Mountains or Beach?

When asked the question mountains or beach, I will always reply mountains. That’s not to say that I don’t love the beach, because I do. What’s not to love about the beach...staring out at water that looks like it goes on forever and ever, or that you could swim out to the edge of earth? I do love the beach for about four straight day...not seven, not fourteen. 

I grow weary of sand weighing down my swimsuit bottom, or sitting idle for hours. So you might find it odd that every year for spring break King Ralph and I pack up “The Vessel” heading down to the beach in Alabama for seven days. That is exactly what we do every year. We go to warm our winter bones. 

The great thing about camping at Gulf State Park is that it is so much more than just sand and water. There’s a great pool, playgrounds for the kids, tennis courts (mostly used to play pickle ball), shuffle board and trails.

We spend a great deal of our time riding our bikes. The morning weather is glorious...it’s mostly sunny, but not super hot. The days that are cloudy make it a ride without breaking a sweat. The trails change from paved and canopied by trees dripping of moss to boardwalk over the marsh...where an alligator is likely to be spotted. We bike in the morning to a favorite coffee shop. Then we bike to Walmart to rent a Redbox. Sometimes we just bike to clear our minds and fill our souls with peace and serenity.  After we bike, only after we bike, we head to the beach to grab a couple of hours of sun and sand. I always laze about in a chair with a book in my hand, feet in the sand, and my body dosing itself with Mother Nature’s natural source of vitamin D. 

Here’s what is exciting to me about this trip

1. Last year I was healing from cancer surgery, my boobs held together by stitches and sterie strips. I could not just plop right down in the sand, or rotate myself like a chicken on a rotisserie. Nope. I had to set in a chair, careful not to get sand in my wounds. I was bronzed on my front, white on my back. I looked like yin and yang. This year I’ll have a full balanced sun kiss body.
2. Escaping to a state where there is no confirmed cases of COVID-19. Hopefully people aren’t packing their RVs full of toilet paper and bottled water. If they are, no worries, I stocked The Vessell with its season’s worth of RV quality biodegradable toilet paper.  

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I drafted this post prior to hitting the road. I can report that the sun shines, the bike trails are lovelier than ever, the beach was bursting with weddings (three to be exact) and children were flying kites (including me). I can also say, sadly, this state has fallen prey the toilet paper craze (as the news shows). 
While people continue to fight for toilet paper....my skin has a sun kiss, the pages of my new book has sand granules sprinkled on the pages and margaritas taste better in a Yeti cup with feet in the sand. 
Happy spring break! Stay well friends.