Vacation ... Sweet Vacation ...

Last week we packed up the troops and headed out to North Carolina for a lovely little vacation.   We chose Bald Head Island for this one.  We'd never been there before (heck, we'd never even heard of the place before) but I did a Google search for private quiet beautiful beaches and BHI was one of the listings that came up.  After a little bit of research (or maybe many long nights of constant Googling) we picked a house, made the necessary arrangements, and hit the road.

We left on a Friday afternoon after we picked Sarah up from camp.  It's a 14 hour drive ... assuming you never stop ... so we made plans to spend the night in Beckley, WV.  It worked out well.

On Saturday, we finished the drive and arrived at the brand-spankin-new one-month-old Deep Point Marina in Southport, NC with plenty of time to spare.  I was in love with the idea that Bald Head is a no-cars island.  We had to catch a ferry to the island and then a little shuttle to the rental house.  It was pretty easy, except that I didn't realize how early we should have called to make our ferry reservations and we ended up with a choice of 2:00 (which we felt was to rush-y rush-y to get to on time) or a 5:00 ferry.  However, the 5:00 only had four seats left and, in case you haven't noticed, there are FIVE of us.  The ferry guy said, "No problem.  Just hold a kid on your lap and we'll be fine."  So, that was our plan.

Luckily, we came to learn that the ferry is a little bit loosey-goosey about their rules and there was plenty of space for us.  No laps necessary.  (On the way home, we got on an earlier ferry by accident and no one even cared!)

We've rented vacation homes a handful of times now and each time it makes me a nervous wreck.  I know, as much as anyone, that photos can be deceiving.  Plus, if you've never been to a place, how are you to know if your house is in a good location?  How are we to know if it's as nice as they claim?  How are we to know that the neighbors don't suck?  Blah blah blah.  

This time, it worked out just fine.  After a whole week of exploring, we think that our house was in the best spot.  It was exactly what we wanted: a house so close to the beach that we could just run in and out at our leisure and not worry about packing and hauling our junk back and forth.

I loved having golf carts to ride around in -- our house came with two of them.  The kids seemed to love everything.  The sea shell filled beach, the calm waves, the warm water, and a million other things.

We had a relaxing and fun week.  I packed lots of board games for when we were sick of the beach and, thanks to Paige and her endless imagination, the kids had plenty of made-up adventures to have.

It really was a great vacation.  We will go back.  For sure.

If you'd like to see lots and lots of pictures, you can CLICK HERE.  I posted them all on our website because it's easier than posting them here.

Happy day!