We arrived back today from our vacation in North Carolina. I was unable to find a network connection on the island, so I've been digging through spam trying to read my email. I got through my personal email rather quickly, but I put in more than an hour on work email and still have about two more hours to go. I'll put in some more time tomorrow.
The vacation was fabulous. I spent lots of time lolling around in the surf or by the pool, but mostly I was just lazy. I watched the Tour live most mornings. I took naps. I sat with a cold drink on the balcony overlooking the ocean and watched the waves. I spent lots of time with the little boys.
We went on a kayak adventure that was fairly adventurous. The last time I went kayaking, it was a quiet marsh largely sheltered the wind. This time, we went across the Bogue Sound to an island to look for sand dollars. It was a kind of death-march (or death-paddle) against the wind across choppy water. I was "done" about three-quarters of the way there. We had a nice time on the island, finding several sand dollars (three of which we managed to transport safely back home).
This is not a sand dollar of course. We saw a number of other organisms on the island including some whelks, a nudibranch, and lots of shells, including this one covered with barnacles.
The trip back wasn't quite as bad as the way out -- the returning tide gave us a lot of help heading back up Taylor Creek.
I'm not really ready to be back in the real world -- luckily tomorrow is Sunday. I am headed to Brattleboro to the NASK reception, but I'll otherwise be able to recover a bit before having to go back to my windowless hole. It's good to be home.
StevenBrewer