well, that's one memorable way to end a vacation

Sarah and I were hoping to get a walk on the beach in Saturday morning before we headed home. We went to bed before 10pm Friday night so we would have plenty of rest. I think we both went to sleep relatively quickly and slept soundly. I know I did until about 2:30 AM when I woke up to thunder rolling and wind whistling. I listened for a minute and thought "that sounds different than the thunder and wind we've heard this week or any other time I've been at the beach." I considered checking the weather and decided I didn't need to. We checked it before we went to bed and saw there were going to be thunderstorms throughout the night. I changed my mind about pulling up the app at 2:38 when it felt like my room might be swaying a little. 

I googled where to go during a tornado watch. My room beach side of the house did not fit the description of a safe haven. Nor did the ones the rest of my family were in. I texted Sarah:

Before she had time to read it completely she was at my door saying "Yes, let's go. Now." Downstairs there was a room with a king bed, a twin over full bunk bed in a safe place so us girls piled in and covered up, hoping for a few more hours of sleep. Kourtney gave himself the task of watching the radar and positioned himself in the living room where he could easily keep watch.  It took awhile, but eventually, with the help of a sound machine, we went back to sleep. Until this time:

It wasn't wind and thunder that woke us up. It was what sounded like rocks or seashells pelting the windows at the head of our bed, on the opposite side of where the storm had been. Another check of the weather app showed that we could expect up to quarter sized hail for a bit. Kourtney came into the room and asked us to please move away from the windows. Needless to say, we didn't get any more real sleep. 

I don't think I have ever been in a storm like we had Friday night with the wind and the rain and the thunder and the lightening all at one time, then to experience a lull only to be blasted by all of that with hail added in from the opposite direction. I wouldn't be upset if it was a once in a lifetime experience. 

We are safe. Somehow our vehicles escaped damage. We saw at least half a dozen cars with front or back windshields badly cracked or completely broken out. When we went under the deck to gather up a few things we found the chairs blown every which way and the glass top of the table completely shattered.

We left our vacation spot thankful for our blessings and arrived safely at Sarah and Kourtney's about 12 hours after we started out this morning. This is was definitely a vacation we will always remember for more than one reason!