The Austrian born American journalist Henry Grunwald said:

“A beach is not only a sweep of sand, but shells of sea creatures, the sea glass, the seaweed, the incongruous objects washed up by the ocean.”

This was the day I had been waiting for!  We were finally at Sanibel Island and this picture was the very first time my baby set foot on a seashore.  I remember her lifting up her little feet and looking at them, not ever having felt the sensation of the silky shift of sand.  Then when the gentle white foam of the waves tickled her tiny toes she shrieked with delight.  I deliberately chose this place as it was special.  The beach was an embarrassment of riches.  Everything in the foreground was all shells.  It took several feet of walking on them (which I absolutely cringed doing) to get to the sand.  When my husband realized this was a serious shell hunter’s paradise he abandoned his moue of distaste; happily joining in my quest to acquire shells.  Of course we would never take anything living and I discovered it was actually a type of fossil hunting.  I got so immersed I only stopped when I felt my arms start to sting.  That stinging would prove to be a WICKED sunburn.  So we left with our treasures from the sea and went in search of lunch.  We drove on to Captiva Island and ate at the world famous Bubble Room.  The outside was painted with every imaginable color and the inside had even more character.  Each meandering room contained wall to wall toys from the 1930’s and ’40’s, Hollywood memorabilia, trains running on all three floors, an actual Tunnel of Love booth, an old trolley car booth, plus my favorite, a room with fish tanks built in the walls made to look like a submarine.  And of course, there were bubble lamps.  On the way back we stopped at a fun store called “She Sells Sea Shells.”  We had a captivating time on Captiva Island and, just as I’d hoped, on Sanibel we began the creation of lifelong memories at the beach collecting seashells.