shore birds | River's world…..

Not wanting to waste any precious time on our week long vacation, day four threw a monkey wrench in my carefully planned trip.

We woke to overcast skies, an egret in the pond and a forecast of what turned out to be a mini hurricane. Heavy rain, high winds and dangerous surf are not prime beach resort conditions.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, I burned breakfast. Again…. due to the stupid flat surface stove that had two burners in one.

High level heat if you turned right, high level heat if you turned left. This proved too much for my under caffeinated morning brain to handle and henceforth, the husband was on his own when it came to eggs.

But at least the dish sponge was happy.

Not having walked the beach since we got there, I forced my spouse onto the sand before the storm arrived. That’s his arm to the right of the photo, pointing out which unit was ours. I’m not sure why as we had just exited it and I was unlikely to forget that quickly.

My husband is not a beach guy, not an idle walker. He needs a destination and purpose…

I told him pleasing his wife of 40 years should be motivation enough.

😉

We had the beach to ourselves, but it was cool, dark, damp and hellaciously windy.

As proved by my epic hairspray fail.

On the far right side…

The marina.

In between?

Lots of marvelous shore birds.

Even my husband likes to watch those.

It’s hard not to smile.

Day two of our anniversary trip started with a glorious sunrise.

And the required selfie with palm tree background.

We headed out early and pointed the beast south.

Through low country marsh…

And those wonderful live oaks. (You’re going to see a lot of them in the days to come because they were everywhere and I love them.)

More marsh.

More moss draped trees. (I did warn you)

An hour and a half later, we reached our destination.

Parris Island, South Carolina. The base that serves as east coast boot camp for the Marine Corps. The last time my Marine had been here was in 1966.

Almost 58 years had passed and he was interested to see how much he remembered.

Those palm trees lining the entrance road?

Nope.

The rifle range?

Yes. Though the brick jersey barriers were new.

I could tell this was an emotional trip down memory lane for him. The last time he walked these grounds he was fresh out of high school and training to go to war.

We drove slowly, touring and taking in the sights. Base housing has definitely improved over the years.

And as we rounded a large bend?

A beautiful golf course…

Complete with live oaks…

Ponds…

And shore birds.

Egrets and herons were everywhere.

As were the moss covered trees.

I asked if the golf course had been there in his day and he honestly didn’t know. During the Vietnam era, boot camp was condensed from 3 months into 2 and every single minute was spent training, drilling or sleeping. No days off. One hour a week to write a letter home and mandatory church service Sunday morning. There was no time for golf.

My husband really wanted to see his old barracks, but they were made of wood and torn down long ago. Modern brick was in their place.