Christa Sees the Atlantic Ocean

"I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky . . . "
- - - John Masefield

Christa enjoyed her visit to the summerhouse, I am pretty sure. She made a list of all the places she wanted to see and things she most wanted to do, knowing it would be awhile before she returned to the DC area. We worked our way down the list, but "See the Atlantic Ocean" was an item we kept putting off. I wanted Weezie and Clam to go but Mame (sensibly) said the drive was too long, too much time in car seats for the amount of time on the beach. Another alternative would have been for Mame to go with Christa while I stayed home with the kids. That was not Mame's idea of how to spend one of her precious weekend days, so in the end, I went with Christa (her going by herself was not an option). We left early on a Saturday and arrived in Virginia Beach just before dark. It was a long drive, and summer traffic was amazingly bad. We hurriedly parked and walked through the crowded streets, onto the beach where a few children still worked on their sand castles while parents slowly gathered beach gear for the trek back to their hotels. Christa collected a few shells, filled a baggie with sand, had me take her picture and then called her mother to tell her where she was. "You'll never guess where I am, Mom!" It was pretty touching, she was excited and very happy. The Atlantic was a first for me also, so she snapped my picture. Here I am summer of 2009 at Virginia Beach, for all of ten minutes.


I offered to buy dinner at a sea food house, but Christa opted for fast food and ice cream so we dined and headed for the summer house. Traffic was better on the return trip and despite getting lost as we entered the DC freeway maze, we made it by the wee hours. Mame and the kids were asleep, they had a long day together. We will all go to the ocean next time, ninos, perhaps a beach that is a little closer to home. Keep your pails and shovels handy, grandchildren!