47 miles per hour.  That was the maximum recorded wind gust that morning.  It felt like a tornado.  The sand pelted you like hail, finding it's way into every space it could.  The cameras were coated.  And yet, it was too beautiful to leave.

If you're going through hell, keep going. - Winston Churchill

As the sun light filled the sky, it bounced off the windows of the beautiful Oregon Inlet Lifesaving Station.  This building has to be one of the most beautifully placed buildings that I have ever seen.  And yet, it sits vacant and vandalized, weathering the constant elements that Mother Nature throws at it.

To me, there's something extra special about a crescent moon hanging low at sunrise.  The beach at this spot is a trek.  You cross through high dunes to reach the Atlantic at the mouth of the Oregon Inlet.  The wind made it seem almost Mars like.

My dear friend Nadeen Flynn, and founder of the Serenity Project, came to visit all the way from California.  She grabbed this shot of me while the sand was whipping all around.