We packed up and said goodbye to Clayton for a week of fun and sun (we hope!) at the beach. Ms. Pat rents a nice-sized beach house at Ocean Isle that is approximately fifty meters from the ocean (there is a row of houses across the street that will eventually be washed away and make the house a beachfront house!). She’s even kinder to invite us to come round for the week for much less than it would ordinarily cost.
For those not familiar with North Carolina geography, Ocean Isle is located just across the Intracoastal Waterway halfway between Shallotte and Calabash. Our usual routing is I-40 to US-17 in Wilmington, then south on US-17 to Ocean Isle (the turn is about 10-12 miles north of the South Carolina border). Note to self: next time, bypass Market Street in Wilmington…the traffic really stinks!
On your map, look for the southernmost part of the North Carolina coast that is lying roughly east-west just north of South Carolina. The house is on the extreme eastern end of Ocean Isle (which lies, not surprisingly…east-west!).
Thus, the place has convenient access to the Seafood Capital of the World in Calabash (which is the definitive “down east” style of cooking seafood) as well as Myrtle Beach about 40 miles to the south. It’s not unusual for us to make a few trips to Myrtle as you’ll see in the coming entries.
Sharing the house with us were Julia’s brother and sister-in-law and nephew from Columbus, Ohio…Patrick, Suzette, and Patrick Samuel. Also joining us from the Twin Cities in Minnesota were Uncle Warren and Aunt Chris. Fortunately, the house is rather nice sized so it wasn’t at all cramped.
Arrival is usually a frenetic packing of the vehicle, driving the three hours to Ocean Isle, and then unpacking it all to the second story of the house. Then if we’re lucky, we get a quick jaunt at the beach and relax for the coming days.
What made this a bit more interesting than usual is that we had a third passenger and limited amount of cargo space to accomodate all of the necessities (a pack and play, the stroller/car seat combo, and all of the clothes/food we were bringing in). However, the Ford Escape does have a remarkable amount of cargo room, even with Daddy’s golf clubs and other extraneous items coming along for the ride. I think we’ll have a better handle on the cargo requirements next year… 🙂
One thing I have to say is that Nicholas is an exceptionally good traveler for one so young. Once we shoved off from home, he pretty much slept until just south of Wilmington when we needed to get more fuel in the tank.
Anywho, the operative rule is that when we’re at the beach, we’re on beach time when we get there which means clocks and schedules are irrelevant. You want to eat…eat. If the beach strikes your fancy, then have at it! There is rarely more of a set schedule other than we think we’ll go to place X today!