Coast to Coast Adventures

Recently my family traveled to Florida on a sort of pseudo vacation. Last year, in the same month, I'd flown to Florida alone to meet with some friends and explore Disney World. Now, almost exactly a year later, I returned - in a completely different part of the state.

The first thing I'd noticed about Florida a year ago was that it was extremely humid.

Absolutely nothing about this had changed.

But since we were on the coast once more, all the way across the country, it made me think about the differences between California and Florida. Noticeably, the weather was almost the polar opposite; California has a dry heat but the beaches/coasts tend to be more temperate (and often quite foggy). Florida on the other hand was humid through and through and stayed consistently warmer despite the fact that it was September (and I'd gone to the beach in California in July!)

The most interesting difference, though, were the colors.

The skies in California were always alight with different colors during the day and at night. The weather was subject to change - just because you couldn't see the ocean in the morning didn't mean that the sky wouldn't be clear and blue by the afternoon. (And this year the sky even hopscotched back and forth between perfectly clear and covered in fog in the span of an hour.)

Depending on how many clouds were in the sky each night, the sunset could strike any number of brilliant patterns in the sky, the colors coming together in a unique collage on any given evening. This would always wash the whole beach in a new palette every day and I always made a point to see what each day would bring.

Meanwhile, Florida's weather didn't change too much; aside from the random thunderstorms, there wasn't much fluctuation. Before the sun set, the sky seemed to stay mostly blue unless it pitched to grey with the rain, but it wasn't long before the blue would be back again.

But there was another place where the colors would come out to play.

While the photos of California were all on sequential but different days, these photos from Florida were not only on the same day - they were from the same beach! I've seen the change in color where the water meets, where suddenly the sea floor drops and the water becomes denser. But I've never seen water so colorful as on the beaches of Florida.

The sand, too, is completely different from the sand I'm used to on the west coast. Here, the sand is grainier and dark, whereas in Florida it's bright, white, and so fine it squeaks against your feet when you walk. It's called sugar sand.

I'm getting the chance to go back again soon and I'm excited to spend more time exploring Florida and all the ways in which it differs from everything I've grown up knowing.

Plus - who knows - maybe I'll spot an alligator or two.

Why I like the beach (part 2)

It should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that another reason I love going to the beach is because of the fauna in the area. Now, this is by no means any sort of a complete list of the plants that I see when I go there (those'll come out later in the form of proper photo stories!), but when I'm at the beach I go for walks every day. And on these walks I run into some pretty cool looking plants.

Most of these plants I find just on walks through the neighborhood...

...but sometimes I find some hidden surprises hanging out in the back gardens of the shops in town.

And whether I know what kind of plant it is or not, it's always really exciting to find something new. Each year I've gone to the beach, I've seen different things growing; sometimes it's a flowering bush that's larger than the year before, and sometimes it's finding a plant that looks like coral or sand dollars that I've never seen before.

No matter where I go, I never seem to find plants quite like the ones at the beach.

Why I like the beach (part 1)

I don't think I can really call the beach my muse, exactly - that's more "outdoors" or "nature" in general - but it definitely is one of my favorite places to be.

No matter how many years I revisit this particular beach, I never tire of it. Forget each year - each day differs from the last. It's always exciting to see what the sky will look like that night, what creatures I might see slipping through the waves, and whether the tide will be high or drastically low.

(Not to mention that exploring is always a great workout!)

I can't really explain it. Of course the beach on it's own is such a wonderful place, but there's something about being able to sit in one place for hours on end and watch the waves that creates a feeling in me unlike any other. That's not to say that there's no feeling greater that exists but that the feeling of being at the beach is unique. There's a calmness about it, something that feels larger than me weaved into the atmosphere.

And - very often - there are surprises hidden inside every nook and cranny.

I wish I was able to get out to this particular beach more often, but once a year makes it all the more special. Maybe it's because of the feeling that's inextricably tied in with summer, maybe it's because when I'm out on the sand I'm surround by miles and miles of ocean stretched in front of me, but whatever the reason is, the beach is one of my favorite places.