C-101 C-Sculptures, North Padre Island, TX, 6/8/96

It was somewhere around 2 A.M. -- I'd been shoveling sand for a full two hours and was standing atop an already-sizable mound -- when a truckload of local yahoos cruising by impressed me with their cluelessness by hollering the traditional spring break mantra at an old lady like me. Moments later, the two sculptors building directly adjacent to me were pelted with iceballs the size of my fist.

Welcome to guerilla sandcastling. Dangerous work, but someone has to do it. I wasn't scared - heck, I've built in the thick of no fewer than 8 spring breaks on SPI.

Is starting a sandcastle contest at midnight a good idea? Yes and no. It is certainly a great time to shovel ...and the moon rising over the Gulf was truly inspirational. But most of the 90,000 people they say came to this event did not come to build. At C-Sculptures, bikinis rule and the sculptors are not allowed to forget it. It's a monster beach party - totally out of control...

In other words, my kind of event!

I had great fun - special thanks to my "support team" of Mike Ellis, Dee McElroy -and my competitors Chip and Alberto who were really nice in letting me use their portapotty, etc.and defending my piece long after the contest ended -- and to all the nice folks on NPI who made me feel so welcome (and so hung-over the next morning.)