Home-style Vacation in Emerald Isle, NC!

After eight or so years of coming to this place for vacation, it feels, in a way, like coming home. My sister Anne and her husband John rent a beach house every August in this beautiful corner of Emerald Isle, part of the southernmost tip of North Carolina's Outer Banks (EI, OBX!). I am very grateful to join them each year. Typically, I fly but this year decided to brave the highways and drive. What I expected to be a 12-to-13 hour road trip was actually 16 hours. Fortunately, I had stopped at the library the day before and picked up audio books for the trip: Tina Fey's "Bossy Pants" and Steve Martin's "Born Standing Up." These books kept me company for the long haul, and since they were both narrated by the authors, I felt like I had very good company almost the whole way.  (Both, by the way, are excellent books!) I have two more books for the drive home, but I won't let my mind advance forward to leaving here. It's just too magical a week, too special a place, to even consider leaving!

We don't leave this house or beach, it seems, except to buy groceries with the exception that John takes a long bike ride every morning. We settle in and enjoy this house (so beautiful) and the beach. We have, over the years, created a routine of sleepy mornings, late breakfasts, packing lunches for the beach where we spend a few hours, coming back to the pool, starting dinner, happy hour, and then a long, leisurely dinner around the table for hours. That's followed by nights outside on the deck and playing games. We haven't even turned on the TV so if something big is going on in the world, I don't know about it! You know how when times get tough and you mentally want to go "to your happy place?" ...this IS my happy place, and I AM here!

On my facebook page, my friend Sibyl instructs me to have a good time and, affectionately, to "stop being so damned productive!" OK, Sibyl, you got it. Accordingly, I'll cut it off here but first I'll share a few photos, after which I'm taking a walk on the beach (with my camera, of course!). It's an overcast, misty morning but it's an overcast misty morning by the ocean!

I got a little color!

Nightfall on Emerald Isle, NC

Ben and his girlfriend Megan, and bruschetta!

Roasted veggies - so delish!

Thanks for reading, and I'll post again very soon!  Have a great Wednesday, everyone!