Sharknado

If you don’t know what a sharknado is, pause right here. Google it. Can you believe that they made 5 movies already and plan on another? We have been at Huntington Beach State Park, SC for the last three nights and we’ve seen a waterspout (a tornado over the ocean) and a wild shark on the beach. In my book, that qualifies as a Sharknado!

Zoomed in from above pic

Sure the shark was caught by a fisherman, but that’s missing the very important point that the shark was swimming 100 feet from us just minutes prior to the photo. And, no the waterspout never touched down, but it certainly was impressive. The picture doesn’t do it justice. I’m sticking with sharknado!

Huntington Beach State Park

The beach! We’ve planned and dreamed of the beach for a while. While it has certainly lived up to our hopes, it’s had some struggles too. First, the joys:

As I snapped the picture above, I was a bit misty-eyed. We had rolled in and hurried to the beach after a long drive. Both kids were awestruck. It was their first time seeing the ocean. We laughed and and played until I was worn out and then they played some more in the shallows. It was such a peaceful culmination of years of hard work renovating Eisley. The moments spent underneath laying in snowmelt, or wearing a mask carrying buckets of mouse crap, or just long lonely tedious days came together in my mind watching my kids play. It’s a deep kind of joy to see your work become your kids’ laughter.

We also had great food on this leg of the journey! Our first night we went to a local seafood restaurant whose motto was, “Not fancy, just fresh.” Sara said the motto was a good one for me, too. (Phhhbt!) It was such a great restaurant! The food was amazing and the service was fantastic. Our waitress found out it was our first time in SC and seemed determined that we should taste the best local flavors. She brought us a free cup of “She crab soup” (I think that’s what it was called) because it was the thing she didn’t want anyone to miss. It was amazing. It was my first experience with hush puppies and I was shameless about devouring them.

Ben had a hot dog.

On the third evening, we were able to connect with my Aunt Martha. She recommended another seafood restaurant. It was another completely local place. The food was amazing - I had shrimp and grits - but the conversation was better. I don’t have much contact with people who knew me when I was born. I am so grateful for the conversations I get.

Which leads me to an apology to anyone I’ve missed along the way. I’ve tried to connect, but we’re new at travel and even after driving over 1k miles, 200 extra miles is still a barrier.
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Onto the trials: 1) It was so hard to get out of the heat. We forced the kids to drink water all day and it still wasn’t enough. Sleeping was rough and both Sara and Maya had moments where I was concerned for them. We sought ac during those times. 2) Ants!!! For our entire stay we battled little sugar ants. They were incessant. Poor Ben had an ant highway on his bed frame. I made multiple trips buying different poisons at the local grocery store. The never went for our fridge or pantry, they were seemingly randomly everywhere. But it wasn’t random, we hadn’t set up the hideaway bed/table. On the way to SC, a peanut butter jar had fallen and spilled. The kids were so proud to help us set up camp, we didn’t check their work cleaning it up from under the hideaway bed. I went to show the table to my cousin and found ant city. 3) My plumbing. It was a real bummer not being able to use our shower here. ‘Nuff said

The beach was an amazing time for us, but we timed it perfect. I was ready to see it in my rear view mirror right about the time we pulled away, heading for Washington D.C.