Drop In A Bucket List

Chapter 5 Life's A Beach

“Life’s A Beach”

Spur of the moment, that’s my favorite way for an adventure to start.  It was a boring Saturday, my boys were with their Dad, and I needed something to do.  I was texting Heather, and I said, “Let’s go camp on Holly Beach.”  To my surprise she said, “Let’s do it.”  We called Shelley to see if she wanted to come along on our crazy little trip, and of course she did.

We loaded up the back of my car with a bunch of firewood, my Dad’s old tent, sleeping bags, and stuff for smores.  Oh yeah, and a roll of toilet paper.  We drove down to Holly Beach in Cameron Louisiana.  Now, I love Louisiana, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful states in the country, but Holly Beach has been beaten with an ugly stick a few times.  Hurricanes and just plain trash have taken their toll on this beach.  Still, we really didn’t care.  Sleeping on a beach was on my bucket list, so that’s what we were going to do.

Just before sunset we arrived at the beach.  Full of giggly girl energy we pulled out the tent and tried to start assembling it.  That lasted for about five minutes before we flagged down some nice guys to help us set up our tent.  With our tent set up, we were ready to make a fire.  Oh yeah, you need matches or a lighter to make a fire.  Good thing the nice guys that put up our tent, where staying just down the beach, because there are no stores or gas stations open to buy a lighter on Holly Beach at this time of night.  After getting a lighter, we successfully started a fire.  We are women, hear us roar! 

With a toasty fire, an ice chest full of beer, and some music playing it was shaping up to be a fun night.  After a few beers we decided to take pictures.  Now, I don’t know if everyone in the world is as picture happy as me and my group of friends, but we really like to capture the moment.  We posed, took tons of pictures, and danced around our fire in the moonlight. 

A few hours into our night, the nice guys who set up our tent came to check on us.  Good thing they did, because what we thought was a ton of firewood, was almost gone, and we had a lot of night ahead of us.  The guys came to our rescue once again and went and got us more firewood.  As payback for their help we shared our smores.

Shelley had to drive home for church in the morning, so it was just me and Heather left to sleep in the tent.  It was unusually cold for an October night in Louisiana.  We snuggled under our sleeping bags and tried to go to sleep.  After a few minutes of listening to rustling bushes, howling wind, and unidentifiable clicks, I freaked myself out.  I woke Heather up, grabbed my sleeping bag, and we locked ourselves in the car to sleep.  I still count this trip as sleeping on the beach.  Technically my car was parked on the beach, so it counts. 

Sleeping on the beach was a blast.  The most amazing part of the night for me was that I saw five shooting stars.  I know a shooting star is actually a meteor entering the atmosphere, but how miraculous was it to see that happen five times in one night.  While Holly Beach may be a little rough, the view of the night sky there is nothing short of spectacular.  I wished on all five of those shooting stars, and so far those wishes are coming true.  Life’s a beach, so start a fire, and watch for shooting stars.