Home Again, Home Again

Well, I'm back home again, fresh from my 2ND vacation to Stone Harbor this year. We traveled through the night Friday night (it used to be so the kids could sleep all night) and arrive Saturday morning about 8:30 am. Of course, check in isn't until 1:00pm, so we have time to kill. We cross the bridge into Stone Harbor and can smell the ocean air. We drive up and down the streets and drive past the place we're going to stay. Then we drive to the ocean block, get out, and walk to the pier so we can gaze at the ocean. We fill our lungs with fresh sea air, while our hearts chant "We're here, we're here." Mark walks to the surf and checks out the water temperature. This sets the tone for the trip. When he comes back up to the pier and says, "it's like bathwater," that's a good sign.

We noticed that there were very few lifeguard chairs on the beach, as well as very few people. As we walk back to the car, we noticed there were a bunch of lifeguard chairs stacked up by the SH beach house. We drive up and down the streets again, and notice that no cars are parked lining the streets. Trees are in bloom that we don't normally see in a late June/July or an August vacation. Even though it's almost 9:00am, there are almost zero walkers or joggers or bike riders on the street. Our tradition is to go to Uncle Bill's for pancakes, and we sit there talking about the changes, and what we think they mean. In addition, upon arriving we found that the paper said Hurricane Gustov was due to hit and bring storms that afternoon around 2:00pm. Then Mark mentions we should look around at the other people here and there's our answer. I glance around the pancake house and every table has a couple, with no children in sight. (I like to believe they're ALL older than me!) Occasionally, there's a young couple with a toddler and a baby, but no young families, with children in tow. Every table is the same. Couple after couple, probably retired, vacationing with no children. Since this is our first vacation in forever without family, it seems so odd. So this is our first taste of a retiree's life. It requires some adjustment in our thinking but after a few days, we still think we're the youngest ones in town.

More on vacation tomorrow.
Have a good day.

mjs 9.15.08 2:00pm