I haven’t been to the Gulf of Mexico since I was a kid, probably 6 or 7 years old. Our family drove all the way to St. Petersburg, Florida from North Carolina. It’s not something I would recommend doing in a 1970’s Toyota Corolla with kids and dogs and no air conditioning, but once we arrived, it was a wonderful place. We stayed in one of those little 1950’s style motels on the beach, one story. Not one of those giant, ugly condos you see up and down the East coast now. I remember the walk out to the water seemed like at least a mile. The beach was wide and flat and clean, as far as the eye could see. Blues, grays, whites color my memories. I don’t remember any dunes or sea grass on the beach, just a huge expanse of flat, white sand and water. The clear water had hardly any current or waves. It lapped the sandy shore softly and warmed you like a giant bathtub. A storm overnight explained why the motel was so far from the water…the Gulf surged all the way up to the motel and flooded the parking lot. Even with the puddles everywhere, it was a wonderful trip.
I’ve been watching the news of the oil spilling into the Gulf, helplessly wishing it wasn’t so. It makes me think there are places in the world I need to hurry to show my children before they are destroyed forever.
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Ditto that Lisa.
ReplyDeleteThey say the Great Wall & Athens (Greece) is crumbling, the glaciers in Glacier N'tl park and Iceland are melting (not to mention the artic)... and the gulf is starting to look like the eastern seaboard (except slicker).
I did read that, despite tar globs, the beaches of Mississippi, Alabama & eastward - and the ones here in Galveston - haven't been destroyed YET.
I've been to Banff National Park in Canada and walked on a glacier back in 2001. It was melting even back then. Wonder what it looks like now?
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