Beach Report (First Installation)

I promised a steamy report on our trip to Ocean Isle and here it is for the millions of you (or just Tara and Shari) who've been anxiously waiting.

The goal was simple: Good conversation and plenty of it; good food and plenty of it; good lovin' and plenty of it. In two words --MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! It was a great weekend. Great! Really, really great! =) We enjoyed everything we set out to enjoy though there were a few little surprises. For example...

This was the last bullet point on our google map. Just around the bend and we would be barefoot on the sand. It was the first of our "what the heck?" moments. Somehow we missed the detour. Twice. But soon enough we found our way around the construction and were back on track. Then there was this...

I was in the room MOST of the time while Tim made phone reservations. I never heard him ask for the room with the honkin' mirror. But there it was. It was a "what the heck?" and a "well, alrighty then" moment at the same time. You work with what you got, right? ;-) Now, this fellow -he was definitely NOT part of the package.

We decided to drive into Calabash for some food and shopping. Just a mile or so from the hotel, this guy was sprawled out on the bank of a golf course pond. What the heck? We couldn't figure out if he was real or not from a distance, but another family had walked around to photograph him. I watched carefully to see just how close the man got and he was clearly minding his distance which confirmed that this was not just someones idea of whimsical statuary.

Turns out there were two of them soaking up what little heat they could on a cold and overcast day. The other family told us that there was also a third -the biggest one -who was no where to be seen. The guy said that they were pretty reluctant to move since it was so cold and we could "get almost right up to him." We told him we'd pray about that. I was terrified. Next to my so-called irrational fear of sharks is a close second --the fear of alligators and crocodiles. Pretty much any creature that kills by biting, shredding, or ripping away flesh -not on my list of faves. And yet, when Tim asked, "you wanna walk over there?" I found myself saying, "yeah, kinda."

We got out of the van and I proceeded to circle the pond at the widest possible point. Tim mocked me but I was satisfied knowing that if anything came up out of the water, I had a six foot lead. We got within twenty, twenty-five feet of him which was close enough. As I was poised to snap the pictures, I felt it best to give Tim a warning: "If you jump at me right now, I will crap my pants and that will be the end of this day. Seriously. You just need to know." Tim laughed and said, "Well, you just need to know that if he comes after you -I'd like to say that I'm man enough to throw myself between the two of you but seriously, I will leave you standing there and run screaming like a girl all the way back to the van."

Knowing where each one stood, I proceeded to photograph with shaking hands, and one eye scanning for signs of the unseen third gator. Insane! But totally cool.