Yesterday I woke up to Ashley making a delicious quiche. It was the good kind of spicy. Is there a bad kind of spicy? After that we got ready to go canoeing. I had never been before and I was nervous about tipping over. Well actually, I was nervous about trying to climb back into the boat after said disaster. I wasn't actually worried about alligators swarming in to eat me or anything. Also, I am pretty creeped out by the idea of things in the water touching me. Plant or animal. Eww.
But tipping over didn't happen. It was nice to feel the pull of the water against my paddle. The rhythm of each stroke pushing us forward. The scenery was beautiful and it was so peaceful. For a few minutes it did start raining and we couldn't figure out where it was coming from because the sky was the perfect blue with puffy, white clouds. And we did see two alligators. One was hiding near the plants at the edge of the water and the other was laying on the bottom underneath the clear, clear water. I really enjoyed the feeling of the sun on my skin.
Eventually I remembered that I don't like sitting still. I crossed and recrossed my legs in a vain hope to relieve the urge to move them, but the desire only grew. And my shoulders started to burn from making unfamiliar demands on lazy muscles. I enjoyed canoeing very much, but I think I only needed to do that once.
After canoeing we headed over to the hiking trail for a short hike. The heat of the day and threatening clouds kept it a short hike. When we came back home, we had dinner and showered. It felt so good to get clean. Then we went to a local movie theater to see The Invention of Lying. I thought it was really funny. Ashley thought it was just okay. Back home again, I read my book while Ashley gave me updates on the Twilight characters and we internet-stalked the actors through Twitter.
This morning I woke up hungry and Ashley suggested IHOP. A VERY good suggestion. Our poor server looked so tired and there was a visible gap of time between when he heard what we said and when he actually understood what he was hearing. Still, he got everything right and was very polite.
The beach. Oh, the beach. So, I haven't been on a beach since the cruise last August when I was very fat and very out of shape. I had this memory of a cruel sun and sand that sucked at my feet and too many people. This was nothing like that at all. We found a national park that apparently no one else knows about or something. The sand was a gorgeous brown near the dunes with pieces of sea shells in varying sizes throughout the coarse grains. Then it gave way to a fine white sand that looked darker near the water. It was soft and cool beneath my feet and shells littered the beach. The ocean stretched out beyond seeing and the breeze blew in over the water in time with the lapping waves. So perfect.
We played in the sand and ran in the waves. We let the water push and pull us. We laid on our stomaches and read. We wrote messages in the sand with the shells. I took pictures of the surf and my feet and the "I love you." And we got very, very warm.
Ashley wanted to talk to a park rangers so we visited the information center. The air-conditioned information center. With a cold water fountain. Excellent. I stayed outside and hid in the shade and texted people while she probably assaulted the man with a million questions. Thats when I realized that I was hungry. Luckily, Ashley was too.
We drove around the streets until we found a cute little cafe that promised sandwiches and smoothies. They lived up to that promise, but after we ate we decided that ice cream would be much better than a smoothie. It was homemade. I mean, actually made in that little cafe. It was delicious.
On the drive back to the beach I decided I was pretty tired and Ashley gracious took us back home. It started raining the strangest kind of rain. Big, ominous clouds were above us but all around the sunshine peeked over the edges. It only rained for about twenty minutes before it became, once again, a beautiful sunny day. In Ohio, it rains all day. It rains for days. It rains all week. I could handle the rain if it was always like this. It could rain every single day.
After our showers we ran errands, during which I decided I was hungry yet again. I picked up some pineapples at Walmart and had a hard time waiting till we got to the car to eat some. Goodness do I love pineapple. I think I could live off of pineapple and peanut butter. Probably.
Oh! Did I tell you Ashley gave me a tour of two local supermarket chains? Publix and Winn-Dixie. They looked a lot like a normal grocery store. Except Publix had peanut butter made right there in the deli. Just ground peanuts. I would SO buy that. But I can only take things back in three ounce containers. No fun.
Anyway, her mom made us spaghetti for dinner and I think things just taste even more delicous when you are hungry because that spaghetti was amazing.
What is it about the sun and the heat that seem to make you so much more tired and hungry than usual? I don't understand.
So now its not even eight yet but we have to go to bed soon because I have another insanely early flight home in the morning. I LOVE getting up early!
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