Stormy Start, Glorious End

Got the dogs out at 8 am, the sun was up, no wind, it was a beautiful start…but just 90 minutes later we hear thunder off in the distance.  This shot is out of the window of the slide pointed the same direction as if we were driving.  That does not look good. 

Start to hear pitter-patter on the roof, and this shot is out our main entrance door…looking a bit like a rainy day.

This one here is a panoramic which shows it stretches way out into the ocean.  Weather radar shows that the storm is out in the pacific, and we are just going to get the tail as it snaps through the coast line. Should not be a problem.  Little after I sit down and KABOOM!   A huge lightening bolt and thunder blast.  You can hear the panic of those in tents…car doors slam, cars start up and out they go.  Not packed up to leave, just getting in the car and leaving until it blows through.

The waves are kicking up, everyone is off the beach…an hour later, it is gone, over, kaput. 

I go out on the beach later with our neighbors and we sit and watch the waves…Tino tries to fish but has no luck.  There are three dead Seagulls, two about eight feet from each other, the other one about twenty-five feet away from the other two.  Gill and Tino wonder what happened…and I say, “They must have got hit by, or were affected by, the lightening.  They (Tino and Gil) were gone during the morning storm, but others came by who were here and we all decided that it had to be the lightening because there wasn’t a dead bird anywhere else in sight, and no one had seen dead birds yesterday or the day before.

LOOK DAVE, I HEARD THAT THUNDER JUST A SHORT TIME AGO, NOW YOU HAVE ME OUT HERE SITTING ON THIS HIGH TABLE!  ARE YOU CRAZY??  IT’S SKRUFFY THAT LIKES TO HAVE HER PICTURES TAKEN, I LIKE TO LAY DOWN ON ARNY’S GARAGE FLOOR AND GET ALL DIRTY.  GOT IT????

Later, as Marcia is preparing dinner, I look out and see what looks like rays shinning down onto the water…hard to capture with the camera, but I got some of it.

The anticipation was high throughout the park that tonight’s sunset would be better than the fantastic one we saw last night.

People were walking their dogs…

People had their cameras out, and this lady in the lower left had a tripod set up and she was snapping shots left and right.

It definitely got couples out…even Marcia came out (on her GoGo) and we enjoyed a time around the fire with our neighbors watching the sun go down.

It was not as good as last night…some say the one last night was a “once in a lifetime sunset”, but I don’t believe them…for them, it might be their best one, but I hope to see one as good, if not better, if I keep looking.

Each and every sunset is different from the other sunsets.  They are a wonderful sight to behold…and they are over before you know it.

Nope, this was not as “great” (as everyone around was saying) as last nights sunset…but it was still a great sunset…I think any sunset you can see over the water, or over a long stretch of land, or even in the mountains as long a mountain does not obscure the view too early…all of these are great sunsets.  Another day is over…another day to look forward tomorrow when the sun appears again...and another sunset to anticipate and to enjoy.