Our Gulf Coast Vacation

Hey friends. We got back late Wednesday night from the beach. We had a good time with the people we were with, but the beach part was pretty depressing. I wanted too keep you up to date on Facebook because I knew everyone was wondering what it was like down there, but I just couldn't post depressing news the whole time.  

When we first got there the beach "looked" fine. The sand was beautiful and clean, and the water looked like it usually does, but when Ben and Tim got in we noticed that there were tiny reddish brown spots in the water and sticking to them. It was sad, but I thought, "Well, I can handle this."

Later, we went for a walk down the beach and we quickly noticed that tar was building up on the bottoms of our feet. It was kind of like stepping on several hot sticky pieces of gum on a parking lot. They have "Tar Wash" stations set up at every hose with a brush inside so that you can scrub down. I heard that the smell was unbearable, but I don't think I smelled oil but a couple of times the whole trip. It didn't really even smell like oil, it was just like what you smell when you first step out of the car at the gas station, it wasn't strong at all. Luckily the place where we were staying had a pool, so the kids did get to swim, but it just wasn't the same. When we go to the beach we are there to see the beach and the fish and the sand, we want to see what God made and appreciate nature. I don't know that my kids have ever even been in a pool at the beach more than a couple of times before.

They come through and clean the beach every night, and you could tell that they were keeping a close watch on it because a helicopter flew over every few minutes. There were also several boats in the water working and we saw lots of the orange booms out. It seemed like they were scrambling around doing something constantly.

The last day we decided to put old suits on the kids and let them get in one last time in case they never get to again, but when we got to the water something looked weird. There were long rusty colored strips, one right after another, stretching as far as we could see, coming towards us.

 We realised then that he kids had missed their chance. As it started washing in my little hippie heart couldn't take anymore, I cried. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Sitting there looking out at the ocean, filled with oil as far as you can see felt so overwhelmingly hopeless, like an old friend with an incurable cancer. I didn't see one living thing in the ocean the whole time I was there.

Just in case this comes up in any g**gle searches and someone besides my blog friends see this, I want to say that I am NOT up for ANY political discussions about this. I heard enough of those while I was there. I am NOT trying to talk people out of going to the beach, in fact, I think it would do us all a little bit of good to see it with our own eyes. I'm actually leaving in the morning to ride back down with my mama, mama-in-law, and a couple of friends so that they can see it. As a homeschooling mama, I see this as a tremendous learning experience for my children, and as sad as it may sound, it is history. I also hope that people do continue to support the gulf coast the best they can. God knows they need it. I'm just a beach loving mama who is telling my family's story and the way it made me feel. That's all.

Our family will be participating in the Craft Hope project. If you have any question about what else we may have/haven't seen, bring it on! If you aren't going to be able to get your kids down there to see it, tell me what you want to know about. I can be the homeschooling mama's scout. Like I said, I'm heading back down just for the day tomorrow and I can try to get specific pictures for you or your kids if you let me know by then. You can let them leave comments/questions too if you like and I will answer the best that I can. Sorry for such a depressing post guys, but I knew that you would want the truth. xo, Sam