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Saturday, May 6th, 2006 09:46 pm
Dodged a line of thunderstorms on the way in. Rob has impressive weather tracking capability in the air. There was a massive line of nasty cells between where we were and where we needed to be, and we got here anyway, and we didn't do anything dangerous.

I am now on Galveston Island, Texas, possibly one of the odder places I have ever been. The breakers rolling in from the Gulf are beautiful. The deep red sunset behind the cumulus was beautiful. I do not know why I didn't expect the humidity: because I am a moron? Anyway, it's humid. And warm. I'm sitting around in a lightweight rain jacket because I ate a chocolate-covered ice cream bar in the warm air, with predictable results, and oops had to wash my shirt in the sink.

Some of the streets here are narrow enough that two cars can't pass. Unlike sane places such as Scotland, there aren't pullouts; each vehicle just puts a couple of wheels on the edge of someone's lawn.

Architecture here is weirder than we predicted. 1) It is illegal to set foot on the dunes, so every house by the beach has its own cute little boardwalk and all beach access points have their cute little boardwalks. Please don't ask me how they're constructed if no one can set foot on the dunes. 2) Air conditioners stuck into the sides of seventeen-foot-stilted houses get their OWN little seventeen-foot-stilted platforms to SIT on. It is the most hilarious thing I've seen all day, and this is coming from a woman who has seen those boardwalks.

Google Maps gets negative points for telling us the Sea Isle Grocery Mart was about five miles west of its actual location. We almost paid the toll to get off the island westbound ("WARNING: THIS DIRECTION IS NOT A HURRICANE EVACUATION ROUTE") looking for the darn thing. I want a picture of the sign saying THIS DIRECTION IS NOT A HURRICANE EVACUATION ROUTE.

If I can even think about my current Life Ick by tomorrow, I will be pretty surprised.
Sunday, May 7th, 2006 09:08 am (UTC)
Maybe the movie bidness has some sort of contract that gives them the right to footprint-free dunes for pictures. Or maybe it was a stipulation of some contract. I do imagine that what with equal protection under the law, if anyone can walk on the dunes, anyone can walk on them, and I'm sure a lot of people would want to, which would mean that no matter what laws you pass, _somebody_ will make a mess of the beach.

The sand might also be unstable or have quicksand in it; one swallowed two-year-old would be _really_ bad publicity. People walking on the beach might hasten eroding it away. People walking on the beach may also necessitate lifeguards, because _somebody_ _will_ go in the water and drown, and this is the Land of Litigation.