Real Estate and Reston, VA: My Second (and Third) Favorite Things to do at the Beach

I wrote a blog earlier in the week about my favorite thing to do at the beach: Reading on the Beach . But even the most book-wormish of us sometimes need to do something besides read.  So I guess my second favorite thing to do on the beach is take long walks. I could not think of how to make that into a blog that would be worth reading, so let me move on to my third favorite thing: finding Sea Glass.

We vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina in Corolla, so I can't speak for other areas, but this area is a great one to look for sea glass.

What is sea glass? It is small pieces of glass, from bottles that find their way in to the ocean (as an EcoBroker, I hate to think why there are so many pieces of glass floating around in the ocean, but there are), that have been battered about until their edges are smooth. The pieces I find here range from the size of pinkie nail to that of a small potato chip.

They are not easy to find because they blend in with all of the small shells and stones that are tossed onto shore by the sea.  The easiest color to find is green (easy to pick out since there are no naturally green stones or shells).  The hardest color  to find is brown ; it blends in with the stones and shells very well.

When my children were small, we tried making our own sea glass in a non-commercial rock tumbler. I am sure there must be a way to make your own, but that is not it! After two weeks of it pounding away in an obscure corner of the basement, our glass was still very sharp-edged.

The best way to find the sea glass is to walk along the shore and look for deposits of rocks and shells as the ocean recedes. The glass is light, so it is often pulled back in. Of course, people who see me looking for sea glass on my long walks must think I am very contemplative (or depressed) since I often walk with my head down. It becomes a little bit of an obsession.

In the 5 years or so that I have been looking for sea glass,  I have filled a frosting container about half way.  Not too much to show for my efforts.  But that makes it all the more challenging.

My kids often ask what I will do with all this sea glass.  They want me to fill up one of those empty  glass lamps. I doubt I will ever have enough for that. I suspect that one day, when long walks on the beach and bending over to pick up small objects becomes too much for me, I will fill a small basket or decorate a pretty box and remind myself of all of those lovely days hunting for sea glass on the beach!