Morning Glory.

Today has been one of those days where Travis Tritt's "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" just keeps playing over and over in my mind. (If you're not a country fan, think of some other song that speaks to the magic of finding joy in the simple pleasures of life, despite the rough spots that will always be there.) Of course, it's still early in the day and lots can happen, but there's something to be said (and posted) about a morning where you wake up and start thinking right away about the fact that life is not perfect and it's not going to be today, but yet are able to embrace the happy energy that comes from the little things: a hot cup of locally roasted coffee, a bowl of cereal you haven't had in years, a light, salty-scented breeze while walking the dogs, and a great (albeit toasty) trail run along the water.

We all know by now that if I could spend every waking moment within sight of a body of water, I would be one extremely happy girl. Brad Paisley's song "Water" is my life theme song. So, it should be no surprise that I decided to abandon my typical 3-mile run around our neighborhood this morning so that I could finally check out the McQueen's Island Historic Trail. It's only a hop, skip, and a jump away from our house (less than five minutes) and I've been meaning to make my way over there for some time now. It did not disappoint and will likely become my new running spot of choice when I have the time to actually go somewhere for a run, rather than just running around my neighborhood. The crushed gravel surface is a lot more gentle on the body than road surface and the view cannot be beat. The trail is located on a very narrow strip of land (i.e. McQueen's Island) between the river and marsh. By very narrow I mean not much wider than the trail itself! The trail runs six miles in length from the west just over Bull River bridge to the east at the entrance to Ft. Pulaski, about 3/4 of the way out to Tybee. I saw lots of animals on my run (and heard lots of other not-so-interesting-and-more-like-scary ones rumbling around in the thick marsh grass as I passed), including a plethora of birds (if I knew anything about birds, I would tell you which ones), fish, butterflies, something that looked from a distance sort of like a raccoon (but I can't be certain since I immediately ran away from it), and, of course, tons and tons of tiny crabs. They are all over the path and scatter just before you smoosh them. There were a few smooshed ones, as well, that apparently didn't have a quick enough reaction time to escape from runners before me.