Vacation Elation

Back from a very wonderful vacation in the Outer Banks. Wild horsed, wild dolphins, and great company!

I can't even describe how insanely excited I was to have dolphins show up very close as we were boogie boarding. I pee'd myself (which was ok, because it's the ocean - already filled with lots of fish pee and God knows what else). You see, "my name is Tina, and I am a Dolphin Fanatic." From the early years watching Flipper to nearly moving across the country, away from friends and family, to go to SDSU to become a Marine Biologist (I STILL kick myself for not doing that), it's been a long love affair.

The next day, the dolphins appeared even closer. I got defiantly brave, ran into the water, determined to have a life altering experience interacting with wild dolphins, only to find that the tide made the water quite a bit deeper than I expected, causing a flash back - me, six years old, fingers clenched across my face, spread just enough to peek through, watching the horror that was JAWS - and with that, I chickened out and ran/swam back to shore. Damn you Steven Spielberg, damn you!

As we left yesterday, driving along the beach, to everyone's delight we were escorted along by a particularly playful pair. I think the OBX Visitor's Association trained them to do this to make sure people come back year after year. Very effective!