I went to bed at 9 and woke up at 11. Yes, that’s fourteen hours of sleep, not two. When I woke up this morning, my back was sore, my shoulders and back radiate enough heat to lightly toast a loaf of bread, and my face is tight from the remanants of sun. And I wouldn’t trade those feelings for anything, because that was my payment for having an awesome weekend.
Friday evening. I packed up my stuff, and, around 7, a van pulled up in front of my house to pick me up. Kristen, Charles, Buddy, and I then headed out to run the last couple of errands and then made our way to Taco Bell for dinner. After dinner, we started on the drive out to the beach. Charles’ parents have a rental property out there and let us use it for very cheap. When we got there, we did a grocery run, liquor store, and then headed back to get the house ready for the weekend. After getting sheets on the bed and pouring half a bottle of Malibu into a watermelon to marinate, we sat down to watch Fight Club. About halfway through (I’m just guessing on timing here, since I’d never seen it before), we eventually each realized we were getting tired and so we didn’t get to finish the movie.
Saturday morning, we got up around 9ish, and then started on breakfast. Bacon in the oven and scrambled eggs on the stove. Problem was, we forgot butter, so the guys ran out to the store while Kristen and I got the bacon started and chopped up veggies. A little before noon, we made our way over to the beach. Problem: the first choice beach was full. We ended up going to the next one down the road that was Bay access instead of Ocean. It was a pretty awesome day just the same. We were there till 3, then headed back to the house for showers and chilling before dinner. For dinner, we drove down to Ocean City to meet up with Erin and her friend Jess. After some parking difficulty, we made our way to the boardwalk to find the restaurant. Unfortunately, the one we were looking for didn’t have a food-serving location where we thought it was, so we headed back out to one farther out. Dinner was tasty and full of crayon-y goodness. Then it was back to the house for beer pong and cracking open the watermelon. It was quite simply amazing. I highly recommend it as a recipe. Bedtime ended up being sometime after four.
Sunday was absolutely awesome. We woke up earlier and brought lunch stuff along so we could get moving sooner. We made it to the Ocean beach this time, and set up our stuff. Now, first you have to understand that I’ve never been to an ocean-side beach before. We used to go down to Sandy Point for Mom’s company picnics, but those are very tame compared to an ocean beach. I learned how to dodge gigantic waves, praciticed bobbing up and down to stay afloat, and mostly just did my damnedest to not drown. Charles and Buddy both practiced the new sport of noseboarding (not recommended to the faint of heart or vitamin-K deficient), Kristen taught me the art of Not Drowning, and Erin and Jess did the Oh Please Give Me Skin Cancer routine, more commonly known as sunbathing. I kept stepping on clams, which was annoying, but not quite as annoying as the wave that caught me off-guard and sent me spiralling through the water with no sense of up or down. My suit ended up twisting over to my back and I got the joyous fun of skidding across the sand on just bare skin. That meant that when we got back, I had at least half the beach with me. The best moment for me, though, had to be when I ended up at the top of a wave just as it crested and took it all the way in. Three feet more and I’d’ve been sitting on dry land. Unfortunately, seconds after my triumphant flight through the air, another wave hit my back and I went coughing and spluttering to go lie down and attempt to retrain my lungs into breathing once more. I swear, I drank enough saltwater to get my sodium requirement for the month.
Back to the house, hose off to remove the sand, shower, then hotdogs, cleanup the house, and on the road back home. Overall, I’d call it a very pleasant trip.
Tuesday, I’d finally found a sunblock I’m not allergic to, and I did apply it several times over the weekend. Unfortunately, I didn’t reapply quite often enough. The areas that have been getting a gradual tan over the summer became quite bronzed – at one point, the phrase “Damn, Megan’s shoulders are almost black” (the race, not the color) was uttered. Except here’s the odd-looking thing: I’ve been wearing the same cut of tank top quite a bit this summer. So the area exposed by that is a nice bronze. The area that is usually UNDER that but was not covered by swimsuit is now red. And the area covered by swimsuit is still pasty white. So I’ve got tricolored stripes on each shoulder, and my back is quite the entertaining pattern of stripes and streaks. And then there’s my face: bright red across the tops of my cheeks and nose, and my freckles have come back.
I’m quite pleased with this weekend, actually. It was very much enjoyable and, given the chance to repeat it, I would gladly do so. In the meantime, however, I need to finish getting dressed, get something for lunch, and then head up to West Virginia. Tomorrow, I’m bringing Amanda back with me and we’re heading to either the BMA or Walter’s on Wednesday before she flies out. And at some point, I need to do a write up on my Richmond trip from earlier last week. That was quite a trip as well. But for now, I require sustinance.