I’ve been looking forward to this spring break since last August, when I left my summer job in Yellowstone. Then, three of my friends and I made vague plans to go to my friend’s grandparents’ beach house in North Carolina in the spring. I was determined to make it happen, and so it did. Additionally, I went to a McDaniel friend’s grandparents’ beach house in New Jersey for the second half of the break. I’m very envious of these beach house owning grandparents!
Around 6AM on Monday morning, my two good friends from Ohio and Michigan picked me up from McDaniel. It was really weird having these Yellowstone friends, from such a separate world, being on campus in the dark, but it was a thrilling adventure. We went to Washington D.C. for a couple of hours to show my one friend the monuments, as she’d never been to DC before. Then, we hit the road for the long drive down to the beach of North Carolina.
Sunrise in North Carolina.
I’d had the chance to visit those two friends in October and in January, but I hadn’t seen my friend from North Carolina since August and I was so so so happy to have them all in one place again. The beach in North Carolina was absolutely gorgeous. It was about 70 degrees on Tuesday, which was hot enough to get me sunburned. I went into the water, though the others stay back. At my parents’ house in San Francisco, I live a block away from the beach and it’s rarely any warmer than 70 degrees, so it was nothing for me!
Thursday came too quickly. I was almost glad to have to leave at 5:30AM, because I didn’t really have to say goodbye to two of my friends as they were still asleep. Leaving the third when he dropped me off at the airport in Raleigh, NC, would have also been hard too if we hadn’t been running late thanks to traffic!
Snow on the beach in New Jersey.
At the airport in Trenton, NJ, two of my friends from McDaniel were waiting to pick me up. It was a strange feeling because my Yellowstone and McDaniel worlds are comprised of such different people, but I was glad to see them.
The beach in New Jersey was much colder. Unfortunately, I broke my toe on Friday night, so I lost a lot of my motivation to go for walks and go swimming, but it was a still a lot of fun to have a few of my closest McDaniel friends around as well as some others I was still getting to know.
Sunrise in New Jersey. I walked to the beach alone with a broken toe to see this one!
I was exhausted when I arrived back on campus today, and also kind of nostalgic. I never really stop missing my Yellowstone friends. But I can Skype them, and I’m a bit more ready to face the final two months of the year.
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