enjoying the beach

With the various jobs I've had in the past few years, it's been a really long time since I've had Labor Day as an honest-to-goodness-paid-holiday from work - and it was really really nice.

Friday I got to leave a bit early from work, and over the weekend Mike and I went to the beach. Now, we go almost every weekend we get a chance to at least spend a few hours doing nothing and laying in the sand - did I mention I love living here? Last weekend was no different, but when we got there it was low tide, and I mean Extremely Low Tide. There were a bunch of little sandbars scattered up and down the beach where the tide had gone out, but left small pools here and there.

Further out, there and off to the side there was another sand bar, and the depth of the water in between ran from our shins to up to our shoulders, so we decided to head out that way. As the water got deeper, it was harder and harder to keep our footing and it didn't hit me until I was digging into the sand with my feet and pushing against the water as if it was a strong gale of wind that this is what people mean when they talk about riptides and strong currents!

I had always heard the warnings and gotten a basic idea from my summers in Hilton Head, but this was the first time I really realized just how strong the tides and currents can be - especially so close to the shore and relatively shallow water! We had to swim the last few yards, and it took us quite a while because if you weren't swimming strong enough, you were push backwards and out towards the open water - it was kinda crazy - but fun, and a lot easier returning.

Now that the hurricanes are headed our way, I hear that's the best/most fun time to be at the beach - we'll have to see how close they actually get to see if we'll brave the beaches during a hurricane. I'll let you know if we have to evacuate.

We also went to a party thrown by one of Mike's classmates out at Folly Beach, which ended out in the ocean late-night. It brought back fond memories of the Tamburro vacations and shenanigans. There was even a Kirchdorfer-esq episode of missing shorts to make it even more entertaining. There definitely needs to be another Tamburro-style vacation planned in the near future - who's up for it?