This year marked the 2nd Annual "Girl's Trip" to the Outer Banks. Over the years, my mom and I have visited Kellie (and Shawn) there a handful of times...I would say this is at least our 5th trip. Last year we invited Sue and Gabey was in the picture, and we decided to make it a yearly thing.
The anticipation building up to our departure was delicious. Road trips, sunshine, beach, KELLIE and 5 days of nothing to do but relax was enough to make me giddy. There is something about North Carolina that gets under your skin...the Outer Banks are different than other beaches...it's less of a walk-on-the-boardwalk-and-buy-hermit-crabs-and-ride-ferris-wheels-while-fighting-throngs-of-sunburnt-families place and more of a drive-your-jeep-in-the-sand-with-your-dog-and-don't-wear-shoes-for-a-week kind of place. It's less beer-on-the-balcony and more wine-on-the-porch. The smell of the water and the salt and the sand is powerful and often untouched with the smells of other beaches--suntan lotion and boardwalk food. Less condo and more big wooden beach house. Don't get me wrong it's still a touristy place for sure...but its still a bit wild and rustic in a way.
Saturday in May...Nags Head Beach
This year seemed to be different than last. We did lots of "stuff" but there was definitely a lot more downtime. MUCH more beach time, and sadly (or not so sadly) only one morning where exercise took place. We also ate out less--only once (though we did get ice cream one afternoon and had pizza for our last night there) and did a bit more cooking (pretty sure we didn't cook at all last year.) And thankfully we had NO traffic or driving issues this year (quite an upgrade from last year's 6-hour traffic jam in Harrisburg!
The Highlights...
Boating: Shawn's family has a boat and multiple times during our trips we have been offered a ride in it. My mom isn't really a fan of boats or water in general, so we always declined. This year though, Gabey and I decided to hop on board while Mom and Sue stayed home to drink wine and clean the house (really!) (We're pretty sure Mom thought the boat ride was going to resemble "A Perfect Storm":) It was a GREAT hour or so cruising around the canals where Shawn's family lives. It was a perfect weather and Gabey loved it. He got to "drive" the boat which he thought was the best thing ever, and of course hang out with "Onkle Shawn"...
Beach: We had a total of 4 trips to the beach (if you count our walk on the Sound.) The first trip was just Sue, Gabey and I: Mom had opted to help Kellie work on her newly purchased house. It was a perfect day weather-wise: a tad bit hot but no one was complaining. Gabey would not go near the water for the first hour or so...we kept trying to convince him but he just wanted to "dig a hole!". Once we finally got him in the water, however, there was no getting him out. The second beach trip, which included all of us but Shawn, was basically 2 hours of everyone taking turns indulging in Gabey's pleas of "I go in the water? You coming too?" Sue, especially, was a sucker for his "Pleasssseeee?"
"I dig a HOLE!"
Our third and final beach trip included Uncle Shawn. I am pretty sure this hour or so spent at the beach was the highlight of G3's trip (maybe his year even.) Unlike the rest of us, Shawn was willing to indulge in the cold and semi-rough waves with G3 the entire time we were there. It was definitely a bit chillier this day, and less sunshine was out (which was good since Mom, Kel and I were all sunburnt.) Shawn also brought his boogie board, and after one wipeout G3 figured out how to hold on and ride like a pro. He was SO happy.
Check out the post-wipeout hairdo...
Onkle SHAWWWNNNNN
Gravedigger: For those of you who are educated in the monster truck world...the OBX is home to the Gravedigger (I think one of the first monster trucks????) Anyhow, for my little monster-truck loving (obsessed) toddler, a trip there was a must. It was a weird place: consisted of a store, a diner, various Gravediggers parked around the property, a random Fanta monster truck, and a farm of goats and chickens in the middle. There were lots of employees hanging out (even though we were practically the only patrons) and a random dog. Still, Gabey liked it (though he seemed more thrilled with the tiny truck we bought him than anything else) and now Sue, Mom and I can cross "met Gravedigger" off our bucket lists.
Wineries, Farm Markets, and Shopping: On the same day we saw the Gravedigger (the only cool and cloudy day of our trip) we also hit up a few random places on the way back. There is an entire little town called "Grandy" (which is funny b/c that's G3's name for Grandad) so we stopped there at Grandy's Greenhouse and Farmer's Market. We then hit Native Vine Wineries (are you really surprised that the 3 of us would hit a winery on our first day of vacation?) Gabey was so good there, and of course something like 11 bottles of wine were purchased, including the elusive Justin wine!
Wine Tasting!
Other Events...
* Wright Brother's Memorial...a touristy spot that we've never checked out before...it was a bit of a snore but G3 got to fly a kite in the same field that Oriville and Wilbur first took flight...and he did a pretty good job of it too with a little help from Uncle Shawn and Aunt CeeCee.
* G3 has an obnoxious new habit of like...beat-boxing? Making a series of noises and beats with his tongue and mouth...its annoying at best, make you want to pull your hair out at worst. Even the winery guy was like "Is he beat-boxing?" Ironically, the habit seems to have stopped since returning home...
* G3 almost slept in a bed...upon arriving at our house, we checked out all the bedrooms and one of them was clearly for a large herd of children to nest in...several bunk and trundle beds. G3 immediately leapt into one and announced "I wanna SLEEP!" We thought for sure he would spend the night there, since he was so excited but after about 10 minutes it was clear he had no intentions of staying in bed, and the pack n play was reinstated.
* Our House...Kellie's boss and his wife have a philanthropical organization to help families of children with terminal illnesses--basically they bought a beach house and it will be used by said families to take a vacation to the beach. They were kind enough to offer us the house for the week, and it really was a beautiful place: multiple bedrooms and bathrooms (Mom's "master suite" especially was to die for), a large kitchen and living area, a widow's walk, great front porch, REALLY great screened in back porch, deck, etc. I don't have a website for their organization, but I'll post it when I get it.
Overall a great vacation. I didn't keep a journal like I usually do, so these are just a few snippets. It is worth noting that unlike last year, I did not come home to a trashed house full of dog diahrea and a husband who had reverted to a savage neanderthal. Gabe did a great job this year taking care of my animals and my home, and it was VERY VERY VERY NICE to return and not walk into something that looked like a frat house. Thank you Gabe!!! I think he must have missed us...
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