Beach Trip!

Since we are not going on vacation (TO SPAIN DID I MENTION THAT) until late September, we decided we'll try to have at least one mini-trip, even if it's just a day trip, each month this summer. We were thinking about doing a day trip to the beach last weekend, but ended up deciding it would be better to go the night before so we weren't doing the drive there and back in one day.

On Friday afternoon, I picked Ben up at work and we headed out.  Two minutes later, before even getting on the highway, we were waylaid by a hit and run rear-ending! Someone actually hit the car behind us, and the momentum pushed her into the back of my car. Before I even knew what was happening, Ben had leapt out and was writing down the license plate number of the car that was speeding away. It was a hard hit - hard enough to give me some whiplash that was still a little achy the next day - but amazingly there is no damage to my car whatsoever. We stuck around for an hour regardless, waiting for the police to arrive and take the report, since Benjamin had witnessed the other car and could provide a description. They ran the plates and confirmed that the guy has a record and likely no insurance, which is a real bummer for the other lady, whose car had some significant damage.

So anyway!  After that we were on the road for real. We arrived in Wilmington just before 8:00 and ate at The Bridge Tender Restaurant, which was quite good. In fact, Benjamin told the waitress his scallops were "fucking awesome," and then kept bringing them up again and again the rest of the weekend. I didn't take any pictures of the entrees but dessert was also excellent. I got this brownie sundae thing that was easily big enough for two people.

Benjamin got blueberry cobbler which he also enjoyed.

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Wrightsville Beach, which was fine. 

On Saturday we drove down toward Carolina Beach, about a half hour from Wilmington. We stopped for a delicious breakfast at the Surf House Restaurant. I got an amazing breakfast hash with black beans, pulled pork, roasted potatoes, etc.

And Ben ordered the standard breakfast of bacon, sausage, grits, eggs, toast.

And then finally we were on our way to the actual ocean.  We ended up having trouble finding parking, and kept driving all the way to Kure Beach, a little bit south of where we intended to go. It was pretty crowded but we got a good spot.

My legs are roughly the color of the sand, I noticed.

The waves were huge!  We spent a lot of time floating and swimming in the ocean out beyond the surf, which was really nice.  I don't know that I've ever been in the ocean when I couldn't touch the bottom.  I was a little concerned a shark was going to eat my legs, but it worked out.

After a couple hours we'd had enough and drove back to Raleigh, making it home by late afternoon. Since we generally do almost nothing Friday night/Saturday morning, it seemed like we hadn't even missed anything by being away from home, and still had plenty of time to catch up on TV and run errands and all the usual weekend stuff.