Moon Picnic

I am now officially on summer vacation for the next two months.  Which, not to rub it in, is pretty damn fantastic!

Last night there was a super moon.  I'm not sure what that means exactly other than the moon looks bigger and brighter than usual.  I'm sure it has something to do with the planet's rotation, but I'm not sure since I was hungover through most of my astronomy course in college.  Also?  Too much math for me to pay attention.

All I know is that the thought of a big, bright moon hanging low in the sky on a warm summer evening sounded perfectly magical.  In my head, I planned a picnic on the beach.  We'd watch the sunset, eat some gourmet food, let Madeline dance in the surf, and gaze at the moon as it rose over the ocean.  

Yet, my plans for a gourmet picnic quickly went out the window.  It was too damn hot to cook, chop, or dice anything in our non-air conditioned kitchen yesterday afternoon.  Instead, I decided we'd pick up some seafood at the beach, and then still enjoy the sunset, waves, and moon afterward.  

Brown's Lobster Pound can get pretty crazy during the summer, so we were skeptical over our chances of eating there.  However, we lucked out.  There were plenty of tables, and the line was manageable.  We tried to get Madeline to eat some sea creatures with us, but she wasn't interested in the least.  She did, however, eat a hot dog and most of my tarter sauce.  Silly girl.

In my original plan for our moon picnic, I thought we'd go to a quiet, peaceful state beach, but after dinner, I was craving some fudge.  Taking the small crowds at Brown's as a good sign, I decided heading toward the busy Hampton Beach boardwalk after dinner wouldn't be too bad.  After all, it was a Sunday night, and summer vacation has barely begun.

Ha.  Ha-ha.  You're a stupid girl, Summer.

Between the restaurant and the beach, a distance of what is maybe five miles, we sat in traffic for two hours.  

We would have left, but the traffic leaving the beach was just as bad.  We were stuck in a virtual parking lot of cigarette-smoking teenagers, men with hairy backs, women in tiny bikinis, and body parts I didn't know could be pierced.  I know that makes me sound snobby, but if you're familiar with Hampton Beach, you can picture the scene.

As time slogged by, the hope of seeing the sunset quickly vanished.  Not only were we not going to reach the beach in time, but there were also storm clouds ahead.  We could see lightning flash in the distance.  Maybe seeing the moon was out of the question as well.

"I'm sorry.  This was a bad idea," I said sheepishly.
"No, it wasn't," Eric kindly offered back.  "It was a very nice idea..."  

By the time we reached the boardwalk, the sun had set, the casino lights were flashing, and we felt wildly out of place amongst the hoards of young people looking for a fun night out.

Yet, once we got out of the car, it didn't seem so bad.  Madeline kept looking at the airbrushed, neon t-shirts lining the boardwalk and sighing, "Oh, so beautiful!"  We marveled at the sandcastle sculptures.   We sat and listened to a concert band for a few minutes.  A cool breeze blew through, but no rain.  We got ice cream, and...the clouds parted long enough for us to see the moon.  Our mission had been accomplished...sort of.

We were feeling pretty happy when we got back in our car to head home.  The traffic leaving the beach had vanished, and our previous two-hour ride, took us about five minutes.

Sadly, the highway was under construction in two different areas on the way home.  That tacked on another couple of hours to our trip.  By the time we pulled in our driveway, it was after 11 pm, Madeline was passed out in the back seat, Eric was grumpy from the traffic, and my gas light had come on.

"This was a bad idea," Eric said.
I nodded.  "Yes, it was."

Luckily for me, I got to sleep in this morning.  Unluckily for Eric?  He still has a week of school left.  Womp.  Womp.  So much for romantic moon picnics.

For next year's super moon, maybe we'll just set up lawn chairs in our yard.