A Day at the Beach

Sometimes it seems as though a vacation just isn't a vacation (especially in the summer)without spending some time around the water. During this round of time off, I was able to spend time at both the beach and the lake.

After a not so serious tropical storm, I had breakfast with my good friend Nate (more about this later) and then decided that I would go ahead and head to the beach for the rest of the day.

As I headed south on I-45, I began to get into darker and darker cloud cover and began to get nervous about the sensibility of my beach adventure. It did end up getting almost as dark as dusk, but the severity and duration of the storms that I encountered were minimal (I think Houston got pounded much harder than the island did).

At the time of my arrival on the beach, it rained for about 5 minutes and then it cleared up for the remainder of the day.

Many have asked about how the beach was (the color of the water, the amount of seaweed,etc.) and as far as Galveston goes, it was quite nice...not the crystal clear blue of say Grand Cayman, but nice none the less. The seaweed was minimal and the breeze made the post storm heat very bearable.

The things you come across at the beach are always amazing. People sometimes pondering things that you can't figure out (like the older couple perusing the rocks for overlooked treasures in the pictures below), people with all kinds of tattoos (including some with swastikas), and so on. Sometimes the things you walk across or near are equally interesting. As seen in the photos, there was only one jelly fish that was washed up, there were rose petals left from someone's romantic photo op, there was glass and cigarette butts mixed in with the washed up shells from the ocean, and so on.

Perhaps the most interesting things (as you can also see in the picture) were the rocks that were on my part of the beach and the places where the water had cut interesting patterns in the sand.

My afternoon at the beach consisted of walking up and down the same 1 mile stretch of beach numerous times. It was as if the pattern of my walking slowed to match the ebb and flow of the ocean waves. It was an afternoon of reconnecting to nature in a way that I don't often get the opportunity to do. The occasional swim brought me into close proximity to a variety of fish (maybe I should have taken a pole!). My walk allowed me to greet a wide variety of people (but it was great, because the beach was absolutely not crowded at all). My breaks from walking became tranquil respites of wave and bird watching that turned into great experiences of centering for me.

As dusk began to settle, I returned to my truck and went to dinner at Casey's where I had shrimp gumbo, fish tacos, and fried mushrooms, then off to my home away from home.

I leave you with pictures from the day and this question...where are you able to find centering experiences?



Just a quick note, the guy at the end of the slide show said take my picture...I asked what they (there were several other guys helping to dig and fill this hole with full size shovels) were doing making a pool with the ocean so close and they said that they were burying this guy...I just had to include the pics!