Beach Blues

Once, years ago, before all our vacations involved hauling cattle and kids to shows, I was scrambling around getting the household ready to head to Florida for spring break.  A friend, who was witnessing the preparations, slowly shook her head, "I don't know why anyone would leave Kentucky in April and go anywhere".  She had a point.  While the weather can be changeable, for the most part it is beautiful here.  The grass is lush and green and everywhere you look something is blooming.  You can almost stand in one spot and watch things grow and change.  The temperature is warming nicely and the bugs haven't taken over the yard.  I should have remembered her warning.

When hubby announced that we would be traveling to Hilton Head during April for the insurance trip this year,  I was thrilled.  It seemed a perfect time for a trip to the beach--early enough not to be miserably hot, but perfect for a get-away after a long winter.  We planned for a few extra days and decided to drive down to enjoy a beautiful trip through the mountains, viewing the dogwood and redbud trees on route.  After spending a night in Charleston, we arrived in Hilton Head.  The weather was a little unsettled, but the forecast promised improving weather.  We immediately headed to the beach to walk a while and enjoy the ocean.  "It's a little windy," hubby remarked as he struggled to light his cigar.  "It's the ocean breeze," I responded.  Upon returning to the hotel, we discovered the opening night dinner had been moved inside.  Good choice.  Late arrivals reported driving through hail storms and torrential rain. 

The weather steadily progressed downward.  We had one day that was partly cloudy with the rest of the week getting steadily colder and more blustery.  The beach was deserted and even the poolside bar gave up and closed.  Winds hovered around 20-30 miles an hour, temperatures around 70.  In a beach community about the only entertainment other than enjoying the beach is shopping.  Hubby was just thrilled.  Even I found that you can only look at so many $300 dresses in a size 4 (doesn't anyone at the beach wear a reasonable size?). 

We were all gathered in the bar, trying to decide if we needed to go buy coats, when my cell phone pinged for a text.  I opened it up and started laughing as I passed it around.   My daughter had sent a picture of her two girls building a snowman in their yard.  Iowa was in the middle of a snowstorm with schools closed.  They eventually got nearly 10 inches of snow.

You know, all of a sudden the weather didn't seem so bad after all.

(It was sunny and 80 degrees at home!)