This summer, like every summer, we spent a few weeks in Florida. The kids and I also spent a few days at North Padre Island National Seashore with friends. On the trip to and from Florida, we made stops in Ft. Walton Beach and Long Beach Mississippi.
Our trip to Padre Island is one we have made before. It is the closest "good" beach to us, only 4.5 hours drive. Texans measure distance in hours and 4.5 hours isn't too bad of a drive for us if there are waves at the end of the trip. This trip we were able to do something new. We got up very early and got to see a sea turtle hatchling release. The rangers brought out the tiny turtles in coolers. Volunteers created a canopy of ribbon topped sticks and a net to keep the sea gulls from feasting on all of those delicious babies. Sea gulls are jerks. The rangers came around with a baby turtle to show the crowd and even took pictures with peoples cameras. Very fun morning!
Next beach trip was Ft. Walton Beach/ Destin. We got to go on a dolphin cruise and learned all about June Grass. What is June Grass you ask? Every summer a large island of green algae makes its way towards the beach. It turns the lovely blue green water a soupy shade of green. We had fun swimming the first day, but by the second day there was a little too much ick in the water so we stayed by the pool. We had a nice walk in the evening and watched herons catch their dinner by the fishing pier.
Mom, Natalie, and I took a quick trip to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. It is on the Atlantic coast and has lovely views of the launch pads at NASA. Natalie earned a Junior Ranger badge and we got fabulous views and crappy pictures of spoonbills. The beach is lovely, I just wish for showers.
Our last beach stop on the way home was in Long Beach Mississippi. I will admit that growing up in Florida has made me a beach snob. I confess. I may have mentioned it before in my post about Galveston a few years back. I appreciate the different colors of sand at the beaches I love. Some are sugary white like Destin and Siesta Key. Some are more gray like North Padre and Cocoa Beach. Some have a pink tint like Matanzas Inlet and Flagler Beach. I am a beach comber and chair sitter, not a swimmer. I like the sound of waves, but they are not required. So what is it that makes a beach "good"? To me it is a beach that isn't littered with trash of the human or garbage variety. If the beach is covered in tar balls or dead marine life, I'm out. Driving on the beach is not my favorite either. Give me clean, with birds, nice sand, and not too many people. So the first time we went to Biloxi, I liked the sand until I stepped in it and found lots of broken glass and kinda icky water. It is protected by a few barrier islands off the coast, so the waves are pretty nonexistent. But they did have something you don't really see at the other beaches and that is a ton of hermit crabs. Fast forward to Long Beach, just down the road from Biloxi. Same water and sugar sand with a little less glass and same crab population. Not a beach I would go out of the way for, but a fun beach to walk at sunset and play with crabs.
In Orlando, we got to sneak away for a date and go canoeing at Weikiva Springs State Park. It's close to my parents house and a very pretty place to canoe or kayak. We saw a gator and quite a few egrets, cormorants, and herons.
