Joy for the Journey: There's no such thing as a bad day at the beach

Growing up in Manitoba, we were about as far away from the ocean as you can get. I'm still caught off guard sometimes by the relative ease of getting to the beach. (Oh yeah, something I had to learn soon after moving here was that "going to the beach" means the ocean... a lake does not count!)

On Friday night, we made the spontaneous decision to do a beach day on Saturday. After consulting with the guru on beaches (thanks Jen!) we chose Ocean City in NJ. It's about 2.5 hours away, is alcohol free, and has a great boardwalk. We left early on Saturday in anticipation of arriving before 10:00. Well, we didn't factor in the possibility that there would be a crew (okay, only two people) cutting down some trees for which they would need to block off an entire lane of the turnpike for about a mile. This lane closure resulted in miles (yes, miles) of a traffic jam, so we inched our way along, just like everyone else. We tried our best to enjoy the scenery and be thankful that we were not going to be late for an important appointment. We made it through the jam, and continued on our way. All in all, our trip down took nearly 3.5 hours.
It was definitely worth the wait - and the timing seemed to work out. Judging by the puddles on the road, we arrived just after a major downpour. People around us were talking about "the big storm" that was still supposed to be coming, but it never did. They sky kept clearing, and we saw the sun more and more throughout the day. (That is to be evidenced by our slightly pink skin... )

We had a super day of hanging out on the sand, enjoying the water, walking along the boardwalk, eating ice cream, and just admiring God's beautiful creation. It was definitely a great way to spend a middle-of-the-summer Saturday.

There's nothing quite like seeing the expanse of the ocean. And look at the clouds!