My turn.

Cam was the first to blog about our beach hike last Friday but his post was sans words and sans people. Then, Sam wrote about the hike from his perspective and took several of the pictures I would have used in my blog entry but I am thrilled to give them to him. He is getting such enjoyment out of telling these stories. Thanks to each of you who have left a comment (or more) for him.

But I haven't talked about what I did this weekend yet and our beach hike was a big part of my weekend so I thought I'd go ahead and give it a go too.

This time, I decided to wear shorts so I could go farther into the waves without having to wear wet clothes all day. Plus, since we were hiking, I figured I'd be warmer. I was wrong.

The drive to the beach was lovely but when I got out of the car and felt the wind, I realized I should have opted for jeans. Oh well. Once you get going, and warm up you won't feel it, right? Wrong.

Cam had planned a nice hike up the beach from the parking area to Sculptured Beach, a mile or so away. Not far into the hike, I was beginning to wonder if Sam and I had it in us to make it. I considered taking Sam to a nearby B&B and reading and relaxing indoors while Cam completed the hike solo. But after the mini-conference, Sam said what I was feeling, that while he was cold now, he thought he would have fun later when the fog burned off. So I wrapped this beach blanket around my legs and trudged on. It actually helped quite a bit.

There is a lot of interesting looking sea weed to be found on the beaches around here. While we are waiting for Lionboy II (The Chase) to arrive, Sam and I started reading The Book of Sea Monsters with amazing painted renditions by Bob Eggleton. (Ours has a different but equally stunning picture on the front.)

We had just read about The Kraken. In our book, skeptics are always accusing people who have sighted sea monsters with having only seen mere clumps of seaweed instead. This piece looked like one the non-believers would say could have been mistaken for one of the Kraken's arms. Sam has his arms tucked in his sweatshirt for warmth and looks a bit like a Kraken himself.

Halfway up the beach, we turned off the water towards the coastal trails which also follow the beach but aren't right on the sand. They allowed for less strenuous hiking and still took us to Sculptured Beach. The first thing I did was check out the coves behind Cam in this picture to find out which provided the best break from the wind. I lay the beach blanket down and plopped down to rest. Cam offered to take Sam to climb around on the rocks. I lay myself down and rested while they were off adventuring. I had a bit of the food we'd packed and was ready to join them for their second trip out.

One time, after our ad agency won some battle of the advertising agencies contest in Des Moines, my friend and co-worker, Joe Smith yelled from the stage of the Comedy Club, "We're King of the World." He said it was a reference to the movie Titanic but I just loved Joe yelling it.

Randomly, Sam and I yell it when we are feeling triumphant. I think Sam looks like King of the World in this picture.










We decided to enjoy the milder weather by relaxing on the beach a bit before heading home.