Today was such a wonderful day. I woke up ridiculously early, around 4:30, and went for a run on the beach. The sunrise was so beautiful, it was a really vivid pink color with streaks of orange and purple.
When I returned back to the campsite I found breakfast already out on the picnic table, granola is always a favorite of mine. After everyone was awake, with full tummies, we loaded into the van and drove to the Tom Yawkey Heritage Preserve, about an hour away. Even in the early morning that van ride is hot!
The tour lasted about 3 hours and consisted of us being driven around a beautiful island by our awesome guide, Joseph. He came from a gullah background, which is a culture unique to the lowlands of South Carolina. It was really interesting hearing him talk in his native tounge.
We ended the tour around 12:00 and returned to our campsite at Huntington Beach State Park. As soon as we arrived, I ran to the tent and grabbed my bathing suit, the beach was calling to me. We were lucky, the waves were large and breaking perfectly to body surf. I forgot how incredible the ocean is. I laid in the sun for about an hour with the intention of getting rid of my "shorts tan," but I think I may be too far gone...
Around 5:00, we began preparing to go to dinner, we had reservations for a 5 star restaurant! We were treated like royalty at this place; 4 course meal, awesome waitress and an entire room to ourselves. Dinner was incredible. I had salad, shrimp roulade, tilapia with veggies and rice and about a gallon of sweet tea. We took this opportunity to do a really in depth debrief of the entire trip. I loved hearing what everyone had to say about their experience, what their best memories were, what their worst ones were, the funniest quotes... We were at that restaurant from 6:00 till 9:30 (when we were finally kicked out).
When we got back to the campsite at 10, alot of people went to bed immediately because of our looming 5 o'clock wake-up, but Aislinn, Dan, Jana and I headed for the beach. It was a really magical night, I couldn't have asked for a better ending to the trip. There was an awesome lightning storm occurring over to the west and with every crack the sky would just light up, illuminating the beautiful clouds over the ocean. The waves were soft and rhythmic. We walked on the beach for what seemed like hours talking about our trip and what's to come next in our futures.
When we came closer to the path that would lead us back to the tents, we took one last look at the ocean. We had really made it, we really came this far, here we were with the waves as our prize reminding us what we worked so hard to achieve. Feelings were just welling up inside of me, happiness, relief, pride anxiety, sadness it was a little too much to handle. I turned to the awesome people by my side and said, " who wants to scream with me?" We all walked forward to the surf, just far enough for our feet to be submerged, we let our emotions boil up inside of us and when it just got to be too much we screamed out into the giant dark abyss. What a moving experience, without humility, just being as loud as you can and letting your thoughts and feelings pass through your body as noise.
We left that beach feeling refreshed. I slept so well, my mind clear, ready to see what the next day had to bring. This has been the best experience of my life.
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