OBX 2016 ... An 'Interesting Vacation' ... Part 7, Wrapping It All Up

I'll be wrapping up my tales from the beach today, with this last post.  Yes, the storm was terrifying and yes, we had some interesting experiences.  Would I do it again?  I hope so.  I do love the beach and, hopefully, we won't be in the aftermath of a hurricane again for a long while.  Better yet ... never!
Our beach house had a brand new deck and new steps leading up to it.  The deck chairs were surprisingly very comfortable.

We still got in some relaxing times and got to enjoy the beauty of the ocean and the beach.  I do love it so.  Probably our most amusing excitement was when we came home one day, opened our door and almost let a cute little lizard into our beach house.  He was hanging on our door!  I don't think he was the 'actor' from the insurance commercials:)

I should also mention that our travel time was totally uneventful, thank goodness.  We saw several bad accidents, mostly on the opposite side of the highway.  Our 1-year old Highlander was very comfortable and did a super job of helping us enjoy the trip.  We forgot to look into some audio books, so we spent time telling each other about books we'd read recently.  This was actually quite fun, as we both love to read and always have stories to share.

So... that's my tale of the beach and our 'interesting vacation.'  I hope you enjoyed it all.   I'm resting, with my feet up today because I'm still babying along my 'vacation wound' and then, on Friday, I ran into the bottom, corner edge of one of my leather chairs (with my other leg) and now my left ankle is black ... very black ... and red around the edges.  I'm trying to work a bit and then get back to feet up time.  It's slowing down my work but I get to read while I rest, so not entirely bad.  I can do some designing then, too.  I'm going to try really hard to quit being such a klutz!!!

Come on back as I get back to some fun paper crafting.  What will I be working on next?  I will be getting ready for my Open House/Christmas Party, two more Scraps and Prayers classes for 2016, planning my projects (and gifts) for my November Christmas Retreat ... and... planning for 2017.  It's all fun and exciting!!!  Come on back so you don't miss a thing!

OBX 2016 ... An 'Interesting Vacation' ... Part 6, Nature Walks by the Sound

After the worst days of the storm aftermath were over, we did enjoy some nature walks by the Sound.  It was beautiful.  

This is the Sound side of the Currituck Lighthouse.   I just love it.  Over the years, I've accumulated a lot of shots of the lighthouse, but they were mostly taken from the beach side, as we walked the beach.

Come back for more stories from the beach, as I'll be wrapping it all up in one last post.  Then, it's back to creative endeavors.   

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OBX 2016 ... An 'Interesting Vacation' ... Part 5, Some Fun Beach Shots

Here are a few more fun beach shots for you to enjoy.

This is a pretty lame job of writing the date in the sand this year.  It was the best I could do with a wounded leg.  I'll have to learn to write with my left leg:)

This year, I feel like I was really cheated of my favorite activity of walking the beach (barefoot) close to the edge of the water and letting the waves lap over my feet.  If they're not under a hurricane warning, I'll be heading back there soon ... hopefully, next year.

I'll be wrapping up my story soon, so be sure to check back and see what I have to share with you.  Then, it's back to getting my creative juices flowing.

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OBX 2016 ... An 'Interesting Vacation' ... Part 4, The Wound and a Great Doctor

If you don't like scary pictures, skip this post.  Yes ... this really, really, really hurt.  The story begins the day following the night of terror with the house shaking and the rain pelting down in flooding amounts, while trees hit and ground against the side of the house and the roof.

I started over to the dining area of our little beach house to look out the windows to see how much flooding we'd had during the night.  In the corner (I don't know why!) the house had a giant piece of driftwood.  I saw it, but I did NOT see the dagger-like piece that stuck straight out from it and I ran into it full force and just gouged a big hole out of my leg.

Above, this is the piece of driftwood.  The piece that about killed me is sticking out in the lower, right corner of the photo.
Below, the damage.  As you can see, my leg all around the wound was immediately irritated and it got really sore, too.

Below, here I am all bandaged up.  As you can see, my ankle was already swelling.  The ankle bracelets were soon cutting into my leg and I had to take them off.

My doctor (and the nurse) were SO nice.  They put a non-stick bandage over the wound (after cleaning it --- ouch!) and then wrapped it so it would stay nicely protected.  This was the end of walking the beach.  I tried it, but the bandage moved a bit as I walked, and it felt like the wound was on fire ... really painful.  Anyway, the doctor said if I got sand in the wound, they would have to scrub it out, so even though she said I could do it, it just didn't work out this year.

The doctor complimented me on my new top and wanted to know where I'd gotten it.  She said her friend owned the little shop where I bought it.  She then told me other places near the Urgent Care to shop, as well as finding out what kind of food we liked and suggested a place she thought made the best pizza on the whole beach.  I think she was right!  She couldn't understand why 70 mph winds would bother me when we were from Illinois and had tornadoes.  I told her that tornadoes didn't last all night like the storm from the hurricane did!  Also, we have basements here!!!

After trying the doctor's recommended pizza place, we tried to visit a few shops (closer to the Kitty Hawk area) but they had all been flooded.  What a sad mess.  Anyway, if you have to be unfortunate enough to get hurt on vacation, it's nice to know that they have a wonderful Urgent Care place where you can get help ... along with a big drug store close by, to pick up your meds.

Come on back for Part 5 ... and no more scary pictures, I promise.

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OBX 2016 ... An 'Interesting Vacation' ... Part 3, Some Artsy Shots

We didn't get out very much this vacation, due to all the flooding, but I was able to get some fun shots that I call my 'artsy' shots.

A funny story:
One day, we were down on the beach just looking around.  We didn't walk very far because it was almost dusk.  As we turned to walk back toward the stairs that lead over the dunes, a man came down the stairs.  He had a pillow, a blanket, and a wad of clothes under one arm and a suitcase in his other hand.  When he got to the more solid sand on the beach, he set down the suitcase, pulled up the handle and started off down the beach ... wheeling his suitcase. 

I told Bill that I didn't think beach bums had wheeled luggage and that you just don't see this every day.  The man saw us looking at him and he said:  "I know it's crazy, but I can't get to my house from the road." 
The last road before the houses that sat right on the beach was no longer a road.  It was a long, long river.  When we walked back to the parking lot where we leave our car to walk to the beach, we saw that it was nearly full.  I guess a lot of people had to walk down the beach to get to their houses.

Come on back for Part 4.  This part is not for the feint of heart, so you've been warned. 

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OBX 2016 ... An 'Interesting Vacation' ... Part 2, The Storm

Well, here's the scary part of my tale.

The OBX part of the hurricane hit us on Saturday evening, after we'd arrive earlier that same day.  It started up around 10:00 or 11:00 that night.  It was incredibly windy and the rain was pouring down like crazy.  Around midnight, I got up for a little visit down the hall.  As I put my hand on the edge of the door frame, the power went out.  I was able to feel my way back to the night stand and get my phone.  I turned on the flashlight feature but you couldn't see anything outside at all.  Usually, when the lights go out, after your eyes adjust, you can see faint images.  Not this night.  Everything was black as black could be.

The wind picked up and the rain lashed the house as I've never heard either before.  The house was up on 'stilts' of course, with our Highlander parked beneath it.  I was terrified.  The trees outside the bedroom windows kept hitting the house and the roof and the sound was terrible.  I kept screaming out each time the wind shook the house ... just couldn't help it.  It felt like the corner of the bedroom was going to be torn off and blown away into the night.  We ended up huddled together on the little couch in the living room.  The storm lasted all night.  At 8:00 the next morning, the power came back on, so that was a happy event.

Now, besides just plain being stupid enough to go ahead with our vacation, when Saturday night came, Bill decided that he'd go to the store Sunday morning.  Well, come Sunday morning, we were stranded.  Our house looked (and felt) like we were plopped down in the middle of a lake.  I was scared that the water was up over the bottom of the car doors, but it wasn't.  We got in the car later that day, after wading to it through all the water, and drove to the store.  The store was close or we couldn't have made it.  It was closed, of course.  Everything was.  There was only one little section that we could get to and it looked totally deserted.  Of course, the only food we had to get through Sunday was our left-over pizza and remaining car snacks.

On Monday, the store was still closed.  We found a place to eat breakfast and then checked back later and the store was open ... sort of.  All the shelves of fresh product, deli meats, etc. were all totally empty.  The meat sections had blinds covering them.  All the frozen food and dairy sections had 'crime scene' tapes over them.  We were able to get other items and ended up eating out a couple of meals a day.  It was eerie seeing so few other people and all the water closing us in.  I felt really bad that the grocery store had had to throw away thousands of dollars worth of spoiled food.

Each day we were there, we saw a few more places open and more people coming out and about.   We weren't able to get to Duck until about Thursday.  By then, we needed to get to an Urgent Care place to have them look at my poor, wounded leg.  More on that later.  Here are some shots of the water everywhere.

These are views from around our beach house.  I took them from up on our deck.

Below, these are streets ... at an intersection ... by our beach house.

You can go down the steps and right into our 'swimming pool' area ... what used to be our driveway.  

Below, this is NOT a pond.  This is someone's back yard.  The water goes completely under their house.

Below, the shopping area where we like to browse through lots of cute little shops is up on 'stilts' and there is parking underneath it.  After the storm, it was totally flooded.

These are the exposed roots of a big tree that was toppled, near one of our favorite places to go for a steak dinner.  Lucky for us, they were open after a few days and we enjoyed a couple of really nice dinners there.

We did get out to get some fun breakfast food after the storm.  

Come on back to see some of my 'artsy' shots I'll share from our trip to the Outer Banks.

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OBX 2016 ... An 'Interesting Vacation' ... Part 1, Our Arrival

What do I enjoy as much as paper crafting and/or spending time with my family?  Going to the beach!  This year was to be a special vacation because we hadn't had one in 3 years.  Well, I don't know if it was special, but it certainly was interesting.  Here's my tale ..... Part 1 .....

We're always excited to realize we're nearly there.  Yes ... we knew a hurricane was on the way but Bill kept telling me that everything would be OK and that it wouldn't really effect us.  Ha!!!

Above, the first sign (almost missed it:) for Awful Arthur's.  We actually didn't get to even go there for crab cakes this year because the road it's on is the first road behind the row of beach houses right on the beach.  After the storm, the road wasn't even there.  It became a giant river.

Above, going past our favorite little diner (Mel's).   We ate breakfast there at the beginning of our journey home.

Above, crossing the sound.  The Outer Banks is really a long, narrow strip of land off the coast of the United States.  This is the only bridge to get there.  On Sunday, the day after we got there, they closed the bridge.  They opened it a few days later by special pass only.  Yes, we were actually stranded for a few days.

Above, our favorite pizza place we go to each visit to the OBX.  Below, my white pizza and Bill's sausage and onion favorite.

Below, our first peek at the ocean this visit.  It was rough, but not really too bad.  The red flag was flying, of course, so ... no swimming.

You can see how far up onto the beach the water was ... almost to the dunes.

Come on back for Part 2... The Storm ... This was beyond scary!!!!!

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