You know the saying: While the cat’s away, the mice will play! Well, the cat is away this weekend. My wife is with her best friend in New York, so I’m left this weekend to my own imagination. I just didn’t feel like I wanted to stay home this weekend, so, I planned a small (200 mile) excursion. I decided to go to the beach of all places. I need to get a life! 
We’ve been living in North Carolina now for 3 years and have yet to go to a North Carolina beach. Every since my wife discovered Seabrook Island, SC, it’s been our only destination for the beach. She’s pretty sold on Seabrook. So, since I never get to see much north of there, I decided to go on a mission to see Carolina Beach for myself, low budget style. Naturally, I offered to take Tony with me, but he declined and preferred to spend the night over a friend’s house, which was fine by me.
So, I was on my own. I booked a room at the Sleep Inn for the night, and took off about 2:00 in the afternoon. Some 3 1/2 hours later, I was in Wilmington. After I arrived, I checked in and headed for Carolina Beach, some 17 miles from my hotel. There’s another beach, Wrightsville Beach, that was closer, but I decided to go to Carolina Beach first.
I got to the beach around 6:30, just in time to see the umbrella guy coming around and collecting his umbrella. Not much shade needed now! I went for a walk along the beach and saw the usual signs of summer: people tanning, kids building sand castles, kids playing in the water, and of course, adults playing in the water. Just a normal day at the beach. I even saw a young man trying to catch a few tasty waves. The water was a little rough, so fairly decent for surfing.
Naturally, I met someone to talk to. A lady approached me, asked what I was taking pictures of, and we talked. I had to go back to my parking lot twice to put money in. I had only placed in one dollar, and it was a dollar an hour. We talked for about 2.5 hours. She invited me to sit on her beach bench with her. Her name was Debbie and she did ministry to surfers! Interesting. Anyway, we talked about all manner of things: Art, people, real estate, beaches, etc. See told me that she was staying at a on old fashioned bording house called Wanda’s. Wanda was way old school and only charged people $169 week (tax included) to stay at her house!!! She’s practically on the beach! I’m paying $129.00/night at this hotel!
Anyway, Debbie and I talked until it got to dark to see and then we parted company. It was a nice conversation. I can ALWAYS find someone to talk to! Near the end, I went and got my tripod and took pictures while we talked.
There’s more to tell about today, but if I tell you everything, why would you need to come back tomorrow? 
Sunday’s adventure: I plan to awaken at 5-ish, had to the beach for the sunrise, then head up town to the historic district, take some pictures, then check out of the hotel before 11:00 M, and then back to Charlotte I go! More pictures to follow during the week!
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4 Responses to “While the cat’s away …”
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The beach and the sea… Even if you’re there for only a couple of hours, it always clears your head. I enjoy that so much!
From a photographic perspective, sandy beach always make me a bit nervous. Ever tried to change lenses on a really windy day? Brr… Our rocky shores up here in Sweden makes that one a bit easier…
Oh, I’ll be back tomorrow!! Looks like it was a BEAUTIFUL evening!!
I am inspired…have been talking about making trip to Cape Cod for ages and ages. It won’t happen this summer, but I think I will plan for weekend in September after the summer crowds have left.
Quintessential summer at the beach moments here. Wonderful.
We had been regular vacationers to the Outer Banks in North Carolina when the kids were young. We always stayed in the same rental unit in Duck which is fairly North on the Outer Banks. We’ve been all the way to Cape Hatteras to Corolla and everywhere in between. Of course I just had to climb every lighthouse on the Outer Banks as well.
The Outer Banks is/or at least was a beautiful area well worth exploring. Although over the years I did notice a disturbing increase in development in the area which I suppose while great for the economy does change the flavor of the area and the appeal it had for us as a somewhat unspoiled, laid back, nearly pristine, almost paradise, vacation spot, to just another shore resort area not so unlike what you can find in NJ. Kind of like a very large version of Long Beach Island. Now don’t get me wrong I love LBI, but it’s always been a fairly crowded and developed area as far back as I can remember so I was always used to that.
I haven’t been back to the Outer Banks in oh probably 10 years, maybe more. I wonder how much more has changed?
One thing I always do when I vacation is to go to a local bookstore and buy some books on local folklore and legends and at shore areas you can always find books about local shipwrecks and ghost stories. I find that it makes the vacation more interesting for me. Of course striking up conversations with local residents and long time visitors makes it more interesting as well.