Casey Estep: Natural Setting 2

A few weeks ago I flew down to Pensacola Florida for my cousin's wedding. We were staying on a house on a small strip with a bay on one side and the gulf on the other. Writing this now it makes me think back to the feelings that either side of the water elicited within me at Lionsgate Bridge. The bay side and the gulf side also had distinct feelings attached to them.

The morning of the wedding day my cousin Peter and I went out walking along the beach on the gulf side of the strip. We walked and talked for very long time and along the way got to see all of the interesting things along the beach. Coming from the mountains, I'm always fascinated with the beach and life it has to offer. The first unusual thing that I noticed were the washed up jellyfish. They were probably a foot in diameter and almost completely clear. I built up the nerve to touch one and they felt just as they looked: Squishy. But they weren't slimy like I had expected, they were quite dry. It also surprised me that the sand did not stick to them very much, it just blew right off of them.

The other major attraction on the beach were the shells. There were thousands of them. As Peter and I walked and talked, we found the best ones and carried them for a while. Whenever we found a better one, we would leave the one that we had found before and continue the cycle. It always feels good to be a part of a nice shell's journey. I like to be part of the reason why they end up where they do.

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