The Delights of a Different Seashore

At one point during our months of talking about the possibilities of vacationing together, my mom did wonder why we would want to leave our South Florida beach existence to travel to a different beach location.  But every beach location is different, although I do think that when I'm a little old lady looking back on our travel times, I'll get confused about which beach town was which.  Many stores in a beach town look the same as in other beach towns, although their signage may be different.

Hilton Head Island, at the far southern end of the state of South Carolina, is very different from South Florida beaches.  For that matter, it's very different from Myrtle Beach, which at the northern part of South Carolina.

When I walked on the beach at Hilton Head Island and looked away from the ocean, I saw lots of pine trees and oaks.  There were places where I didn't see a house or a resort.  It felt remote, even though I know it wasn't.

When I did see a building, it was a completely different building than the South Florida buildings.  There must be some sort of building restrictions, because there were no high rises on Hilton Head Island.  Although there were huge houses, houses that would cost millions to own, they weren't obtrusive, the way multi-million dollar mansions are in South Florida.

I loved walking on the beach, which was wide and firm.  The beaches on the east side of Florida aren't like that.  There's fluffy sand, which looks lovely, but isn't great for walking.  In South Florida, I don't see as many fiddler crabs--or more precisely the bubbling holes in the sand that speak to their presence.

The beaches at Hilton Head aren't great for sea shells, but Hilton Head seems more committed to sea turtles than our beaches here.  In South Florida, we talk about sea turtles digging the dark, but we can't achieve the level of darkness that Hilton Head does.  It was the kind of dark that made me a little afraid of the thought of walking at night, although I know it's a much safer walk there than here.

I loved seeing the ships out on the water.  I loved knowing that fishing trawlers were out there.  Down here, it's cruise ships, well, back when cruise ships were sailing.

There seemed to be lots of toddlers on the beach--toddlers with parents and grandparents, but more toddlers than I'm used to seeing on beaches.  We also saw a lot of well behaved dogs.  The dogs and the toddlers had the kind of joy that reminds us all of the wonders of the ocean.

I should probably use that reminder as I return to daily life.  I don't get over to my own seashore as often as I would like.  Let me think on that realization and perhaps make a goal or two.