In my mind I'm gone to Carolina

A few weekends ago, Dave and I took a trip to the beach.  Just a few days, but it was enough to shake the dust of this crummy town off my feet and relax...

You couldn't tell how excited we were to get to the beach at the rate we were going on Thursday.  We both slept in and hadn't packed a thing.  Very unusual for me - usually I have a spreadsheet printed with lists of outfits (including jewelry) and toiletry items, along with electronics and extra stuff like towels and beach chairs.  My OCD must have taken a vacation too, I guess.

We also had lunch and took a trip to the Apple store on the way out of town.  I love my iPad, but I can't stand typing anything longer than a brief email, even with the stylus.  Since I was taking the iPad to the beach instead of the laptop, and I knew I'd be blogging/emailing/surfing the web while we were there, I wanted a wireless keyboard.  The one we got is pretty freaking awesome:

It's about the same size as the iPad so it travels well.  No cords - just batteries and a power button.  It automatically connected to the iPad via bluetooth - sweet!  I also picked up this charger/stand where I can charge both my phone and iPad at the same time!

Once I had my gadgets we were off!  The trip there was pretty uneventful until Dave asked me how far into South Carolina we were going.  Um, what?  When we stopped at Southland (always a good bathroom/fudge/BBQ break), he thought we were on the border of NC/SC.  Way to go, Dave.  Way to use your thinking cap.  Who can get to South Carolina in 2 hours?  Not even me.

We decided to take a drive down 158 all the way to the bridge to Roanoke Island just to see what had changed before committing to a dinner spot.  Just as we thought, everything was still there, and there's a Sweet Frog on the way!  Score!

Since we were already so far south and it was already 8pm, we stopped at Miller's Waterfont Restaurant for dinner.  We try to visit this restaurant for dinner on every beach trip - the food is meh, the service is great, but the view is awesome!  It's on the sound side and their sunset view can't be beat, in my opinion.  See?

After dinner we checked in at the hotel and went to bed.

Saturday morning we slept in and ventured out for lunch.  Dirty Dick's was the choice - they moved south a ways, but we found them and it was worth the drive!

They had dessert shooters, so we each got one - they were so good!  And just the right size to satisfy the sweet tooth...

After lunch we went to Kitty Hawk Kites - another staple on our beach trips.  This place just makes me happy!  There are kites and flags and windsocks hanging from the rafters with air blowing on them to make them move.  It's so colorful and fun!  They have a ton of games and gadgets to play with and great First Flight souvenirs....

They had a good selection of typography, which seems to be all the rage these days - my favorite one is "Today I will be happier than a bird with a french fry."  Ha!

Love it!

Time for some lounging at the pool!  We laid out for a while and then decided to get in the water halfway and read.  It's a nerdy thing we've started doing.  Best of both worlds, right?  Relax and read a book by the pool and enjoy the water?  Yes please.  I pinky swore Maureen and Carrie on my NYC trip that I'd read Harry Potter this summer since I'm clueless, so this is me honoring my pinky swear:

After a few hours at the pool, we cleaned up and went to dinner at Sam & Omie's.  This a recommendation from people at work who frequent the area and it did not disappoint!  I know it's hard to mess up a cheeseburger, but it was very tasty and the place is very cute.

Then it was time for putt-putt!  We usually go to Professor Hacker's Lost Treasure Golf - you take a train up a mountain to start your course, and then work your way back down to the 18th hole.  It's a challenging course for putt-putt!

Dave tries to say he always beats me, but he's so wrong!  This time I'm publishing proof that I won!  I even let him keep score so he couldn't say I won by cheating!  :)

After a quick treat at the Dairy Queen right by our hotel, we called it a night.

The next morning - I use morning loosely since we slept in...again - we had brunch at Grits Grill, another recommendation from co-workers.  It was awesome!  Almost beats Brick House, but not quite!

photo from here

After brunch we headed to Roanoke Island to find the Lost Colony.  We drove through the Manteo waterfront to Festival Park, where you can tour the Lost Colony's settlement and ship.

It's pretty much like Jamestown, except something happened to the people who settled here - they hype it up to be some huge mystery, like no one knows what happened to them.  But when I asked the tour guide on the ship how they became 'lost,' he said that John White, the father of the first English child born in the New World (Virginia Dare), went back to England after the settlement was established to get supplies.  When he returned, later than expected, the settlers were gone.  They left a note on a tree telling him where they went, but he got sick and yadda yadda and he never bothered to go where the note said they were.

So they weren't really lost, were they?  They knew where they were, they left a note, but he was too bothered to meet up with them.  The whole thing's a sham.  So there.

We hung out in the museum at the settlement for a while to cool off and then headed back into Manteo to visit the shops.  This is the cutest little town!  It's like a little fishing village and is so quaint!

We went back to the hotel for more pool time, where this was my view:

I didn't get much reading done, with the diving competition that was going on...

When that fun was over we went to JK's for a fancy dinner. :)  When we went to Nags Head with the Millers, Bonnie spotted this place because the sign advertised steaks, so she knew there would be less fishy-smelling food there!  She picked a winner - this place is so amazing!

After dinner we spent some time at our favorite shore store/Exxon station.  It's right by the hotel and they have the most random collection of items - Life is Good, fine wines/sauces/marinades, boogey boards, Vera Bradley, sex wax, and hermit crabs.  I'm not sure why we're so drawn to it, but it's tradition now, and you don't monkey with tradition!

photo from here

Sad.  That's the end of the weekend. :(

If you're thinking I left out the hanging out on the beach part, nope.  I didn't set foot on the beach.  It wasn't on purpose, just ran out of time.  We should have hung out at the pool one afternoon and the beach the other, but it didn't happen that way.  There's always next time.  ;)