During the past ten months we’ve often been asked when we were going to return home to the east coast. It often felt funny when we told people that we had to be back by August 23rd so that we could go on vacation with all of our friends for a week at Plum Island, MA. In many ways, the start of Beach Week marked the end of what we’ve called Tim and Joanie’s Vacation–One Year! We knew that once we left Plum Island the job and housing search would need to begin. But, there was nothing bittersweet about that transition. Ever since we got back to the States we’ve been looking forward to seeing our friends, and what better way to do that than cram them all into a house for one week?
What a week! Two big storms provided the bookends for what was a perfect week of sunny weather. Hurricane Bill passed by when we first arrived and sent some massive surf towards the coast (see the small person standing in front of that wave?). While the authorities kept everyone out of the water for the first day or so, the storm provided a great opportunity for the aspiring surfers to catch some waves. We managed to do a much better job catching waves than we did catching fish. While we weren’t fishing or surfing we filled our time swimming in the incredibly warm water, eating massive amounts of delicious food, playing games on the beach, napping, sipping the occasional beverage, and just enjoying quality time with good friends.
Alas. the week has come to a close (we didn’t win the $333 million lottery so we had to leave) and we’ve returned to the Hipple household to plot out our next moves. In true beach lover form, we watched a surfing movie the night we got back from the beach house and then returned to the coast the next day to get back in the water. From here the job and housing search is ramping up and the vacation is almost over.
Perhaps we’ll get a call from the Amazing Race. Perhaps someone reading this will want to hire two hardworking people who love to travel, take photographs, write and have fun. We’ve had a lot of practice. We’re good at it. Hire us.
