As we here in Florida have to make the difficult decisions about whether or not to put a tank top over our bathing suits when we go for a walk or whether SPF 50 is sufficient protection when the UV level is a moderate 4, I’m reading about the blowing ice, freezing rain and accumulating snow around the country.
Why, then, did I have the beach near the St. Augustine Beach Pier almost completely to myself this morning? Save for one man, who apparently opted for no shirt and no sunblock (and who would have been better with both), I wandered from the dunes to the waves alone.
Locals tell me that the firstSnow Birds of the season are usually spotted just after Thanksgiving. They keep to themselves at first – especially when four or five of the most popular bars/restaurants on the Island (Anastasia Island – the barrier island off the coast of St. Augustine) close from the second week in December until the day after Christmas.
Once the dining resumes at these places, the visitors will take to the beaches and bars in full force.
Snow Birds, they tell me, are escaping the frigid weather to the north of us. Still, while the temperatures are still warm, they remain indoors. When the thermometer dips below 50, however, they flock to the shore and splash in the water that more reasonable people know to avoid because hypothermia would be the obvious result of such activity.
When we Floridians bundle up in down jackets and knitted beanies, they strut along the streets in pink t-shirts emblazoned with their location, shorts and flip flops. They pose for photos in the water that are messaged home to friends and families. They crowd around hotel and condo pools in tiny bikinis (some of them should have shed such a practice decades ago, but they continue it in the privacy of our Winter Wonderland).
I was, of course, glad to have the sand all to myself as I walked this morning. It’s peaceful on the shore with no one blasting a radio or screaming to their partner to come look at the jellyfish that washed ashore. But, in some way, I look forward to the day when they awake from their hibernation to take to the streets and beaches again.
You see, when they come out, they spend the money they have saved all year for their winter stay with our local merchants. For this, we love them.
Along The Way This Morning 