Beach Trip- Part One

I love any type of vacation, but to me, nothing ever compares to a beach vacation.

I’m not sure what exactly I love about beaches the best; watching the waves while soaking up the sun, the endless sand castle possibilities, early morning shell walks.. I get so excited every time I think about the beach!

For this years beach trip Steven and I went to our favorite spot, Atlantic beach. It was the first ever trip we took together, and second time we went we got engaged! This was our third time going and we had a blast.

We always stay at the cute little Sand Dollar motel.


One of the cool things about North Carolina is that is has 200 miles of  barrier islands banking the coast, known as the outer banks, which is home to many light houses, wild horses, small islands for exploring and plenty of seashells! 


During the drive to the beach I can hardly contain my excitement, and by the time we get to the big bridge, I’m almost jumping out of my seat!

From the top of the bridge you can see across the island to the ocean on the other side!






One of the places we visited was sand dollar island, which is just a giant sandbar in the middle of the ocean that is home to tons of sand dollars and conchs! A ferry drops you off at low tide and then comes back to pick you up before the tide comes back in and the whole island gets covered by the water.



I had never seen a live conch before, some of them were HUGE, just wandering along the shore. But by the time I went to get my camera all I could find was this tiny guy.

Of course taking living guys isn’t allowed, so it was back into the sea with him! 

I loved sand dollar island so much! I had never seen a sand dollar except for at stores, and there were soo many live ones just hanging out in the sand! I am so excited about all the sand dollars I collected!
 
On the ferry ride over we passed a few islands and got to see some wild horses.

These photos are from an early morning walk to watch the sunrise, but I forgot that the sun doesn’t rise over the ocean at this beach because it faces east-west instead of north-south, so my sunrise pictures weren’t that exciting. But I was pretty happy with the other pictures I took in the morning fog.





 
We ate at a couple ocean front restaurants, such a great view!


 We ordered a pizza for lunch one day and took it to a little beach side picnic area (and pretended we didn’t see the no alcohol signs!) :0

Probably my favorite beach activities is just sitting on the beach all day, watching the waves and reading while drinking delicious beachy drinks. When I get too hot I’ll run into the water to cool down, then maybe I’ll dig in the sand and build a castle or something. 

Writing this post made me miss the beach so bad, even though we just got back. I can almost hear the waves crashing and taste the salty air as I look through these. I have a few more beach posts to come, so stay tuned!

0 Responses

  2. That looks a lovely trip away! Love the sand dollar you found, hopefully i'll get to an American seaside at some point. Seems to far away from here in Michigan.

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  4. My family and I used to go to the Outer Banks every summer growing up. I miss those days! I'm not a fan of the beach unless I make a weeklong vacation out of it. It's just not the same going for only a day or two. I haven't been back in almost ten years! I've been thinking about it lately though. Beautiful photos 🙂

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  5. Gah. Ive NEVER been to the beach. Your discriptive words and beautiful photos are just perfect. So jealous. Ill have to write this location down on my list of places to go.-Abigail

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  11. I adore this beach post! The beach is one of my favorite places to go. It's interesting to compare your coastal pictures with the coast line here, especially the types of rocks and sea life that are present. I agree with you completely – reading by the beach with some cool drinks and good food is just a happy place to be. I look forward to your future beach posts as well. 🙂

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  13. Thanks for your lovely words on my last post!
    There#s nothing like a day at the beach to make you instantly feel relaxed…

    Have a great day,
    -Kati

    Reply

  14. I agree, beach vacations are the best! (Is there anything better than hot sand and fruity drinks? Not hardly!) I love that nighttime shot of the beach and how cool that you found a sand dollar – I've never actually seen one in real life!

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