The Beach

I've mentioned our recent move from Utah a few times in past blogs.   Right now it is 11 degrees in Cache Valley where we used to live...which can be an enjoyable thing if you like the cold and you have adequate heat and you don't have to travel anywhere.   I don't happen to like the cold.  
We now live in a much warmer climate which I am grateful for everyday.  And this year, we had the opportunity to travel to Hilton Head, SC to spend Thanksgiving with the Gr's (that's short for Grandma and Grandpa at our house).   It is NOT 11 degrees here.  I woke up this morning and had my Green Tea on the back porch with an alligator and two turtles watching me from the nearby pond.  

Then most of the family that was awake went for a walk on the beach.  

At 1:00p, we drove to the Hilton and had the most incredible Thanksgiving food extravaganza buffet EVER!  It wasn't home cooked and we desperately missed sitting around the table with the other Salt Lake members of our family, but holy cow!!....it was yummy!!  And there was LIVE MUSIC!  (an incredible guitarist from Granada who mostly played Eric Clapton and The Eagles...really, what better way is there to celebrate Thanksgiving than eating food you didn't have to make, with an ocean view, and a guy from Granada singing Layla in the background!??)  

After dinner we walked around the gorgeous hotel grounds and then came back to the condo to change and go back to the beach.  

Going to the beach always feels like going back home for me.  I always feel the most relaxed and comfortable when my feet are in the sand and I can see the expanse of ocean extending for miles and miles in front of me.  I love the vastness of it.  I love the way it smells.  I love the calming sound of the waves.  

And family, football and tryptophan feel exactly the same whether you're in a snow covered valley or in a condo at the beach.  I am incredibly grateful today for family (near and far) and for the beauty and abundance that surrounds me.