Saturday, September 29
Mona, Sherri and I were all up and on our way to catch a 6:20 am flight and Jill was leaving Dallas about the same time; all of us headed for North Carolina.
I was seated in "First Class" while Sherri and Mona....were NOT. since I was in the early boarding, I was already seated when they walked by....but as they did, Sherri snapped this photo and said "hey, I won't tell anyone who you really are"...and I turned 14 shades of red!
we all met up at the Norfolk airport, rented a big SUV....and then turned it back in and rented a HUGE SUV (this was due to the fact we all brought A LOT of stuff!), stopped and ate lunch, and then headed towards the sliver of a peninsula island called the Outer Banks.
the photo above is Jill waiting for us in the Norfolk airport.
it needed to be documented that she no longer is the "Queen of Light-Packing"....she's now been officially dethroned: down where the rest of us are!
we have all been so excited about this trip and so as we neared the house, all of us practically jumped out of the car, and "oohed" and "aahhed" as we looked through the house, sat on the decks (there are three of them) and finally, walked out our back door and down to the ocean. it's more beautiful than you can imagine....but you don't have to imagine...here are the pics!
this is the view from our top deck.
here are photos of the inside of the house:
the dining room, living room and a breakfast nook that overlooks the deck, the dune and the ocean
Mona's bedroom (she's reading the 4 Hour Work Week) and the one on the right is Sherri's room
this is the room Jill and I are sharing (see the ocean in the background? way, way cool!)
happy, happy women!
it's traditional on our "girlfriends" trip, that everyone gets a specially-designed bookmark (no one has the nerve to tell me to stop making them!)
after we all unpacked we drove the few blocks into Corolla to have a look around. Since this is the "off-season" the shops don't stay open late, and several of the restaurants were closed. we ended up at a good pizza place, chowed down and then did a fast trip through the grocery store for some necessary items.
(this is what's in the fridge so far!)
tomorrow, we'll go grocery shopping for more, but we're all feeling the fact we've been up a very long time.
another friend, Wendy from Rochester, Michigan will join us Sunday night, and then Susie, from KC will be in on Monday night.
this is such a beautiful place and we all can't wait to do "nothing" tomorrow.
our first night in the Outer Banks and we are so fortunate to see this beautiful full moon right outside our window.
Jill and Mona are reading, Sherri is knitting and I'm writing to you.
it feels so much later than it is.
we've all become quiet for now.
the deck door is open and a light breeze is blowing in and the only sound we all hear is that of the water and waves outside our window....and it's amazing!
Sunday, September 30...another beautiful day by the ocean
Sherri and I left the house right before sunrise to walk on the beach....here's an early morning view looking back towards the house
Sherri, lots of baby seagulls, and an amazing pink sky
the sun as it's rising
and as Sherri and I were headed back to the house...we spotted Mona walking back from the other direction....doesn't she look happy?
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Mona took some great photos...take a look!
sunrise was about 7 am this morning
wildlife
hidden wildlife (these are holes that sand crabs dig)
Sherri and I (partially in pj's) after our walk, Jill on the deck drinking coffee
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after we were done with our early morning walks, we cleaned up (we'll some of us did) and went out for breakfast at a place one of the locals recommended called "First Light". it was great...the biggest hit were the fresh baked biscuits and the sweet potato pancakes. we've already decided to go back there at least once again for breakfast. after breakfast, we went on a trip to the grocery store.
Mona being the gourmet cook amongst us (Jill is too, but is denying it during this trip so she won't have to cook) planned out the meals and made out the list. then we headed to one of the shops to buy a couple of more sweatshirts (it's pretty windy on the beach and on the third floor deck) and then, anxiously, back to the house, the decks and the beach. Sherri took a nap; Mona and Jill sat on the deck reading, and I went down to the beach and had a fabulous time playing in the water (it's a great temperature!) the sun is shining, it's in the mid 70's and the beach doesn't have very many people on it.
Jill told me this is a jellyfish (she knows this because there are so many in Dallas)...it was really cool looking. I stared at it for a really long time because I'm so fascinated by stuff like this.
a toast to a great vacation!
we bought several kinds of beer to try (and that's just what Jill did...took one sip and dumped the remaining beer from her glass to all of ours!)
now that's better...you thought all we were going to do was drink...look at all that healthy food just waiting for Mona to cook
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these are some of Sherri's photos:
unpacking the car on arrival; a view of the back of the house
our first afternoon on the beach; there were several kites (it's plenty windy)
our first night in the Outer Banks.....a beautiful full moon
early on Sunday morning, Sherri took this photo of this wonderful bright star in the sky
we loved these little baby seagulls running all around the beach; looking out over the water and watching the sun come up
our walkway down to the beach; me, Jill and Mona on Saturday getting our first taste of the wind
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and here are some of Jill's pics!
this is Mona speeding off in our SUPER -large-extra-big Durango...it takes a mighty SUV to carry all of our luggage
our first day....we all love to take photos and looking out over the water
we finally found a place open for dinner...Cosmos Pizza
Mona is working long and hard reading the "4 Hour Work Week" (she's spending long hours reading, but it's a great book!)
on Sunday night...Wendy arrived!! we were all so glad to see her. this is her "Driver"
welcome Wendy!
this is a picture of her already enjoying her room, refreshments and all of our good company
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Wendy took this picture of Mona...drinking a Sangria....with a Twizzler. are we a talented group of women or what?
Monday, October 1
Wendy, Jill, Sherri and I went for a long walk on the beach at sunrise. then we all got ready to go out to breakfast at a place called "Wild Horse"....it's not a place we'd go back to....but onto more adventure.
after breakfast (if you want to call it that) we drove up to the Carrituck Lighthouse.
after leaving the lighthouse, we drove by "Island books" (our group always goes to bookstores) and bought books. it was a great little bookstore in this cool old house.
this was a really cool art-work horse in the bookstore
we went back to the house after our morning out to just hang out at the beach.
Jill, after being dethroned from "Queen of the Lightpackers",
becomes "Queen Flykiller"...after all, how many people are talented enough to kill 4 flys with a pancake turner?
in the afternoon, everyone just did what they wanted to....Wendy went for a quick wade in the water
about 4:30, Susie (from KC) arrived. we soon toasted to her arrival with fantastic sangrias!
after a quenching our thirsts (which were thoroughly soaked already), we all went for a wonderful stroll on the beach.
Mona, Susie and I went wave-chasing (and they chased us right back...that was so much fun!)
Mona took this shot of Sherri relaxing and reading in the sun; all of us having fun on the beach.
after our walk, we went back to the house to just hang out....we're such a partying bunch...see?
while these four were being so wild and crazy, Susie and I went for the hot tub...it was great.
after lots of relaxation time, dinner was started by Chef Mona and her Prep-Chef, Jill.
they were preparing Shrimp Scampi over linguine, tossed salad with pears, fresh bread and red wine.
dinner was wonderful and we all really enjoyed it. after dinner we had our choice of a little-bitty-teenie-weenie piece of a little-bitty-teenie-weenie pie (cherry, lemon or chocolate) or a Chocolate Stout Float (Sherri is our Chocolate Stout connoisseur; and she didn't like it...and neither did any of the rest of us; but the ice cream was good!)
our after dinner exercise is playing charades...
Mona, Sherri and myself on one team, Jill, Wendy and Susie on the other. It was a riot!
