A Tale of Two Beaches

It was the best of beaches and the worst of beaches.  In a short couple of weeks we experienced both.  After leaving Charleston, S.C., we headed just north to Huntington Beach State Park, which is just south of Myrtle Beach, S.C.  This park is located on the "Grand Strand," the famous stretch of Atlantic Ocean beach on the South Carolina coast.  

In addition to a stunning, three mile stretch of white sand beach, the park also has a fresh water lagoon, a salt water lagoon, and summer home of Archer and Ann Huntington, the original owners of the land on which the park is located.

We took some great walks through the park, seeing alligators, crabs, jellyfish, egrets, herons, shrimp, and squadrons of plunging shore birds.  The weather was as good as the scenery, too.  Low to mid 80s every day and only a little bit of rain.  

One of the things that we have tried to do as much as possible on this trip is make that little bit of extra effort to really enjoy unique experiences.  At Huntington Beach we had just such an experience.  We rallied the whole family out of bed at 5:15 in the morning to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.  While this was a real early morning for us, we were rewarded with a spectacular display.  

We hiked together to the beach through the sand dunes by the light of a dimming flashlight.  As we crossed part of the salt marsh, the moon was setting off to our right, glowing brightly in the pre-dawn.  

When we reached the beach, the sun just began to lighten the eastern sky. As Zoe ran up and down the beach

reading the morning scent newspaper, we took off our shoes, waded into the water, and soaked in the dawn of a new day.  The sky was perfect for a grand show; mostly clear with just a few clouds to highlight the color.  While I took nearly 30 pictures, here are a mere few, which will hopefully do the morning justice.

Huntington Beach marked the end of the first leg of the Slow Lane journey: our journey through the South.  While we did spend a few fine days in the Blue Ridge Mountains in western Virginia, our primary goal after South Carolina was to make our way back to the Midwest, to spend some quality time with family and friends in the lake country of Minnesota.

As part of that journey north, we steeled ourselves for the great jaunt across the Ohio-Indiana farm megaplex.  For those of you who have never driven across these states, this is vast, vast country.  Truly the nation's breadbasket.   On our way, we stayed one night in Chillicothe, OH, which was the original state capital of Ohio.

At our campsite there, we met one of our first younger couples of the trip, who were traveling the country in a 1958 Yellowstone travel trailer after getting married.  It was great fun sharing a campfire with them before we went our separate ways the next morning.  As spring has started to turn into summer, we have definitely seen more young families and kids traveling, which has really made us (particularly Maggie), happy.  

At the end of our long, windy, and slow journey across farm country, we stopped at an interesting state park at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, Indiana Dunes State Park.  The Dunes is a unique place, with a huge sand dune ecosystem along the lake.  When we arrived, it was beautiful, with temperatures in the upper 70s.  As we were cooking dinner and making a campfire, our weather radio went off with a weather warning.

For those of you who have not been to the Great Lakes, it can be hard to explain the ferocity of the weather.  Suffice it to say there are nearly 5,000 documented commercial shipwrecks lying on the bottom the Great Lakes.  In fact, several years ago, Lisa and I experienced the fickle and dangerous weather of Lake Superior aboard a 38 foot sailboat, when a storm bringing 35 knot winds, 6-8 foot seas, and pouring rain hit us out of nowhere.

Our short stay at Indiana Dunes was a dry land repeat of this experience.  The weather warning that rang out that night told mariners to seek immediate safe harbor, as the gentle south winds that were blowing 5 knots or so were going to switch 180 degrees in front of a cold front steaming south from Canada.  In a few short hours, the temperature dropped to 45 degrees, rain fell in sheets, and the winds were blowing at 30-40 knots.  Let me assure those of you who haven't experienced this type of weather: it is unpleasant.  It is cold, wet, scary weather.  If you were to park your car in the parking lot at the beach that day, you would have been treated to a free sandblasting.

For a family who had just been enjoying 85 degree temperatures on the beaches of South Carolina, this was an abrupt change.  At the same time, it was fun to see and brought back great memories of my years growing up in Minnesota.  The Great Lakes are a truly awesome environment and one everyone should experience.

Given the weather, we cut our stay at the Dunes short and headed to Chicago, which turned out to be a fateful decision, because when Zoe got sick, we were 5 blocks from a vet, not 1.5 hours.

Here are some photos of our second beach in two weeks.  Needless to say, we weren't beachcombing and swimming on this day.