Lewes, De -- Summer of 1976 Part 3 -- Sunburn

In the summer of 1976 we spent two weeks at a rented summer house in Lewes. We were a block from the bay and enjoyed a lot of time in the water. Mom and dad bought Chris and I these rafts. They were just long enough for our body to fit on top and our legs could hang over into the water. We spent hours and hours floating around paddling with our arms. We both got really badly sunburned on our backs and backs of our legs. Our fronts and faces were fine, it was the worst thing because we could not site or lay on our backs. Chris always had more fair skin than me and he burned much worse. He earned a trip to the emergency room. We both blistered but Chris was much worse. During the time we were down we mostly hung out in the beach house and watched tv and I even read some books. It really sucked.  After about 4 days it was mostly better and we were able to resume our beach activities. I don't think that sunscreen was widely available back then. I never really recall seeing or hearing about it until the 1980s.