Fundependence Day Weekend

I have rarely celebrated Independence Day on my own, since I have only been a citizen of this country for a few years, but amazingly, I always get invited to the most hard core Independence Day celebrations by my friends. This year was no different: My dear friend Vicki and her parents Anne and Bill Boardman invited me over to their New Jersey Shore home to spend the weekend.

The house stands blocks away from a river and an ocean, its quite amazing. My first night there, the 3rd, we took a boat out and parked it in the middle of the river to watch the Red Bank fireworks from 100 feet away... on the water. It was crazy! The Red Bank fireworks are actually done by the same guys who do our fantastical NYC celebration, just the night before. It is a slightly more intimate affair as they use only one barge instead of four.

The show was incredible. We tied our boat off with two other boats whose owners the Boardmans knew and had a three boat picnic with crab dip and fried clams and hot dogs and gallons of beer. Some chose to swim, even though there were thousands of little jelly fish in the water. We sat around in the boat and watched the fireworks and their distorted reflections in the ripples of the water.

The actual 4th was spent soaking up the glorious sun on the beach. Vicki, Anne and I set up three beach chairs by the shore, slathered ourselves in sunblock and watched the sun creep across the horizon. It was hot, crazy hot. The sand was so scalding as we walked from the boardwalk, that we had to sprint from shade spot to shade spot until we found a spot to land (we were wearing shoes...). Amazingly, the water was incredibly cold, colder than that in California or Perth, but in we went, and once our bodies adjusted, it was a great break from the heat on the beach.

Vicki and I took a stroll down the beach and chatted as the waves hit our feet and soaked the bottom of my skirt. It was a lovely walk and I got a good glimpse of the "Jersey Shore" lifestyle: a couple fornicating in the water and a hard pressed suitor that ran and slid under us on the beach and got up to perform an unabridged version of "Like a Virgin" rubbing his nipples with beach sand. Quite a performance!

I have never been sailing, and this oversight was finally corrected this Monday when the Boardmans took me out on their sail boat, the Anne Marie. We got bagels and soda and prepared for an amazing sail, on somewhat limited gusts of wind. My main responsibilities included staying still, not getting in the way and properly weighing down the boat, but I got to pull a couple of ropes and change the direction of the sail and tie a knot, which I apparently did properly (to the captain's surprise!).

Sailing was amazing. I have always loved water: it is incredibly calming yet instantaneously full of life and fervor. Water can fill any container and go into any crack, but can hold its shape and seems to turn into a solid on impact, but what I really love it for is the way it moves and how it moves you. Previously, my experience with this has only been through swimming in currents and such, but seeing and feeling our four bodies propelled by wind and water on a simple craft blew my mind. Vicki would not agree, but my favorite part was when the wind caught the boat and the side I sat on tipped towards the water, a thrilling experience (softened by me being told that the boat is weighed down with lead and would not in fact flip over.)

After sailing, we feasted on shrimp and asparagus risotto, which almost didn't happen due to our chronic napping during the remainder of the day and the blackout once we did finally get our acts together. Vicki's pirate brother Billy came over and enchanted us with tales of the sea... He told us incredible, and sometimes frightening, stories of his adventures at sea. Stories of castaways, crazy shipmen, sailors incessant need to throw everything that injured them overboard and the incredible number of whales they have plowed over with their ships :(.

Vicki and I went on a hike Tuesday morning which turned into much more of an adventure than we had set out for. A 2 mile hike soon turned into a 3 hour black diamond hike during which we got lost and wandered through the entire park and ended up on the wrong parking lot and had to find our way back in 100 degree weather. As much as we pouted during the last hour, it was a great hike and a beautiful park and I feel justified in saying that I can hike when I am not being forced to run up a mountain while while being a life coach.

I had a great weekend and am very thankful for the Boardman's taking me into their home and sharing their holiday weekend with me. I don't think I have ever spent that much time with the sea.