Gretchen, the youngest, goes to the beach with her two brothers and sister. While her sister and brothers play in the surf, Gretchen plays in the sand until her hat flies away. Gretchen catches hold of the hat’s ribbon. Together they sail up into the clouds. Gretchen is able to swim in “the wispy wave-clouds”. A gull flies her away from a thunder storm until Gretchen sees her hat again.”With her hat as a parachute Gretchen… drifted down, down, down to the beach.” As the family picnics, Gretchen states, ” ‘ Big clouds are better than big waves.’ ”

Gretchen’s private adventure above the beach is quite fun, especially with the faraway beach shown in such great perspective down below.