Travels

We had a wonderful time at Hilton Head yesterday. We went to the pool during the heat of the day (it was partially shaded), then had a big lunch including boiled shrimp. We planned to head to the beach late afternoon and into the evening.

Low tide was around 4 p.m. The beach was practically empty as families headed home to eat. The sun was beginning to dip and a nice breeze made the heat quite palatable. We put my friends' baby on the edge of a tidal pool so he could splash around in the water, set up chairs, and watched the children as they ran in the surf, trying to catch a good ride on their boogy boards. It was so nice, we chose to stay very late - until 7:30. About 6:30, the waves picked up and the children were really enjoying themselves. We finally drug them out of the water and headed back to Kelly's condo for showers, a quick sandwich dinner, and to pack up.

We got home right at midnight. I told Don to leave everything in the van until morning - no need to waste valuable sleep time unloading, and there was nothing that couldn't keep until morning. As Don took the puppy out to tinkle and I herded children through medicines and towards bed, I noticed several messages on the answering machine.

One was a neighbor whose house is actually behind my parents.

"Patti," she said, "we've found your turtle. He showed up at our house. I don't know if you'll be able to catch us before we leave, but he's here."

I was thrilled. I don't plan on dragging Turtle-y back to his gardenia house, but I knew his hatching grounds had to be somewhere close by since he was first found by my parents and I was hoping someone would call and report his whereabouts.

Someone has. Thank you, Heather. While we were traveling yesterday, so was our little turtle.