SANDY SHORES RESORT MOTEL

You're gonna spend a lot of...

by richiecdisc

You're gonna spend a lot of time with next to no clothes on so why not get a good workout in before you hit the beach. My favorite is the the Exercise Room located at 10th & New Jersey. It's a great local gym with friendly staff and perhaps the only gym I've ever worked out at where people put the weights back where they belong.

A local walk

by richiecdisc

"First a quick duck under the boardwalk to the beac"

"through the dunes"

"down the beach"

"beginnig of the rocks"

"the morning sun from the rocks"

"old abandoned boat"

"Morning moss"

"enjoying an egret"

"Nature shapes the earth"

"Is there no one"

"of course there is"

"lighthouse in the distance"

Just outside everyone’s door lay something that they may not truly appreciate, something that they probably overlook. So it seems that I missed some pretty places right in my backyard. Sometimes it takes another person to bring this to your attention. Sometimes you just have to look. In the spring of 1998, in preparation of a trip to Alaska, I bought a new camera and spent some time taking photos to practice using it. I decided to take some of the local lighthouse, something I had driven by countless times without ever so much as stopping for a longer look. The pictures made me realize what I was missing, but I still looked no further until this spring. Taking a stroll up the beach, I decided to continue as far as I could go and found that without taking my shoes off, I had to cut in and walk on a seawall that ran closer to the street. Once I got on it, I enjoyed the rocky surface and soon found myself feeling like I’d left town.

"calm reflection"

"approaching the lighthouse"

I walked past some very pretty spots I’d missed and saw a small oasis for bird watching too. And soon I found myself coming up on the lighthouse. It was quite the dramatic approach and I was stunned that I’d never done this walk before, I really felt like I’d left town, like I was on vacation and was enjoying the local sights of some tourist town I’d traveled to see.

"heading back at sunset"

"a lovely path"

I was pleasantly surprised and have since done this walk a couple times a week. Perhaps I don’t get the same jolt I got the first time, but it hasn’t ceased to make me smile that I finally found it and I seem to see something different every time go. Different times of day shed different lights. It’s beautiful at dusk and dawn. You never know what birds you will happen upon either.

"footprints in the sand"

"a final view"

So, next time you are wishing for some exotic distant location, take a walk just outside your door. Take your camera and pretend you are there for the first time. You might just be surprised at what you find. And that smile may never leave you.