10.22.2007

More Vacation

Posted by Tammy

Really, the bulk of our vacation is focused on the ocean. I truly LOVED being so near the ocean that I could hear it all the time. And walk near it whenever I wanted to. We drove and saw other stuff, but all I wanted was to get back to the ocean!


We found a couple of local restaurants that we just loved, and we returned more than once during our week! The first is Whitey's - a local diner where we had breakfast three times! It is down-home, southern cooking and so yummy. I don't like grits, but I ordered grits two of the three days they were so good! And the country ham, don't even get me started! YUM! The waitresses were so friendly, and the food so good - we just had to return!

The other place that we tried and returned to was Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn. YUMMY! The slogan is "Hot, Fast, Cheap, and Easy" - true, and funny! They have a special on Tuesday - show them your tattoo and get 10% off, so we went back on Tuesday! :) Yummy combinations, and excellent homemade salsas - my favorite being Ginger Peach!! I highly recommend stopping if you get a chance!


We also immensely enjoyed some seafood (well, I did anyway, Mike had chicken!) and a great pizza place both visited with Mike's brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Geeta (they live in Wilmington where Jeff is a professor). The Mellow Mushroom (I didn't get a picture!) is a fantastic little hippy joint of a pizza place. SO good!! We had the Kosmic Karma - pesto, sundried tomatoes, feta... you get the picture!

Other than food... we went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. It was a very enjoyable way to spend a couple hours! I liked the jelly fish the best! So pretty and crazy.





We made the decision to go ahead and drive to Shenandoah National Park, even though we both wanted to stay by the ocean! My feet were quite sore from walking barefoot on the sand, so driving for a while wasn't a bad idea, plus - it was the PERFECT time of year to head into that area. And we were right - the trees were amazing!! I'm glad that we went ahead with our original plan. We'll definitely go back to our place at Wrightsville! It was just perfect!

I didn't like Virginia as much as North Carolina. The feel wasn't as friendly. The views were amazing though. The drive along Skyline Drive in the park was spectacular! We even saw two bears. (I saw both... Mike only saw the cub that we almost ran into with our rental car! The other one was while we were walking on a trail. It was BIG, but thankfully running away from us in a hurry! We went back to the car immediately though!!) I couldn't get a picture of either unfortunately. I took a ton of photos of the trees, but I'll only put a couple here. Go check out flickr for more! :)


Mike is focusing a job search on this area of the country now that he knows I like it too! We both need to be near the ocean. That was clear from last week's visit! Living many hours away just isn't going to work anymore!

5 Opinions:

Suzie Ridler said...

Well that question is now answered for you isn't it Tammy?! Yay! Now you just gotta figure out how you're going to get there.

What a cool adventure! My husband doesn't like shellfish either, I LOVE it! Look at those brilliant fall colours!

I'm so glad you liked your reading. I hope it was helpful.

Sharon P Pope said...

Sounds like ya'll had a wonderful time, Tammy. I love walking on the beach too, especially early in the morning. I really hope things work out for you two and you get to move to NC if that's what you want, and it seems to be. Glad you had such an awesome time on your trip and also glad that the bears didn't get ya! :) Thanks for sharing!

Deb R said...

Great photos! I love that part of the country.

Lila Rostenberg said...

Beautiful photos!
Best of luck on your planned re-location!!!
Near "mountains" and ocean...very good!!!
I think "Cheap Joe's" art supplies is near there...and they have lots of workshops...also the Joseph Campbell School...I know you will love it!

Ginnie said...

Welcome to mh home State of North Carolina, Tammy. If you could find work in or near Wilmington you could experience a little of everything. I love that area. All the best.