfect waves for the big kid to dive through.

The girls and I found the beach. The guys had gone fishing on a charter boat. The boy finally caught his first fish! After trying with his dad at Lake Travis and with my parents at Port Aransas, all to fish-free results, he caught a striped sea bass and a scuppy. He brought them home in triumph. Dad made an executive chef decision to bake them whole (excluding guts and gills, of course). Unfortunately whole meant including the head. Did you know that a fish's eyes turn white after baking. Yes. Creepy. Too creepy to enjoy. I strongly suggest beheading your fish so you won't be dining with that white accusing fishy stare. The sea bass was supposed to taste good. I couldn't tell. The scuppy was yucky. He should have been freed back into the ocean to enjoy another day.

We all went to the beach the next day. Animals spotted: a seal (yes! a seal!), a school of hundreds of panicked little fish being chased by a big fish, and tiny jellyfish (no stings). The guys actually swam through the school of fish as they jumped through the waves. The boy said he could feel the fish brush by him. We played in the sand and splashed and read and stared at the sky and reflected on how absolutely perfect the moment was.

And now we're home. We're already planning next year's trip. I think it will be longer. I think we may take our bikes. If our sheltie is still doing well enough, we may take her as well. I'm wondering if we could swing a retirement home there someday.