vacation Archives | with a Side of Sneakers

Beached

Guess how much The Great Fundraising Act raised yesterday in a single day?

$26,432

Yeah, you read that right.

If you didn’t believe in the power of social media before, or you were losing faith in kindness and charitable giving, you were wrong.

$23,210 came from winning bids on auction items, and another $3,222 came from straight monetary donations. It’s so impressive it blows me away. I’m so proud to be a part of community that has both the thought and power to do something this amazing.

If you didn’t get a chance to bid, or you didn’t win an item, don’t worry- you haven’t missed your chance! Stayed tuned for “After the Act” details on how to buy items at a set price.

Now on to significantly less important things. Like taunting you with beach pictures.

Imagine my surprise when the temperature increased about 20 degrees on the drive home. It was actually cooler at the beach than it was in the middle of the state. Thank goodness the ridiculous heat wave hadn’t yet reached the coast, because it was certainly hot enough for me to be hiding in the shade all day, every day.

We stayed right in the middle of two beaches: Oak Island and Caswell Beach. So much in the middle that the beach was zoned as Caswell Beach and the condo was officially in Oak Island. They were a dune and a parking lot apart.

Either way it was a quiet, un-crowded beach that was so safe everyone left their awnings and beach chairs out in the sand every night. Let me tell you what a difference it makes to lug all your stuff to the beach day after day when you don’t have to carry a chair or giant tent!

I spent most of my days curled up under the awning with one of my 13 books {shame on me, I only made it through 8} and periodically running into the progressively rougher & rougher waves when I couldn’t stand the heat. Or had to pee. You know.

After the husband talking about going fishing every single day of the trip, we finally made it over to the pier for some night fishing on the last evening of our vacation. Of course we chose to stay by the pier with the NC record for largest tiger shark catch. Oh my.

It’s not as easy as it looks to tie hooks to a clear line in the windy darkness, but eventually everything was all set up.

There was a lot of sitting…and only one fish caught. I really don’t relate to the appeal of fishing for fun…

As much as I love vacation and the beach, I’m happy to be home. Technology was not my friend on the trip {my family will likely tell you this doesn’t surprise them in the least} so I have lots of catching up to do!

Posts were sparse on the trip, but here’s what you missed:

– Ready to Ride?

– Crab cakes at the Dead End Saloon

– My 7 Links of beautiful, controversial, and surprise posts…aka my rare participation in a meme. If you haven’t done 7 links yet considered yourself tagged in my post because I’m having fun reading them. Smile

There’s also some fun things coming up over the next week or so:

– An insanely delicious {yet messy} treat. Hint: Lesson learned- don’t attempt to make caramel during the hottest week on record.

– A HUGE bike ride. Please everyone cross your fingers that the forecasted 98 degrees for Friday and Saturday is extremely wrong. I’m thinking 70 sounds good…but I’ll take something in the 80s. Winking smile

– Some fun news that I will now make you wait in suspense for, because that’s really the only way to make it fun.

– Surely I’m forgetting something…

What exciting things do you have going on this week?

Caswell Beach on Dwellable

Dead End Saloon

Other

Nothing says welcome to the beach like seafood…

and a sunset!

It’s pretty much a requirement to eat fresh seafood when you’re in such close proximity to the ocean.

On recommendation from the rental agency owner, we headed to Dead End Saloon Fish Factory Grille, a restaurant known for it’s water front views. The road to the restaurant literally dead ends into the sound. The “fish factory” in the name had us wrongly assuming there might be a large choice of fish on the menu.

The restaurant offer outdoor-only seating, which is perfectly ok in my book, especially when this is the view from your table:

The seafood choices were limited to a catch of the day and several crab cake dishes. Being as I don’t paricularly enjoy whole fried flounder, I opted for the crabcake sandwich.

{I really, really don’t care for tails on my plate, thankyouverymuch.}

Unfortunately the crab cake left much to be desired- it was old and fishy tasting. I suppose I should know by now to leave the crab eating to Maryland.

The fries, however, were surprisingly tasty- spicy and crunchy without being overly greasy.

So while our seafood requirements were quite fulfilled, our sunset views were. Not a bad way to start vacation.

What’s your favorite beach meal?

Pageturners

Fun

I might have picked up a book or two for my upcoming vacation.

This might be only half of them.

You can find my list on Goodreads,my latest obsession.

What’s your favorite summer reading book?

The 3 Styles of Vacation Eating

Travel

Perhaps you’ve figured out by now I went on a little vacation. 😉 But more about that later.

The way I see it, there’s 3 kinds of vacation eaters:

1. The Stickler. No dessert. Sauce on the side. Kiddie size portions. Long-spiels with the waiter on how to change what’s on the menu. Skip the fries- veggies only. Ditch the bread basket.

2. The Moderator. Dessert with dinner but not with lunch. Healthy breakfast, fancy dinner. Indulgent meals, half eaten. Grilled not fried. Alcohol with reserve.

3. The Indulger. Double portions. Two of everything. Extra dressing. The cake and the pie for dessert. Every plate scrapped clean. Gallons of alcohol and fruity drinks. Aching belly after every meal. Snacks between the meals.

People are more than willing to share their tips for healthy eating on vacation:

“Don’t ruin your diet with a weekend of indulging.”

“Ask for light alternatives.”

“Avoid alcohol.”

“Only eat healthy desserts.”

Well I beg to differ. Vacation is for having fun, relaxing, and indulging.

I’m not talking frequent weekend trips to visit Aunt Sally. I’m thinking big here- the one big vacation you get to take during the year. One week of loosening the reigns is not going to throw you off the horse.

Stick yourself somewhere between “the moderator” and “the indulger” and enjoy every moment. (No need for an aching belly after every meal.) You’re on vacation- toss worry to the side, enjoy fancy meals and exotic foods you don’t get at home, and my goodness drink yourself silly if that’s what’s fun for you.