Monday, August 21, 2006

Avalon Reflections

After a weekend away and a ride home that was thankfully light traffic-wise, I can muse about all of high points from the weekend, in bullets, no less, because that’s how I roll.

  • I went into the water voluntarily this weekend – several times, even! On Friday, the water was nice and warm, and I didn’t even cringe as it lapped around my swimsuit. I even braved depths higher than my knees to jump around waves and stand on a sandbar. When I had had enough, I sat at the shoreline to let the waves push me around and watch JG bodysurf: "Three belly scrapers out of four waves!” he crowed. It was something close to paradise.
  • I’d never seen those little jellyfish that wash up on the shore, and I tiptoed around the minefield of transparent blobs, trying to get a good picture. I jumped when I felt something crawly; then I saw the abundance of little clams at my feet. JG showed me how they try to dig back into the sand once they’re exposed, and I was transfixed at the sight of dozens of tiny orange, purple, and white shells propelling themselves into the sand.
  • JG and I had a rousing game of Scrabble on the beach because, yes, we are that cool. I’m proud to say that I ended up on top, despite JG’s bingo word (uses all seven letters and earns you fifty bonus points), “poaches”, and racks like WOOEEEU. Low point of the game: I had a bingo word of my own (“gleaned”), but had nowhere to put it, and I ended up having to play “nodal”. High point: I managed to double-letter the Q in a double-word spot with “quite” for 48 points. This is the part when my geekiness is unavoidable.
  • At our friends’ recommendation, JG and I took a jaunt to the free zoo at the Cape May County Park, and it was a lot of fun. In addition to the run-of-the-mill, barnyard animals and caged birds, there was a reptile house and a Pathway to Diversity that led to zebras and giraffes. It was very well-done for our five-buck donation. Plus, the excursion doubled as economy birth control, as JG and I have zero urge to push around small children in strollers, make sure they don’t walk into strangers, or purchase animal-shaped sugary drinks from the tiki hut-like drink stations, and all of that was confirmed in this morning trip.
  • We strolled down the main downtown area in Avalon and I loved seeing two separate shops dedicated solely to cheese. How great is that? There were white lights intertwined in all of the trees on either side of the street and a gazebo-ish thing in the middle of a square where I pictured barbershop quartets or horn groups gathering on the 4th of July. It was sort of like Stuckeyville or Stars Hollow, both places where I would like to live if they existed…

I have emerged refreshed and “as brown as a Brazil nut”, as one of my co-workers would say. I have a greater fondness for the beach than I did previously, perhaps due to the lack of many rowdy family members and the loan of a fantabulous house. Or maybe I’m just getting used to the idea of spending time at the beach, and the shorter break made me more grateful for the time away. Who knows, but I’ll take it anyway.

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