When we go on vacation I have to be near the water. While the mountains are beautiful I must be at the water or it doesn't seem like a vacation. For at least 20 years we have gone on vacation to North Truro, Massachusetts. It's located on Cape Cod which is a peninsula shaped like a bent arm sticking out into the Atlantic Ocean. North Truro is on the outer side of the "wrist" We've always camped together with my sister's family, my parents and friends. Some years we've had as many as 7 families together. My father would put together a miniature golf course back in the pine trees. We would draw partners and have an annual golf tournament called The Flamingo Open. We spent many hours on the beach with the children digging holes, making sand castles, playing in the waves. We would boil lobsters at camp and play games at night. My parents enjoyed watching their children and grandchildren.
I love a nice beach. I love the water, the crashing waves, the seagulls, looking for seashells and pretty stones. I like to go early and have breakfast on the beach. I've been to beaches in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia in Canada. Maine and Massachusetts in the U.S. All of these are cold water beaches. I've been to tropical beaches in Florida, St. Thomas, Bermuda, The Bahamas and Hawaii. Different beaches around the world have different kinds of sand.
On Cape Cod the sand is brown, tan and white and very coarse. You can see the indivual grains very easily. It looks like what it is; tiny, tiny stones. The shore line has usually has a path of larger stones that you have to walk over to get into the water. These are the stones I like to look at. When they're dry they look dull and drab but when wet they look like jewels. The different colors are beautiful. In North Truro the beaches are pure and pristine, part of the National Seashore and has strict regulations. There are no hotels or houses built on the beach. You can't climb the sand dunes because they don't want them eroded by people as the wind and water do enough of it.
The sand on Prince Edward Island in Canada is red. P.E.I. was formed millions of years ago on sedimentary bedrock of soft, red sandtone. This creates rich, red soil that has rust in it. Trust me when I tell you it doesn't wash out of clothes very well. On the beach we dug for clams. I'd never had clams so I tried these. No mater how much we washed them they were still crunchy with sand inside of them. I will never eat another clam.
We went to Bermuda on our honeymoon and visited Elbow Beach in Hamilton. This beach has pink sand. It is made up from pulverized remains of invertebrates such as coral, clams and other sea life. What puts the pink in the sand are forams, an animal that lives on the underside of the coral. When they die they have a red skeleton. As they drop to the sea floor they're crushed by pounding waves and washed up as sand.
I've been to a black sand beach in Hawaii on the island of Maui. As lava from the volcano quickly cooled in the water it shattered into glassy fragments that were eventually crushed into sand. Today the sand comes from the erosion of the black lava rocks that make up the island. I'll say that the black sand beach is very strange. I wasn't crazy about it plus it was very coarse.
The sand I've experienced in Florida is like white sugar, some are as fine as powdered sugar. This again comes from the sea life that has been crushed over time. While I love Cape Cod, the lure of the tropical beach is strong and since I've only experienced it a few times, they tend to be my favorite kind of beach. White sand, turquoise and aqua water and palm trees are so foreign to me and seem exotic.
Sean and I will celebrate our 25 wedding anniversary in December of this year. We've always planned on going on a nice trip to celebrate it. We thought we would go to Hawaii but that's out of the question. Too much money. We're trying to save money for this trip but it's hard. With two kids and one in college, money is tight.
Here's my dilemma. My parents want my family and my sister's family to all rent a house together this summer on Cape Cod. It has to sleep at least 10 people so we're talking a big house. Several thousand dollars. It will also be my parents 50th wedding anniversary this summer. Cape Cod is not cheap, as a matter of fact it's very expensive. We can't afford to go to Cape Cod and go on our anniversary trip to a nice relaxing, warm, tropical beach next February. I don't know what to do. Go to Cape Cod and celebrate my parents or go on our own trip and celebrate us. What should I do??
By the way, Sean says I am waaaay too wordy on this blog and no one will read it. Oh well I tell him.
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