P.S.

We made it home safe and sound, but are not particularly happy about the 15 inches of snow on the ground. In typical Rochester-fashion, it has snowed at least a trace on 21 of the last 22 days. Yuck!

On a more pleasant note, we got an e-mail from Joe and Kitty (see Jan 7 post) and little Griffin Lee Christodoulou was born January 26. He weighed 6 lbs, 2 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Boo Hoo

We are packing up and hitting the road this morning. Not easy. It's been the best vacation ever.

The high today will be in the 60's and there is a gentle ocean breeze.....okay, it's not so gentle, maybe 20 to 30 mph, but it is a warm breeze. There is a gentle breeze in Rochester, NY as well but it is only 25 degrees and that gentle breeze is called wind chill.

Thanks for following our vacation blog and all the comments and e-mails. We'll see everyone soon back in the Snowbelt!

Love, Jim and Mary

Back to Southport

It was another wonderful day in Paradise and so we decided to do a return trip to Southport. It is such a quaint, little town that we wanted to share it with Geoff and Mary.

And we got back to the beach just in time for another beautiful sunset.

Dinner Party

John invited us all over for dinner last night and give us a quick cooking lesson on how to make his seafood salad. It was delectable and a good time was had by all!

Shore Birds

The result of spending way too much time on the beach.

Fritters

We introduced Geoff and Mary to fritters this morning for breakfast. Fritters are pieces of fruit dipped in pan cake batter and deep fried. The are served with powder sugar and whipped cream. We figure that since they have fresh fruit, the must be good for us.

One of the Many Things We Will Miss About North Carolina

My Good Luck Charm!

Geoff and Mary Williams arrived from Rochester today. Geoff and Jim ran off to the golf course and Mary and I walked the beach. I guess Mary was a good luck charm because I found the very best sea shells of the trip today!

Rainy Day

One of the joys of being down here for a full month is to experience the many moods of the ocean. When we first got here, there were a couple of stormy days, complete with a tornado watch, and the the sea was explosive. We've also had many calm days where the ocean was like a huge pond, except for a little ripple wave at the shore line. During the calm weather, you can lay in bed at night and count the waves, one....................two....................three. Yesterday was stormy but there was no wind. There was no counting the waves because the crashing surf was constant. And we saw our first surfers. They were in wet suits (high temp was only 50) but were surfing all afternoon.

It rained on and off yesterday so we spent a quiet day going through the hundreds of photos taken since we left NY and we put together this slide show. Hope you enjoy it.

Another Unbelievable Sunset

We got home from Southport just in time to witness another unbelievable sunset! Even Tasha couldn't take her eyes off it.

Southport

We went south today, way south, to a tiny town called Southport that is located between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach. It was worth the drive! It is located on the mouth of the Cape Fear River and is protected by barrier islands. From the town you can see a lighthouse on the island but we didn't have time to go explore there.

The town has lots of 100+ year old Victorian homes and much older live Oak trees. The Live Oak in the photo is estimated to be 800 years old.

We had a great lunch, did a little shopping and drove back to Emerald Isle.

New Bern

In the morning, we went to New Bern, a pretty little town about an hour away. New Bern was originally the capital of North Carolina and sits where the Trent and Neuse Rivers meet. More importantly (to Jim) its the birthplace of Pepsi (although when we had lunch, they only served Coke. YEA!) Supposedly, the first Pepsi was served at a corner drug store with soda fountain.



We left New Bern in time for Jim to go play golf and Tasha and I walked the beach. She is getting use to beach life. Today she walked at least 5 miles, and while she was tired, she kept pace and really seemed to enjoy it.