The Beach Mode of Existence

The last day of our time near Miami, Florida. We are grateful for all the adventures great and small, difficult and enjoyable.

I sit in the lobby of the hotel named for the city that gave it birth: Hollywood, Florida. The weather today is in between that of yesterday (cloudy and rainy) and the day before (warm and sunny). Today so far it is just cloudy and cool. A hotel lobby is the perfect place to observe a vast cross section of humanity and to hear their stories as they check in and check out. Of course, we are all hoping for the same miracle that happened the first day when a cool and cloudy forecast gradually evolved into a tropical paradise. But we are preparing for other possibilities.

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The Sunshine State

A great gift was given to our family this Christmas by a heavenly benefactor known for his extreme generosity and timely interventions. On St. Nicholas Day in December, we found this gift in one of the stockings meant for mama, papa and the three youngest homeschoolers. We are now enjoying this gift: four nights and three days in the Sunshine State of Florida!

Hollywood Beach, Florida
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Promised Land of the Weary and Heavy Laden

IMG_452074 degrees. A very pleasant temperature on most days, but on a day when the ocean water on the south shore of Cape Cod reaches this temperature, it is time to hit the beach! We have been planning this mini-vacation for years as we always travel here on the occasion of a friend’s birthday. But we always come down on a Sunday in mid-August just for the day. This year a forecasted heat wave and my wife’s excellent last minute suggestion sent us scrambling to rearrange work schedules, gather beach toys and supplies, and book a cheap motel near our friends’ bungalow in West Yarmouth. Continue reading

If Narnia Had a Beach

IMG_1710If the legendary Narnia had a beach, its name would be Wingaersheek. Located just under an hour away from Boston on Cape Anne, this wonderland rivals the great Cape Cod in elegance and tidal pool exuberance. Its only deficiency is that there is not much beach at high tide and the parking is slim on the weekends. Thankfully, we avoided both those pitfalls by coming in the middle of the week when the the tide was low, and we were richly rewarded with miles of walkable beech, several warm water tide pools where creatures abounded, and a lovely patch of shade courtesy of the large boulders which shoulder the western edge. Enjoy this small photo montage of the rest of the sights: Continue reading

The Calm of the Cape

Our first family camping trip brings us to Cape Cod at a state park near Brewster. Everything here on this 65 mile long sand bar is measured by relative distance to exit numbers off of the one highway that runs end to end. “Oh, it’s near exit 10, but I live near exit 7.” This miniature paradise feels cozy and at the same time expansive. With ocean on either side of the arm, it does not take long to drive or even walk to the nearest stretch of sand and salt water. At low tide, a person can disappear on the horizon, walking out onto the wet sand and wading into shallow tidal pools. Continue reading