it should not get to eighty degrees on the last day of september.

[jazzfish]

I went to the beach this weekend, with uilos and rislyn and effectively-LJ-less Mark and sadly no DJ.

On the way there I changed a tire for the first time. This is a basically painless process provided your donut is in good shape. (It was.) I think it took longer to find the place to buy a new tire than it did to change the flat.

I flew a kite for the first time in I don't know how long, and went swimming in the ocean. I ate "stuffed shrimp," which basically meant "crabcake with butterfly shrimp around the edges" and was really really good.

I saw the Ocean City boardwalk in daylight for pretty much the first time. It's smaller and sadder than I remember, but a block back there's a used bookstore. (Used-book store?)

We had a campfire, and made smores and mocked Nice Guys and shook our heads in disbelief at the choices our friends and acquaintances make. ("Eeww.")

The mosquitoes had all flown south for the winter. There were a handful of sandpipers, and at least one pelican, and an egret standing calmly in the marsh. And lots of nickel-sized sand-colored crabs, and a handful of beach mushrooms. (Very odd.)

I got an unpleasant sunburn and sand in my tent and didn't sleep well because sand isn't nearly as soft as you think it is and my hips seem to have become rather bony.

I should do that again sometime.

Comments

[plumbob78.livejournal.com]

EEEEEEE! What did you do to your tire that you had to buy a new one and not just get it patched?

[jazzfish]

Panicked and weren't thinking clearly, mostly. (Was uilos's tire.) It just blew out randomly on the highway. It probably could have been patched but the day had been stressful enough just getting that far that we just replaced the thing.

[nixve.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I miss the Ocean City boardwalk, and I miss going to the beach off-season.

(hrm, I do believe I need an ocean icon)

[jazzfish]

Off-season is definitely good. The water's colder (sometimes too cold to go in, even if you do so anyway :) but it's still really pretty, and fewer people.

(Perhaps a picture of waves or beach with text at the top "I thought the ocean" and at the bottom "The ocean thought nothing" . . .)

[nixve.livejournal.com]

ooh, a good plan. I shall do this at some point :)

[palrusty.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it was wonderful. Very very sad I missed it. We'll have to try to go again, right? Luckily though, headcold of the ears so clogged I can't hear people variety is now just a cough. Still trying to decide if I made the right decision. :-( But glad you enjoyed it. :-)

[jazzfish]

Head colds suck. Head colds at the beach suck more. *hug*

[(Anonymous)]

Didn't you go to Chincoteague recently or was that someone else? I have vacation time coming up (Sunday to Saturday, 10/14-10/20) and am attempting to find out the advisability of camping alone as opposed to staying in a hotel which I don't much feel like doing.

[salzara-tirwen.livejournal.com]

That was me by the way

[jazzfish]

Ah, okay.

Must have been someone else. I went to Chinco in, um, August 2003 with nixve. Before that the last time I was up there was when Vond and Karin were still dating.

If you're up for camping at all I heartily recommend camping instead of hoteling. Dunno about the nat'l park but the state park is a) right on the beach, b) I think $30/night, and c) popular so get a reservation ahead of time.

Also if you felt like stopping by here on your way up there, it's on exactly the wrong side of the Beltway but I'm not up to anything else that Sunday.

[salzara-tirwen.livejournal.com]

I checked a map and the DC area is not even remotely on my way to Chinco, it's twice as far in the wrong direction... But I might be persuaded to head up there anyway if you want to hang out. Will you be on some form of chat program later tonight?

[jazzfish]

If I'm on chat at all it'll be Gchat (jazzfishzen), I'm in Pennsylvania at a gaming party and for reasons I'm not totally clear on I'm refraining from installing icq on my laptop.

However, the wireless here is wonky.