We decided to drive over to Pensacola to check out the beaches there. So far we haven't seen any oil or tarballs off our pier. I pray that we never do.
As we drove through the toll booth David asked the worker where we should go to see the oil. Her response was good luck finding a place without any oil.
After we parked and headed to the beach, I noticed this sign.
Then we noticed workers cleaning up splotches of tarballs that had been tracked onto the boardwalk.
Then I walked on the sand and saw these tarballs. I purposely left my foot in the picture for a frame of reference. We were told that the beaches had already been cleaned early that morning. This is what was either left behind from the cleanup crews or new tarballs.
The water still looked pretty in spite of some tarballs floating around. They were hard to spot though. I was surprised by how diligent the lifeguards were. They blew their whistles anytime anyone got in or too close to the water.
We parked our stuff well away from the infected areas so Grace could play in the sand. Actually we were closer to the parking lot than we were to the water, but we'd rather be safe than sorry. Who knows the longterm effects of coming in contact with the oil...
Grace had a great time playing in the sand. I forgot to pack her sandtoys so David cut one of our empty water bottles in half and gave her both pieces to play with. Why buy expensive toys, right?
She filled that little bottle up with sand over and over again.
And she got a real kick out of pouring the sand into David's sandals.
She played and played with that bottle and David's shoes.
After a while she decided to roll around in the sand a bit.
She got good and covered with sand.
She even managed to get sand all over her face. Why oh why do kids like the sand so much? I just can't figure it out. Needless to say she got a good scrubbing once we finally got home.
It was very interesting seeing the patches of tarballs on the sand, but it was somewhat distressing at the same time. How much longer will our beautiful beaches be marred like this? I am really glad that we didn't see any animals covered in oil. Before Seth came to visit, he stayed in Gulf Shores with his friend Daniel and Daniel's family for a few days. While there Seth and Daniel found a seagull covered in oil that couldn't fly. My heart would have broken if I had seen that. They did manage to clean it up and turn it over to wildlife services. I'll be so glad once the oil spill is finally contained but I have a feeling that it will be a long, long time before that actually happens...
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