Walburga 2001  

Because the weather was so nice, we decided to celebrate Walburga at the beach this year. We loaded up the trucks and headed down to High Island. High Island is an extremely isolated beach, requiring several miles of off road driving to reach it. The line at the Galveston Ferry was so long that we decided to hang out on the beach at Galveston, and eat dinner before heading on to our campsite. We finally got to High Island just as the sun was setting and scrambled to collect enough driftwood for our bonfire before dark.

The bonfire was truly magnificent. The driftwood was nice and dry, and there was a constant sea breeze to feed it, so the flames stayed high all night.  The blot went well, as expected. The isolation, the crashing surf only a few feet away and the roaring fire added just the atmosphere we needed to really get into the spirit of Walburga. Dæg and Laurie led the rite, and Drake supplied a few bottles of his really excellent mead for the sumble following. With camp all set, and no civilization in sight, we sumbled 'til the wee hours of the morning, and then slept in late.

Our bonfire was still burning the next morning, and after a quick breakfast we spent some time digging Drake's truck out of the sand, with some help from a friendly off-roader who fortunately had a towing cable. The rest of the Mayday morning was spent collecting seashells on the beach. We also collected several bags of trash as part of Texas' Clean Beach program. We finally broke camp just in time to avoid the rain.

Everyone agreed that we need to do more beach trips, and that we need to bring mosquito repellent next time!