Reports From Down South

As promised, I am reporting this morning from Surfside Beach, South Carolina. After a good night's sleep that is.
Brooklyn seems far, far away as I am looking at the ocean. I never tire of it. Mostly though, I am thankful that this vast expanse of water spared the house for one more summer season. We were here the last time in April. Since then, there was a rather big storm which attacked some of the sand dunes. We will have to put up more fencing during this vacation and pray that the hurricane season is kind to us once more.

As much as I love being here, the 12 to 14 hour car ride is brutal. But also pretty entertaining. The kids laughed when I took out a piece of paper and started jotting
down some observations for today's post. Here they are:

1) If I ever have to move to any of the suburbian strips along Interstate 95, just shoot me now.

2) Over-development in Brooklyn pales compared to the reckless building everywhere else on the East Coast. Wherever you look, big shopping malls are being built along with the ugliest residential developments. How many Home Depots and Wal-Mart does this nation need????

3) New housing construction is scary. New houses look as though they are being held together with spit. Can you say "termite food?" And just for the record: Vinyl siding and windows looks ugly. So are those stark white plastic fences that everyone is putting up.

4) I never go to fast food places when I am in Brooklyn, but on the road, my otherwise high food standards fall, well, by the roadside. So after the first 300 miles, I needed a cup of coffee and something to eat. Let me tell you, the new ice-coffee at Mc Donald's is terrible. I made the mistake of confusing Mickey D with Starbucks. I should have known, but it looked so refreshing in the picture advertisement. In reality, the beverage was a beige liquid with just the faintest hint of coffee flavor.
Furthermore, eggs at that "fine" eating establishment are not really eggs, I think. The consistancy is not right and they come in these perfect little squares, probably extruded from some huge machine in a gigantic factory in the mid-west.

5) Another observation: Don't drink big buckets of iced coffee when further than 20 miles from a highway comfort station.

6) Spending 12 hours in a car with one's little family is a great way of connecting after weeks of stress at home.

7 And finally, my kids have a great collection of music on their I-Pods, though daughter Celina has a weakness for country music that I do NOT share.

So there you have it. It was a long. long drive. But we are here in one piece. And now I am going to take a nice walk on the beach and relax.