Where I live, our winters are more like summers. Very rarely does one find the need for a jacket or even long sleeves in the winter months, so we have adopted the name “Swinter”. You’ll probably see this name in far too many Instagram captions than you’d like to, but all is fair in the name of winter break.

On one of my amazing winter break days, my friend Sara and I decided to spend the day at the beach. We woke up relatively early considering we were on break…so not really that early, and we packed our bags. Sara had the drinks and I grabbed the food and my volleyball. Then we set off.

Our favorite end of the beach was shut down as a result of an event going on, but we found a perfect spot with shade and volleyball nets. We played volleyball for a while but it’s sort of hard to play volleyball with one out of control mediocre person (hint hint it’s me) and a huge net. Plus the sun was beating down on us and we were sweating like crazy so we found the perfect shady spot under some palm trees.

Not soon after we set up our towels and turned on our Disney music to chill out to, a family of cigar smokers came to sit upwind from us. The wind was blowing and we couldn’t breathe anything but their smoke. No matter how much fake coughing or dirty looks we gave, those people wouldn’t move an inch down the miles long beach. We chilled in the shade for a while but we soon got tired of breathing in secondhand smoke and decided to go on a little adventure. One of Sara’s favorite places to eat was just up the road from where we were so after Google Mapping it and figuring out the path, we packed up our stuff and set off to the restaurant.

The walk to the restaurant was a fun one. We talked and listened to music. We enjoyed the winter sun and the heat. Above is a Snapchat of me that Sara took to pass the time. The trek included walking up a huge bridge with boats underneath and if you looked out you could see the sea. The walk was 3 miles long which felt like nothing to us cross country runners but the sun beating down left us slightly sweating when we reached the restaurant. I had never been to this restaurant but I was definitely impressed. The look was very modern and the food was delicious. I absolutely loved it. Sara and I had a grilled cheese called “The Best of Both Worlds.” It included a grilled cheese with smoked brisket, barbecue sauce, and mac n cheese inside. It came with a small cup of tomato soup. They even gave us a small cookie. We also had huge lemonades with frozen raspberries that turned your lemonade into pink lemonade as they melted.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I don’t feel like describing everything so… enjoy all these photos of food and don’t get too hungry. 🙂

It’s almost time to go back to school and I’m so not ready to leave these swinter days. Sure the walk was hot and somewhat far, but being with friends made it all worth it. I know this sounds cheesy (haha cuz of mac ‘n CHEESE, okay I’ll stop), but remember to take time to do things with others and don’t be afraid to be a little spontaneous sometimes. Unplanned adventures can have amazing outcomes. 🙂

Kasual kook xx