Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The beach at Stone Harbor

Day Three: The Beach at Last (Monday, July 26)

Although it was overcast when we got up, the sky was bright and promising. The first thing we did after breakfast was put together a grocery list of items to buy for the rest of the week.

My brother and his wife wanted to go straight down to the beach, and we told them we could do that. We would just take their monetary contribution and put it towards groceries for everyone.

We stopped by Mom's place, because she wanted to come along. Then we waited as she backed slowly out of the driveway in her rental car. She was going to lead us to a Giant she knew about.

She had told where we were going, and as we got closer, we saw an Acme and a Super Fresh but no Giant. She kept driving down a quiet little road that got quieter, with fewer and fewer businesses. Finally, she turned down a side road, pulled over and came over to our car.

"It's been so long since I'd been here," she said, "I thought it was a Giant." She hadn't visited that grocery store since her trip to Stone Harbor by herself last year.

We all turned around and drove back to the Acme. In the store, I pushed the cart and everyone separated to grab different items from the list. This made the task much faster. Soon we were headed back to the beach house on what had turned into a bright, sunny, warm day, perfect for the beach.

After changing, we headed down. Mom didn't join us at the swimming beach, because she was headed to a different part of the island, where she could see a lighthouse and do some drawing.

A lot of other people had the same idea, and beach chairs and towels were spread out along the beach. The wind was pretty heavy, so The Gryphon and I had to be careful to weigh down our straw hats before walking down to the ocean.

We found my brother and his wife right away. He was on a boogie board, riding the waves, while she was wading in waist deep water. We joined her. My sister and her fiancé were also nearby.

The lifeguards were really strict about where to swim. We had to stay between these two lifeguard stations, and we weren't allowed out past our waist. The problem with this was that waist level was about where the waves were breaking. If you wanted to avoid much of the impact of the waves, you would have had to go a little further out.

The other problem was there was no separate area for people on boogie boards, so every time they forced us to cram back together, we had to face the prospect of boogie boards bearing down on us with every good wave. Several times, I thought I was going to be hit, but I wasn't. My brother told me later they can steer them. Still, it was a bit terrifying. I'm such a wimp.

Nonetheless, at one point I was so invigorated, sharing this salt water challenge with all these people, facing down wave after wave. Even if I'd wanted to keep my hair dry, I wouldn't have had much choice. But I didn't mind, since salt can produce natural highlights in your hair.

The Gryphon was really enjoying himself. He didn't seem at all phased by the waves. They would crash against his back and do nothing. I stood near him for awhile, hugging him and letting him break the waves for me.

When I got a little exhausted of fighting the waves, I got out to walk along the beach. The Gryphon came with me. I took my camera with me to get some pictures, and got a few interesting ones of some jellyfish and of a sign near some rocks that struck me as a bit obvious.

We saw a cool sand castle some kids had done. They were still working on it, so I thought I'd get a picture on our way back down the beach.

At a particularly quiet part of the beach, The Gryphon pointed into the waves and said, "Hey, look, dolphins." I looked and sure enough, I saw three or more dark shapes bobbing up and down in the waves as they made their way along the shore.

I tried to get pictures of them, but in almost every shot, they sunk below the waves just as I was taking it. Also, they were so far out they were hard to discern in the sea. I tried shooting a short digital movie with my camera, but playing it back once I got home, I can't really see the dolphins.

Still, it was a great experience to watch.

We walked back along the beach, and the sand castle had already been destroyed. Some younger kids were sitting on the lump that used to be the intricate castle, pounding the remaining walls with their chubby fists.

When we returned to the beach towels, my brother and his wife were getting back into the ocean after a rest. The Gryphon asked me if I wanted to get back in, and I said sure. So we got back into the water. This time the waves seemed higher, and they seemed to get steadily worse. Still, I thought I might as well stay in and get a little sun and exercise.

That is, until I leaped out of the way of a boogie boarder and twisted my toe. Shortly afterwards, I got hit with a wave that left me spitting salt water. "That's it. I'm done. I hurt my toe."

As I struggled to the shore, I heard my brother ask The Gryphon, "What's wrong with Alyce?" The Gryphon told him about my toe.

Once I was on shore, I started to feel better. The pain in my toe subsided quickly. By this time, it was getting late. After a group of us walked down to the closest public restrooms, we called it a day.

The Gryphon and I cooked dinner: fish, noodles and salad. I took care of the noodles and the salad while The Gryphon cooked the fish in foil packets on the grill. Everything seemed hunky-dory until my brother's wife opened her foil packet and discovered her fish hadn't been cooked through. Everyone else's fish was fine.

Turns out The Gryphon had spot-checked the packets instead of checking each individual one. Rather than taking a chance on reheating the fish, my brother's wife stepped away from the table. I felt bad for her, pregnant as she was, having suffered her second health scare this week.

When my brother finished dinner, he and his wife walked downtown. Once everyone finished and cleaned up the dishes, we all did the same, except The Gryphon, who stayed behind to work on a computer program. Dad and my sister's fiancé didn't find too many stores that interested them, but my sister and I stopped in nearly every jewelry and clothing store.

My sister was looking for a necklace to go with her wedding dress for next year's wedding. The rest of the time, we were looking at the overpriced clothing, much of which we liked but none of which we could afford.

We joked later, passing a store with tacky clothes in the window, that those were the only ones we could afford in the town. I guess we just have expensive tastes.

I was beginning to understand why my hair dresser, a native Philadelphian, asked why we were going to Stone Harbor and said it was one of the more expensive shore locations.

Finally, we all found one store where we could get something: a bookstore with a sizable discount rack. I picked up "Shakespearean Whodunits: Murders and Mysteries Based on Shakespeare's Plays" and "The Wind Done Gone." Now I have to find "Gone With the Wind" so I can read that first.

My sister found, and I purchased, a magazine called "Weird N.J." which has photos and articles of strange sites in New Jersey. Everyone had fun passing that around and reading it.

I noticed that next to the bookstore was a shop with some nice hippie clothing, and I resolved to make it back there some time that week.

When we got back to the beach house, my brother and his wife had bought salt water taffy and were sharing it. Unfortunately, over the course of my vacation, I did far too much social snacking. I'm still scared to step on a scale to assess the damage.

That night, since we had cable, we watched the Comedy Channel, including South Park, Reno 911 and The Daily Show. Then one by one, or two by two, we drifted off to bed.

I told The Gryphon I was glad we'd had at least one sunny day, since the weather report had been so dire. As it turned out, more sun and rain were on the way.

More from my Summer Vacation:

August 3, 2004 - Rainy Arrival

August 4, 2004 - The Poopdeck

August 6, 2004 - Wetlands Hippie

August 9, 2004 - Intermittent Fun

August 10, 2004 - Overture to Otakon

August 11, 2004 - Delicious and Good Day

August 12, 2004 - Costumes and Tuxedos

August 13, 2004 - Grand Finale

August 16, 2004 - Denouement

August 20, 2004 - More Vacation Pics

Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson

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