Tending Our Gardens: A Vacation Within A Vacation

Jennie: We are sorry it has taken us so long to get back to blogging, and my trip to Morgantown. It has just been a very busy few weeks for us both...or make that a busy month! But now we are back and ready to share some more of our memories. Isn't it good that God gave us memories, they can be so precious.

If you haven't yet been to the seashore this summer, come along with us and share our summer fun.

Before Kory and I left for Julie's we had discussed the possibilities of taking a mini-vacation and driving to the Atlantic Coast. After visiting with them we decided it was feasible and desirable. So Peter rented a 15-passenger van on line, and we prepared to leave on Monday morning. The fact that it had been a very busy Sabbath the day before did not deter us. Nor did the fact that the van was not there when Peter went to pick it up. He was told the college had used it over the week-end and it had not yet been returned, so we decided to drive two cars, their small van and a rented one. We all piled into the one van...to go and pick up the rental. It was a tough order actually, and William was the good sport that sat on the floor bottom and was squished! Amazingly, when we got back to the rental agency the van was waiting for us. So we parked Julie & Peter's mini-van and happily spread out into our new roomy quarters. Soon we were on our way, everyone in high spirits. Peter had decided to cross the state of Maryland to the coastline there. In order to get to the rural eastern side of Maryland we had to cross over Chesapeake Bay, that leaves the more urban western side of Maryland behind (the greater D.C./Baltimore area that we skirted.) Spanning the bay is this beautiful bridge. It opened in 1952 and has a length of 4.3 miles.

Jennie: It was hard to get a good shot from the van window, but this should give you some idea of the bridgework and beauty. Also the beautiful day we were enjoying.

Jennie: Below is a wonderful moth that Sam and Will caught when we stopped for a picnic lunch. I had Julie include the photo although as you can see it is very blurry. We couldn't get close enough with our camera. But the moth was all black and white in a wonderful geometric design, and at least you can get an idea. It was so fun on this trip watching the boys uncover bugs and creatures I never really notice at my age. God's creation is always stunning.

Jennie: A picnic at a truck stop, how about that? This table was right next to the gas station, very convenient. Notice that Milly is sitting on a blanket? It was too hot to sit on the benches without protection. Of course the boys hardly stopped long enough to sit down.

Julie: You'll notice in the photo below, the white, 15 passenger van we rented.

Jennie: Lunch out of the cooler was surprisingly good, fast and filling. We all enjoyed the break and stretching our legs...even Cecily enjoyed a break from her carseat.

Jennie: I shared Millie's blanket.
Julie: Eating carrots. :-)

Jennie: And got a kiss into the bargain!

Jennie: After what seemed longer than expected, ahh...we arrived.
Julie: When we got there, we were just dying to see the beach, so we parked and walked over to the water before we checked into our motel. The above is the first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean for all of us. It was especially nice after having been in the van together for 6 hours.

Julie: We checked into the motel. My kids enjoyed the view out over the balcony, while we organized our bags and the adults changed into swimwear.

Julie: Where we landed was Ocean City, Maryland. We could see from the map that it was a long, thin peninsula, and we knew it was a popular beach destination, but otherwise we didn't know much what to expect. What we found out was that it was a very commercial, resort area. It had one main road that ran down the middle and had hotels and businesses on either side. Just beyond the hotels on one side was the bay and just beyond the hotels on the other side was the Atlantic Ocean. It was that narrow. Therefore the walk from our hotel to the beach was a matter of about 2-3 blocks.

Jennie: That was a hot sun making those shadows. It was about 98 degrees with 85 percent humidity. But, there was a good breeze on the beach and it felt so good.
Julie: We couldn't wait to swim.

Julie: Almost there...

Julie: Aww.... we made it!

Julie: Kory just wanted to feel that sand in her toes!

Julie: We checked out first if we thought we were going to be able to find any rocks or shells. The boys are major collectors and were so curious to know if we'd be able to find anything.

Julie: We had some moderate success. For such a public beach, I was surprised at how much we found.

Jennie: We found Ocean City, Maryland to be a lovely beach, and a large resort area. The Atlantic ocean here did have small breakers. There were two big differences from the Pacific Coast in Oregon. The breakers rolled in right onto the sand. They were not far out like we are used to. This made jumping up over the breakers very do-able and fun. Also body surfing or using small boogie boards was fun too. Once through the breakers the water was calm and you could swim a long ways out. We watched people do just that. The 2nd difference was the temperature...the water was much warmer. Not bathtub temperature, but substantially warmer than the Pacific. The boys enjoyed it, and were not covered in goosebumps.

Julie: Time to try out the waves.

Jennie: The boys are getting used to the waves, but right along the edge was Calvin's favorite spot.

Julie: After a good deal of splashing near the edge, Amelia took a break to play in the sand. I was relieved that I didn't have to worry about her getting knocked over by a wave for a few minutes. :-)