Thursday, May 19, 2016

Burn Alert

We interrupt your chronological perusal of a trip made over 3 years ago to bring up an account from this past weekend...

This past weekend Sam and I took the girls on the second annual Hunting Island Beach Trip.  A trip where my sister and her best friend are taught how to set up a camp site, and leave no trace after 2 nights of surviving with AC in a tent.   Last  year was pretty uneventful other than LOTS of bugs, mud slinging, and licking the foam. (I told them it was dead mermaids, but it didn't stop them)

This year the girls didn't eat the sea foam (thank goodness) but there was mild mud throwing and ALOT of splashing.  This trip was more sedate, our campsite has a view of the waves, and we met more people.

Instead of driving down after work and setting up camp in the dark, I had the sense to take the day off.  We pitched the tent pretty quickly.  My husband didn't even have to help out of instruct! Downside- it meant I was putting the pegs in the ground and I ended up breaking the metal stake completely.  So after some Hulk jokes the tent was secured and we were able to sit around with the citronella candles burning on the corners of the table.

With my hair up in a pony tail, I leaned back as we were talking and started smelling some terrible.  REALLY TERRIBLE, the kinda of smell that makes you gag. I turned my head and saw the flames licking up the side of my pony tail and promptly flipped out. Grabbing my hair I yelled (ok, yes there was cussing involved...) and attempted to pat out the fire. The girls were laughing their heads off as I did my fire dance and my husband belatedly tried to cover it to put out the flames.   All I can say is that never wearing hairspray came out in my favor!  Ironically though, I had just gone to the salon the day before!

I moaned over my frazzled ends and the smell..but in the end the fire only got an inch and half off one side of my hair. Almost as bad were the looks I got from the parents at the campsite next to us.  I can't remember what I was yelling...but apparently they didn't appreciate panic over someone's incinerated head.  Whoops...

Thankfully, for the rest of the trip we stuck to burn wood, hotdogs, and only one or 2 marshmallows.  That is, unless you count sunburn!

Last year's beach trip saw some red cheeks of both kinds.  Reapplication was not really practiced.  Sunscreen never really found its way to our backsides either.  Needless to say after driving 4 hours home on toasty buns last year, we not only applied but reapplied multiple times this year.  50 sph  is a marvelous invention, even if it meant it I came home with hardly a shadow of tan on my face.

The burn victims this past trip included legs, and the part of the back that doesn't not get coverage when reapplying sunscreen to one's self!  My sister's bestie ended up buying aloe at the park store.  Can we say $10?? Yes, $10.  ALWAYS pack your own aloe for beach trips. A) You will most definitely need some no matter how strong your reapplication game is! B) The beach stores KNOW how desperate you are for immediate relief and will overcharge. We got the pain killing version and a bag of ice to stick it in to chill.  Which felt AMAZING afterwards! Note: all aloe should be chilled, make sense, no?

So, while I've left out the attack of jellyfish, theft of sunglasses by waves, and an epic gathering for volleyball I feel I've left some rather good life lessons in this article.

1) Be aware of your surroundings- don't dip your ponytail into citronella candles!

2) If you cuss at family campsites expect to be the pariah.

3) When in doubt - ask/beg friends to hit your back with sunscreen that 3rd to 5th time after you've been doing handstands in the ocean. 

4) You can never drink too much water at the beach. (you can always go pee in the ocean- gives you a chance to stretch your legs and cool off from all your sunbathing!)

5)  PACK YOUR ALOE FROM HOME...and pack it in the cooler with your icepacks. (maybe this should have been lesson number 1?)

The final lesson I learned days after being back at work.

Apparently the jelly fish I ran into (top part) was benign! Those clear round jellies are harmless and don't really have a sting according to my friend at work who has a dive instructor's license.   They are called "cabbage head Jellyfish". You can pick them up and play with them.  I suppose I owe the ones I ran from screaming an apology - they just wanted to be friends!
Cabbage/Cannonball Jellies

Now go reserve your tent site on Hunting Island and pack your bug spray...you're gonna need it!

Beach Camp Reservation Site

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

En Route

Note to readers, this will be as chronological a blog as I can make it, despite it reaching back to 2012!

This means the next installment will be on Plovdiv and Istanbul.  For those who aren't familiar with the former city, its located in Bulgaria roughly 41 min from Pazardzhik.

Our left after the week long clinic was over and met up with another part of our team in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.  It blew my mind that so many ancient ruins were open to the public!  I;m used to being told to "KEEP OFF" and "DON"T TOUCH".  But in Plovdiv I got to go down into the hippodrome and do pretty much whatever.  It was like a public park!  They still hold performances in the ancient theater.  (I know, shame on me for not having better pictures to share) We walked all over, and did some light shopping.  The shop we went to was not you typical tourist trap, it was more of a antique shop slash museum.  Not being able to afford much or lug anything around, I bought 2 Ottoman medallions.  The shop owner even explained the dates and wording for me.  Don't ask me what Sultan they memorialized, I've forgotten somewhere along the past 4 years.

There were street stalls as well, but they were located nearer the city center.  Plovdiv has gorgeous architecture!  If you love Charleston's Rainbow Row in South Carolina, beware.  The main streets of Plovdiv would put it to shame.  The main streets are for foot traffic only - so wear your best walking shoes and be prepared to be entertained!

During the summer in Plovdiv, performance artists are in no short supply.  If you've seen "Spy" with Melissa McCarthy, recall the scene where Rayna Boyanov compares Susan Cooper to her mother.  Bulgarian clowns are, in fact, a very common in the warmer months.  They are very talented and creative! My teammates and I got looped into an improve piece one evening and had a blast!  Plovdiv did not lack for scenery, architecture, history, food, or entertainment.  Also, its one of the less expensive European cities to stay in.  Very accessible by bus from the capital, I made a day trip out there by myself more than once while living in Bulgaria.

That evening we left from Plovdiv on an overnight train to Istanbul.  Best way to travel to Turkey EVER!  Honestly I don't think I really slept at all.  Mostly I stood outside in the corridor watching the countryside pass by with the windows open. Fields with bright red poppies, some with aging, rusted machinery, everything fascinated me.

About 3?am the train reached the border and we all disembarked, digging our passports out of our bags.  Since most of the toilets on the train had been backed up we hit the restrooms at the checkpoint after being processed.  I can't remember much other than waiting in line and getting a stamp. Not a ink pad deal, an ACTUAL lick-the-back paper stamp. My clearest memory was that there were clean, functioning bathrooms. On the other side of the check-point (think of the visitor centers next to the interstate) we boarded a bus to take us the rest of the way to Istanbul.