Mystic, CT

Last minute KC and I drove south for the 4th of July weekend. It took us an hour and 20 minutes is all to get to Mystic, CT...the closest beach to us that we could find. I was rather surprised how little traffic there was. It was a fantastic!

We checked into our hotel and ran over to the Aquarium in town. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am a water person. I had never been to an Aquarium. So much better than the zoo! The zoo is so boring, all the animals hide and no matter where you go it stinks. The Aquarium didn't really stink, I say really because we didn't escape stink completely. This man here:

Ya, he's a cutie. If only KC could have snapped this photo two minutes later, we could have then shared with you the joys of seeing a Seal experience a stomach aches' relief. Let's just say that seal diarrhea can clear a scene. Whoo--ieee! Peee-uuuu!

But really, KC's mom thinks I don't like animals. But breaking news everyone, I am not heartless, I like water dwelling animals....believe it or not! You want proof:

I am odd. I won't pet a puppy, but give me a shark...ya, I guess I'll pet him. This was actually really cool. The sharks would stop and let you rub your fingers across their rough backs. Their skin is so awesome! Kind of felt like a snake (another creature I like...maybe I just don't like fur).

And then there is KC, he was so thrilled to be around the shark. He probably would have stayed there for a couple hours if they hadn't have closed while we were there.

I am working backwards here I guess. The sharks were one of our last stops. So let me rewind to our first stop. The whale....

Then we made a stop at the ray petting tent. I was a more hesitant here. You see, 10 years ago I was swimming in the ocean off of California when I saw a large black shadow below me, and something very smooth. Unbeknownst to me this was a sting ray....but I only thought black, in the ocean = shark....so I freaked out and got the hell out of there. Duh, I wouldn't have been able to swim away from a shark as easily as I did with the ray. My cousin informed me of the situation....but it still freaked me out. So seeing a ray made me a little more hesitant, but I still was determined to pet the dang thing.

It was a shock to feel how slimy these guys were. There was one in the bunch that must have been a different breed...more pink...and way, way slimy. KC thought it was hilarious when the wings would flap water out at you.

We also saw some penguins, more seals (one that was gigantic!), jelly fish, piranas, frogs, humungo tadpoles, and much more. It was great. I think I will be an aquarium goer and not so much a zoo one.

The rest of the weekend we spent chasing beaches. I say chasing because we really didn't get to spend very much time at the beach, but we spent a lot of time trying to get there. I never remember west coast beaches being this packed! We spent over 3 hours in traffic at 2 different beaches, only to find no parking spots. It was a complete bummer. KC was such a trooper trying to get me there. He is so awesome to me. Because really he could have cared less, but he wanted to get me there so bad.

Luckily, we stopped at the beach in the evening to at least check out the beach. We had better luck then, but weren't able to swim. Here are some of my favorites.

Gotta love Sunbursts! But we were saying how weird it was to have the sun setting away from the water. It is odd how things that you are used to, you seem to think are the norm. But for some people there aren't. Hey, either way...I am just glad I get to enjoy all sides of things. I think we all need to do that more often!