Day 6: Are we ever ready to leave the ocean???

Miles traveled: 270                                                                                 Total miles: 1021

 

Russ & I went to Big Bertha the first time to celebrate our 10th anniversary.  It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship that you’ve all heard plenty about.  It was also a moment in time where I learned something new about myself.  What I learned was that if I had grown up in the south eating chicken wings, I probably would have been sucking the marrow from the bones.

Now I don’t have the slightest clue what it actually is like to suck the marrow from the bones, but I can tell you that if we’re talking life experiences instead of chicken wings, I’m totally a marrow sucker.

On that anniversary trip so many years ago I had in my mind an idea of how the last morning at the beach would go.  We would have a relaxed morning, a yummy breakfast, and then one last swim in the ocean or dip in the hot tub.  In my mind it was an appropriate way to end our anniversary trip.

Clearly Russ wasn’t clued in to the vision in my head.  He got up, made a quick breakfast, packed and loaded the car, and was ready to be on the road.

I was crushed.

 

In the intervening years, I have learned to be somewhat better about letting go of my nostalgic ideas of how the last bit of our vacations should go.  I say somewhat better, because what has really happened is that I have learned to compromise.  For example, last year on Friday night I got as much packing done as possible.  And on Saturday morning I actually got up early (unheard of for me at the beach!) and helped clean and get everything loaded in the van.  And then Cindy Lynn & I snuck off and had one last short splendid swim in the ocean, then ran back in and showered quickly in the wonderful outside showers.  Like I said, a pretty good compromise.

 

Today I knew that we had a 5-6 hour drive in front of us.  I knew that I wanted to leave early enough in the day that we would arrive in New Orleans before night…but darn it, I also wanted to suck the marrow out of those bones!  And my three travel companions were equally adamant that we needed more time in the ocean before we left.  So we set an alarm to make sure I was up early enough this morning that we could have one last swim before heading west.

I was worried that since it was only 9 in the morning and quite overcast the water would be too cold.  And it did take me a little longer to get myself in all the way.  But once I was in and acclimated, the water was clear and crisp and invigorating.  We played and played, jumping the waves, body surfing when we could.  And finally I told them that it was time to go.

We went back to the beach house and packed everything up, ate the rest of the chocolate ice cream, and made lunches.  Rachel and Jared did their math while I took a short nap. 

Then we took some quick pictures to help us remember how much fun we’d had there,

loaded the van, and were off.

PS—for some reason the loading part is always stressful to me.  Every single time.  But not stressful enough to keep me from travelling…