Important Lessons

My Dear Professor and I returned to the Frozen North from our marathon Texas vacation (did I mention it was really hot down there?) just long enough to check our mail before heading back out on the road again (am I the only one hearing Willie Nelson?) for a North Carolina beach and a week with our precious Sprittles. (OK, The Preacher and Beautiful Mommy were there too.)

We had driven maybe 30 miles down the road when I realized to my utter horror (dundunduh!) that I had left my camera at home. I panicked and immediately called Principessa, who was already frolicking on the beach with said Sprittles, to ask if she had packed her camera.

Folks, I was going through some serious camera withdrawal. I had already planned a good number of beach/Sprittle shots. I breathed a major sigh of relief when Principessa assured me she had indeed brought along her camera.

That would see me through Wednesday. However, Principessa was leaving early to get back to work, and that meant I would once again be camera-less until we left on Saturday. Beads of sweat started forming on my brow once again. But sometime Thursday afternoon I had a duh! moment and pulled out my cellphone.

And what did my tiny cellphone camera manage to capture? I never dreamed the NC beach was so spectacular, or that we would actually see dolphins and loggerhead turtles and man eating clam shells.(yes, that's the actual name of that type of humongous shell.)



We did a lot of frolicking in the sun, sand, and surf the first three days. Then the rains came, so we visited the aquarium and saw lionfish, jellyfish, and pirates, oh my!



In Morehead, I found a mermaid weathervane, (just trust me on this, the cellphone camera does not have a zoom feature) and we dined at the Sanitary Fish Market where we discovered that pirates like hushpuppies. A lone seagull also made an appearance.



I love shelling, and had risen early a few mornings to comb the beach for treasure to no avail. And then, toward the end of my final foray, I spied a beautiful blue gray whelk lying on the sand. That's our 3 year old Sprittle, Bee, "Vanna Whiting" the find.

I learned some important lessons at the beach--the Atlantic ocean has the highest salt content in the world , our Sprittles are even more precious than I had remembered, and I can survive without my camera.

At least for a week.

With the Sprittles to distract me. (Mommo loves you more than Texas... or my camera!)