Random beach trip

After sleeping in and enjoying my weekend slothness C invited me to go to the beach with her and her friend B. Uhh heck yes I want to go! I love the beach! We all know this. Apparently B will be driving. I always feel weird when I don't drive but I welcome the break since I do have to drive so often.
It's a beautiful day to go to the beach and I couldn't be happier to be there. C and B are worried I'll be too cold because when I started to get dressed I didn't know I was going to the beach so I'm wearing a dress and boots with a girly jacket. I should probably have worn long pants, a long sleeve tee and an actual jacket but I'm not really worried about it. It's a gorgeous day and I love the beach. I see no problem.
We get to Seaside in just over an hour even with getting stuck behind some seriously slow people (I mean come on twinkie van, 35 in a 55 is so not ok. At least pull over and let cars pass when you see a line of them growing behind your slow ass). It's pretty windy at the beach and I might have some issues with the dress because of the wind...but I'm not at all cold. I'm just so excited to be at the beach. We walk to the beach after scoring a kick ass parking spot right on the strip. We walk on the sand forever along the water. C hunts for a stick to draw in the sand. That one is too limp because it's not a stick and is in fact some kind of sea thing. That one is too wet. That one is too gross. B and I make fun of her for hunting for the perfect stick. She's took picky about her sticks. I finally fish out a sharpie from my purse so she can use it to draw a message in the sand. I suppose I could have offered it up earlier but I actually totally forgot I had it.
We head back to the strip to find some food. I end up having to tie a knot in my dress to keep it from flying up and showing strangers things they don't need to see. I might look a little skankish but it's better than having my ass totally hanging out.
We head to the pizza place that I'm pretty sure made me sick the last time we ate there. Hmm, come to think of it, the last couple of times I've been sick have been after eating pizza. This might not be such a good idea. Oh well! C makes sure B isn't going to order the same pizza we got here last time, because I definitely don't want a repeat of that. We order Hawaiian. That seems safe. Plus pineapple helps burn calories. Kick assness. B pays for our food and drinks and even orders wings. She is super nice. I like her. And no, not just because she bought me food. Sheesh. What kind of person do you guys think I am? Wait...don't answer that.
We sit down and wait for our food. The pizza here is really good. Nope, I don't know the name of it off the top of my head, sorry. B gets a call from her brother in jail. Then they throw single me under the bus and offer me up as a present when he gets out (just to have a more positive influence in his life. Not like prostitution. God you guys, get your minds out of the gutter!). Awesome. I talk to him on the phone for a minute. He thinks I'm C. Then feels dumb when he finds out I'm not. We finish eating and head back to the beach all the while talking to B's brother. She finally gets off the phone and tells me he is telling everyone he loves me and we're getting married (no not really at all. Not even close) and we head the opposite way down the beach.
The wind is blowing and the sun is just starting to set. It's absolutely stunning. So perfectly beautiful. C told me earlier that my internal thermostat must be broken because when I should be cold I'm not, and sometimes there are goosebumps all over my arms and legs and I still don't feel like I'm cold. Now, here we are, walking down the beach. People are all bundled up (except that one guy who was only in shorts) and I have goosebumps on my legs but I feel perfect. I don't feel cold at all. Now I'm worried about my broken thermostat.
We head back to the car. C says Big J is going to come down which means if we want to stay we can stay at his grandmas beach house where we usually stay. I was kind of hoping to actually head back to town that night but everyone seems pretty excited about it...and I do love the beach at night. I agree to stay as long as we leave early the next day. Since big J isn't here yet we head to the store to get some beer for the girls and some chocolate for me. We wander around for way longer then we need to and head back to the car.
We still haven't heard from big J so B decided we should take a drive to Lincoln City. She can get a cheap place to stay there if we want to stay the night and if we don't we can just head home. If we hear from big J on our way there we can just turn around. She takes the scenic route (is there any non scenic route on the beach?) and we enjoy a night drive.
C finally hears from big J and he says he's been at the beach house for 20 minutes and seems a bit angry that we left town. Well excuse me mister smarty pants. We hadn't heard from you in 3 hours and it only took us an hour to get here from the same place you came from and C tried to get a hold of you so calm yourself. We turn around and head to the beach house. Where we find out why he was so irritated (an incident at a rest stop involving a fist and a face...) and he finally calms down.
He makes fun of us for wanting to go to the beach because it's cold out but takes us anyway. We pile into the Jeep so we can go to the drive on beach. We find a pile of burning coals and claim our fire. C goes in search of wood and then B reminds me that she had trouble finding a drawing stick and big J reminds me she's too OCD for wood finding so I run out to help her look. We find a couple of good pieces and a couple of they'll burn but they're not ideal pieces and head back to build up the fire. Big J takes off to find some more wood and somehow disappears into the night. Not only can we no longer see him but he's also gone forever. He doesn't respond when C texts him to see what's taking so long. And then all of a sudden I see his flashlight by the water. Before I can even finish asking the girls if they think that's him, the light goes away and they think I'm crazy. I see the light again at least once more but it's not there long enough for anyone else to see. Now I feel crazy. Especially when big J finally does reappear and it's no where near where I saw that light.
Now he's gone again. Invisible. How the heck does he keep doing that? Oh there he is. I'm not a fan of the dark for basically this exact reason.
Good news is he brought back some good firewood with him, just as our little fire was thinking about dying. Now that I'm not looking for Houdini, and seeing ghosts that are probably really people, I can really take in what a beautiful night it is. There are no clouds out, the moon is shining so brightly and it's reflecting onto the water and the stars are out in full force (though not as crazy awesome as on the mountain). I can't stop staring at the moon but when I do peel my eyes away from it I'm staring at the stars. The stars are quite literally twinkling. I make sure to take in every detail I can so that I can remember this beauty easily later on.
C heads down to the water and I resist at first because I'm wearing my suede boots. But big J tells me he has an extra pair of shoes in the Jeep...Off with the boots! I head down to the water. C is heading back. She says it's too cold. I can't resist the pull of the moonlight so I walk down to the water line and stare some more. It's so peaceful and calm and stunning. The stars are reflecting in the wet sand on the shore. I can't see very far to the right of me on the beach, or to the left, but I feel like I can see for miles into the water. It was absolutely the perfect night for a moonlit walk on the beach, not that I have someone to partake in such an activity. I didn't feel cold at all, even though that's probably just my broken thermostat. I can't hold back a moment longer and I play in the water. It's not as cold as I thought it would be. I check and this time I don't even have goosebumps. I kick and splash and giggle a little. I really do adore the beach.
I go back to the fire to dry my feet off before I have to get back into the Jeep. Everyone seems ready to head back so I get as much sand as I can off my feet and hop in without using big Js shoes. No need to get them all dirty when I can just walk barefoot. We get back to the house and I think for a minute before hopping out of the Jeep about putting those shoes on since the driveway is all rocky but whatever. I can handle some rocks. And actually, they're not that painful to walk on. They talk about me being crazy again. Just because I don't feel pain the same way doesn't mean I'm crazy!
Big J hands out pjs for us (that he packed because he knew we hadn't planned on staying and thus would have none of our own. How nice) and we crawl into bed after watching some tv. Bed is another one of my favorite places.
I wake up around 10:30 and am excited about heading home. Doesn't seem like anyone else is awake yet though, until C comes up the stairs. Then everyone starts to wake up. I have a medium sized meltdown when big J brings my boots in from the Jeep and I find out there is marshmallow adhering sand to the bottom of one of my boots. I love those boots and I can't stand the thought of them being ruined so I take a walk to the beach. Barefoot obviously since I can't wear my boots. I'm aware that I'm acting crazy which is exactly the reason I don't want to be around people right now. I find a non windy spot in the dunes to sit and watch the waves and I finally start to feel calmer.
When I get back to the house C is showered, B is eating breakfast from some fast food place and big J is doing laundry. They all decide to walk down to the beach. Well, I was just there and this morning my thermostat seems to be working because I was cold, at least when I wasn't sheltered from the wind, so I decide to stay at the house. Before long big J was back at the house. With the intention of mowing the lawn there. But he has to go to radio shack first. Umm....ok. He leaves and the girls come back from their walk which seems like it took forever and a day. Now I'm thinking we'll be able to head home but that doesn't seem to be on anyone elses mind. I don't want to be a party pooper, and although I didn't have plans set in town today I would like to be home, catching up on my laundry, catching up on my DVR recordings. Basically I just wanted to be home. So I had another mini meltdown and walked back to the beach...with shoes on this time. But I had trouble calming myself down this time and it wouldn't get better and everything that was wrong or had ever been wrong came crawling to the surface of my brain and the minute I walked back in the door of the beach house everyone knew it was time to leave. I'm pretty sure I yelled. Sorry about that guys. Meltdowns are hard to fend off sometimes. And it doesn't help when everyone is looking at you like you're crazy. Even if you are.
We stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home. I got chocolate of course and all was right with the world again.