For Spring Break, I spent my time on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, with warm sun and open coastline as far as the eye could see down the coast of Ormond Beach, Florida.

Hearty pines and oaks have been replaced by palm trees in this landscape, and rosemallow shrubs with large red blooms line the pathways, rather than the beech and birch buds that sit along the trail back in Burlington.

Tracking has transitioned from small mammals and birds to that of human footprints in the sand. One can see the trail of tracks just above the water all the way along the beach. The small tracks of sand crabs are scattered intermittently in the drier sands, near their cavernous holes turned into homes.

Along the edge of the shore, seagulls, pelicans and sandpipers make their way up and down the beach– in search of food. The sandpipers move in large groups with the flow of the waves as they crash on the shore, digging their beaks deep into the wet sand for small shells and other forms of substance. Seagulls and pelicans dive for small silver fish out past the breaking waves, desperately trying to beat the fishermen to the day’s best catch.

Although this landscape is drastically different than that of Burlington and Centennial Woods in the midst of March, there are signs of life all around in both areas– although my time spent here in the sunshine has left me hesitant to return back to the bitter Vermont cold.