This is for the displaced Northwesterners.

I thought this first trip to the beach would be like summer time. In some ways it was. There was sand, beautiful sand. The repeating sound of the waves was there. Oh and the smell of salt water, it was there. Family after family came down to the water with the same ideas we had. Are you getting home sick yet?

When the Ferry let go of that monster horn I felt like summer had arrived!

We took our camp chairs and quickly unfolded them, grabbed our lunch and began to settle in on the beach. Before 10 minutes had passed that brisk breeze coming off those snow covered mountains across the water had my hands frozen, my cheeks bright red and the chill began to set in! My husband went to the car and came back with his big swimming towel from his duffel bag. That covered my knees and they now were only cold! I'm not sure how long we lasted.

It was an important trip, to eat lunch at the beach. It was one of the big things I missed last year with my husband working out of state. It was one of the big things he missed too. It was also a tribute to the fact we had found a day so blue and so perfect for being outside after late march snow and ice cold nights. Finally, all in all we moved the car closer to the water, took our books and our chairs, opened the sunroof on the car and enjoyed an afternoon in the car looking at the sand, feeling the sun on our heads and listening to the ferrys!

Is Spring just a suggestion or should we embrace it as a pre-summer idea!