Island Beach State Park

Missed my ride to Tennessee for the race in Bristol this weekend so instead spent eleven hours on the beach today for our last summer '05 trip to Island Beach State Park. Big adventures coming soon to announce. Today we rested on the beach at the Atlantic shore and in exactly one week's time we will be hiking on the Matanuska Glacier in Chugach Start Park in Alaska. (Pinch me!) Ok, but back to the beach. We really love IBSP because you can pretty much go just 1/4 mile from the crowds and have at least 25-30 yards of beach completely to yourself. No boom boxes, no pretty people showboating their abs, no screaming kids, no invasion of your space. We sit under umbrellas, read, nap, eat, and drink and have nothing but the birds and the surf around. Of course today was a small exception when a pair of couples came out to go fishing (yes, on this beach you can fish and surf but not swim, although everyone swims--you just need to hide from the lifeguards, dodge the surfboards, and watch out for fishhooks.). So these four people walk by us and have at least 40 yards of beach before the reach their next neighbor and they decide to set up their camp only 10 feet away and one of them proceeds to heat up a cigar right downwind from us, forcing us to pack up our beach camp and move the 20 yards ourselves back to our own private parcel of sand.

Hello west coast!