if I had my druthers...

I love a good beach trip and you've seen the posts - we do them a lot. But the one last week was a little different.

We headed to Pawley's Island in South Carolina. Sunshine, warm ocean and natural beauty everywhere. The pier on the back of the house stretches out to a shallow inlet, tall with grasses. Snails are pasted to the reeds like postage stamps. Sand bars peak out of the water as the tide ebbs and flows. A sliver of metallic blue-gray ocean whooshes beyond the creak of porch floor boards and worn-in rockers at the front of the house.

With the first scoop of our net, E and I catch tiny shrimp. As we reach into the water to pick up shells, prickly legs retract inside them. The egrets, brown pelicans, herons and kingfishers are everywhere. I even spot a lizard basking in the sand.

Because of the changing season, we are struck by the monarchs using the coast as a highway to migrate South. In one moment I stop to count 17 butterflies flit past. There is a steady stream of orange traffic all day.

The wild beauty on Pawley's is amazing.

I hope it stays this way.