Posts Tagged ‘beach’

after katie’s shower on saturday we headed to madison to stay at kathy’s family cottage for a fun filled bachelorette weekend.

saturday night we made the long dark trek to hammonasset beach and snuck ourselves right in through the campground and onto the beach. it was tricky, but totally worth it. as cars came down the road we pretended to be trees (in the middle of the road) and would run into the marsh or behind the guard rail to avoid getting caught.

we finally made it to the beach, dropped our towels and stripped off our clothes to go skinny dipping! it was the perfect night for it. there was a nice, low, crescent moon and the water was so warm. it was PERFECT! i wish we could have stayed in longer, but we thought there was a beach patrol person coming for us, so we ran out of the water, got dressed and then realized they turned around. by then it was too late to do anything but sit on the beach and look up at the stars – an amazing way to end the evening.

the next morning we rolled out of bed, got ourselves ready and headed to a small beach in madison. we staked our claim on a shady picnic table, dropped our food off there, then claimed our spot on the sand. it was a perfect beach day, and i think everyone had a fantabulous time – especially katie!

picnic table with decorations

view from our picnic table

view from our picnic table

katie and her amazing sweet tea

rachel

ariel

emma

kathy's going swimming!

not terribly crowded

kathy and ariel

swingin' friends

jump katie!

rachel and katie

talking through the tube

just hanging around

just hanging around

playing games with the kiddies

playing games with the kiddies

the last stop on our very brief tour de cape was chatham. we got there late in the afternoon, so most of the stores were closed. we still had a very nice time walking around! it is absolutely somewhere that i want to visit again and explore a bit more.

we should all take this to heart!

downtown

these are SO cute! i wish i could make one!

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this place smelled amazing, i wish we had eaten there

a dog bar!

great use for a pool noodle

i love the cutouts on these shutters

i require a cottage

nauset beach

nauset beach

nauset beach

nauset beach

national seashore in eastham

nauset lighthouse in a storm

on our little getaway we didn’t do much relaxing at the beach. it was to chilly for all that! but we did take a drive up to corn hill beach to walk around and take some photos. it ended up being a gorgeous day on friday, and i’m glad we got to head up there before we going to explore wellfleet!

the house we stayed at in eastham

the store right next to the house we stayed in

penny candy from the general store

crazy watermelon soda from the general store

crazy watermelon soda from the general store

corn hill beach

kevin headed to the water

i could probably live here

beach roses

beach roses

last week my cousin scooped kevin and i up and we spent a few days on cape cod. the goal of the trip was to visit new places and take photos. we were only there a few days, and we stayed in eastham – which is almost like a new world to me! i have some family on the cape, and i have been quite a few times, but i usually stayed in the dennis / yarmouth area. it was great fun to explore the other end of the cape.

the first day we went to provincetown – here are a smattering of photos from there!

arriving on the cape

we definitely need this for the garden

i could get used to this view

i love everything about this door

cool wavy hedges

send cards!

use at your own risk!

i could use one of these

home of kevin's favorite lobster roll

guarding the giant rubber duckies

picking your own taffy flavors makes all the difference

i left antarctica in 2006 in august. i spent about a week in new zealand and then a friend and i went to tonga for 2 weeks. where is tonga you ask – it is in the south pacific and is an island chain kingdom (yes, i said kingdom) that runs about 500 miles from north to south. it is just south of samoa, and between new zealand and hawaii.

my friend and i did no research before going here, we just knew we wanted to swim with humpback whales (which we did). we learned a lot, met a lot of great people (i still keep in touch with one of the girls i met who was there in the peace corps – facebook is amazing that way!). most of all, we thawed out and had a really great vacation.

while we were there, the king passed away. this closed all the bars for a few days, and when they reopened they were draped in black and the only music allowed to be played were hymns. it was and incredibly interesting time to be there.

i really have no reason to post these photos today, other than the fact that we’re supposed to get a nor’easter with 55mph winds tomorrow, and that makes me feel cold. and these photos make me feel warm. i hope they make you feel warm too!

arriving in tonga - nuku'alofa

warm water, gorgeous days

view from the 'ark gallery'

lunch at the dancing rooster

afternoon snack

the ark gallery

hanging out on the 'orion'

my favorite place to hang out!

a perfect day on the water

standard lunch at our apartment

a reminder of our day on the beach

a reminder of our day on the beach

seriously, way more photos here – whale photos!

for the first few weeks of our time together in new zealand, we stayed in a beach town called new brighton. it is just a short bus ride from chirstchurch city centre, and is a great place to unwind.

just off the pier there, is an amazing man named peter donnelly who creates amazing artwork in the sand! he rides his bike to the beach, and makes beautiful and breathtaking artwork in the sand. we were able to watch almost the whole process one day AND chat with peter himself!

he never plans out what he’s going to draw, he just comes to the beach and draws whatever comes to him. it was such a cool thing to watch!

some of these photos were taken by kevin, the first day we went to see him. the second bit of sand art was created by the time we got to the beach, so we didn’t see peter that day.

if anyone is in the norwalk, ct area – tonight there will be a screening of the short film ‘sand dancer’ about peter!

photo by kevin - peter's bike

many more awesome pics here!

way back in november when we were still on our grand tour of new zealand, kevin and i stayed with some extended family in the auckland area. on one of our days there we took the bus from their house down to the city, and then took a ferry over to devonport.

devonport is home to the devonport naval base, home of the royal nz. navy. there are tons of little antique shops and cute cottages, not to mention devonport chocolate which was pretty amazing. however it was pissing down rain and a miserable day.

we opted to take a bus tour of devonport when we arrived, and it was well worth the money!

auckland from the devonport shore

more pics here

a few weeks ago i was lucky enough to take a little drive out to akaroa with some of my friends. it is a cute little village by the sea that was settled by the french way back in the day. there is a very fierce french history here (we just missed the french festival by a few days!) i plan on going back later in the trip – and can’t wait to do a little bit more exploring.

akaroa harbor

click for more photos