CHUCK IN A BOX

54 more days until my much deserved and very needed vacation (not that I’m counting or anything).  I’m so looking forward to whole ritual of making lists (a habit I developed from my mom), getting everything all together and packed, loading up the car and arriving at Recess.  Heck even the drive is exciting to me – especially the moment you come around the bend on Rt. 158 at Point Harbor and see the Wright Memorial Bridge crossing the Currituck Sound – that’s when I know I’ve truly arrived!

This year should be interesting – we’re gonna have a house full:  Keith and I, Jeff and Maria (friends of ours from NY), Allie (Keith’s daughter) and I think a friend of her’s from college, my niece Amber – yay Plan B. (maybe her boyfriend Johnny – not sure about that one yet) and maybe even Ashley (Keith’s oldest) and her boyfriend.

I’m kinda bummed that Ian and his family won’t be able to make it (I was really looking forward to crabbing with him again) but, it sounds like they’ve got a number of other summer vacation plans so it all works out in the end.

I think I’ve talked mom into using Outer Beaches for next years vacation – this time dad is gonna pay – since it looks like they (Outer Beaches) are going to continue their ‘Vacation Lay-a-Way‘ program.  I have to say, that is one of the best marketing ideas – you just have the total rental broken down into 12 payments which are automatically applied to your bank account or credit card.  The old way of paying for vacation homes was about 50% down within 30 days of booking the house with the remaining 50% due 30 days prior to arrival.  They do not charge interest at all, nor do they charge some of those ridiculous fees that other agencies charge.

I’m looking forward to sharing my OBX passion with Jeff and Maria – I don’t think they’ve ever been to the Outer Banks before.  Hopefully they won’t be bored with a more laid back vacation destination and will enjoy themselves quite a bit.

My Heaven on Earth.

I know that sounds quite unappetizing but to me it is/was a WONDERFUL combination.  This time of year I start reminiscing about Easters and Spring Break in the Outer Banks (OBX for those that know) of North Carolina.  When my sisters and I were young, our paternal grandparents would take us to Nags Head for Easter.  I remember thinking at the time it was a HUGE deal because, if I recall correctly, we usually got out of school a day or two early.  I just remember thinking how neat it was that we got to miss school to go to the beach.

We would always stay at Travelers Inn, which was right across the street Jeannettes Pier (which was MUCH more impressive back in the day – before a hurricane took most of it away), and it had a swimming pool so we thought we were just the cat’s ass – hey we were KIDS what did we know.  My grandmother would hide those individually wrapped Brach’s marshmallow eggs out in the sand and shrubs around the hotel and the kids would hunt for them – making sure we didn’t step on or grab those evil little spinney seed pod thingees. *shudder*  I would always, ALWAYS try to wake up extra early to run across the street and see if, over night, the tides had brought any cool treasures to the beach that I could collect.  I was usually rewarded with bits of driftwood, some mermaid purses, broken shells and the like but, I vividly remember finding a conch shell that was only slightly chipped.  I don’t know what happened to that shell but, for the longest time, I had it in my bedroom while I was a boy at my parents house.

I think those initial trips to the Outer Banks were what started us on – well my – life long love of the place.  Some people like Virginia Beach; some like Myrtle Beach; some like the Florida coast – me….I’ll take the OBX over all of that.  I know my mom loves the place as much as I do.  Eh, I even remember our very first beach house that we rented in Salvo it was the Wimbledome.  We actually were repeat renters at this particular house but then as the years went by, we tried different homes.  The last one that we rented was the Idler – Keith and I rented that for mom because she had always wanted to stay at a house “on the beach” not 1 lot back, not ‘Ocean Side’ but, ON the beach.

We usually prefer to go down a bit further than Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, and Killdevil Hills to places like Salvo, Waves, Rodanthe (yes the recent Richard Gere movie is about this place), Avon etc..  No matter which house we stay in there are 2 prerequisites for a week long vacation in the OBX, we HAVE to go to The Blue Whale or Jobobs Trading Post- it’s in the rules…we just have to – and it wouldn’t be a summer vacation in the OBX without to me (or mom).

I need to start planning for one or more 2010 OBX trips.  I want to take more trips with my nieces and nephews and my parents and such but, I also want to take vacations with “My” family – us, our son & daughter-in-law and of course our granddaughter.  I’ve decided that it’s going to be part of Audrey’s life too once she gets a bit older – going to the OBX.  I hope she falls in love with it as much as I did.

In the meantime I’ll just wax sentimental with my childhood memories of sun, sand, and easter eggs.

Sand and Eggs and Sand