Sand, Ocean & too many southerners!
VACATION
The Place:
Anthony and I took a vacation with my family to Emerald Isle, NC. The House was beautiful!! It was an 8 Bdrm 5Bath place that was right on the ocean. The Third floor was all Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen (also had a master bedroom). The First Floor was all Bedrooms... They place also had an elevator which was really nice for my grandmother. The First Floor, was all outside and the pool area was under the house and part outside the house. It aslo had decks on the entire back and side of the house on all three floors. I've never stayed in anything so nice.
My Feet Hurt:
I walked the beach around 6AM every morning... that was until my dad came with me one morning and said: "see that pier in the distance... lets walk to that". The pier turned out to be over 3 miles away. YUP! My brother, who also came with us, and I almost called a cab to bring us back. Lets just say my feet and ankles weren't the same the rest of the week.
Balloon Fight:
Every year my parents get a place in Emerald Isle. This year we (the Kids) decided to join them. Every year they have a Giant Water Balloon Fight... We (the Kids) knew this but really had no idea to what extent. Lets just say that on the way back up from the beach, with my brother Donnie and my sisters boyfriend, we got nailed. My father had what I thought was a friggin' cannon. It turned out to be a GIANT SLING SHOT. Two people hold each end and one person man's the middle and pulls it back and lets it go. I got hit on the inner forearm and I can still see a slight bruise. Pay back was a bitch.
What's a RIBBA:
Anthony and I were the first one's in Emerald Isle that Friday (around 1PM) and actual check in wasn't until 4PM. We decided to drive around for a bit and see if we could find a place for lunch. We ended up in the little place called "THE MONKEY BAR". Lets just say if you aren't local then you don't belong. Here is the conversation we had with the waitress when placing our order:
Anthony: What is the soup of the day
Waitress: Chicken Noodle and Ribba with Vegetable
Me: Chicken Noodle and what else???
Waitress: Ribba with Vegetable
Me: **gives a confused look at Anthony
Anthony: **gives one right back
Me to the Waitress: Ribba??
Waitress: Yea Ribba
Me: What's a Ribba??
Waitress: Ribba Steak
Me: **light bulb goes off** Oh you mean Rib-EYE
Waitress: Right, Ribba.
Right then and there I put myself in Southern Translator Mode! I was never again taken off gaurd. *grin*
To this day I will always refer to Ribeye steak as RIBBA.
The Movies:
People in the south are just weird. Anthony and I headed to the movies one night because there was really nothing else to do and my family couldn't get their act together to do something... Not that it mattered because Anthony and I really wanted to see the new PIRATES movie. We arrive about 20 minutes before the old movie lets out. We think nothing of it and go in to purchase the tickets. It went something like this:
Me: Two for Pirates
Girl: If you purchase your tickets now you can't leave!
Me: What?
Now get this, the movie theatre is located in a plaza with a bunch of shops... the theatre itself is pretty small which means the lobby, where everyone has to wait, is about the size of someone's living room.
Girl: If you purchase your tickets now, you can't leave the theatre
Me: Then what do we do
Girl: Wait
Me: Are you kidding??
Girl: No!
Me: We'll be back
Why they would make you wait in the lobby after you buy your ticket is beyond me...
Slow down already:
The people in Emerald Isle, NC run on two speeds... SLOW & STOP. I don't think they were used to someone like me.... They have this coffee shop (think starbucks but not really) right next to the Movie theatre. Anthony and I saw that it opened at 7AM. We were very pleased about this. So the next morning instead of making coffee at home I went for a Mocha Latte. We arrived at 7:05. The girl inside is shocked to see us waiting outside. No really, SHOCKED! She opens the door and I told her "if you aren't ready, we can wait outside". "No No she says come in". We order our coffee and she explains that she usually has two hrs before her first customer. This surprises me then I think. ** she must never have people from the North come to Emerald Isle, cause we like our early morning coffee.**
Before leaving we worn her that we will be there bright and early the next day. She was cute, but still a bit hung over. Did I mention she was wearing pants that when she bent over you could see the crack in her butt??? Oh yea....
>>>> fast forward to the next morning
We arrive back at the Coffee Depot or whatever it was called around 7:12. Door locked and again she is shocked to see us.
One afternoon I decided that I wanted to pick up some Fudge. I saw it earlier in the day but didn't want it to melt in the car. I head back to the Fudge place and waited in line... and waited and waited and waited and waited. Apparently the very old old old old man behind the counter wanted to get the scoop on everyone that came into the shop. I swear he was moonlighting at the fudge shop and his real job was a news reporter. GUH!
Anyway, he was so nice to everyone in line... Even though it took forever for me to get up to the front of the line (10 Min.) I didn't mind too much because he was so sweet to everyone.
... until me!
I place my order for fudge and immediatly he looks annoyed. I don't know, maybe he has a bad case of athritis and cutting the fudge sends a sharp pain up his arm. Whatever the reason that cute old man smile he had going on, only moments before, was gone. I asked for the "Snickers" fudge and he started to cut it... I then asked for a bit more and he snapped "I CAN'T CUT IT THAT WAY". "ummm ok.." Maybe his diaper was riding up??? Either way, he turned out to be a miserable old fart. The fudge on the other hand is the best fudge I have ever eaten! THE BEST!
The night before we left Anthony and I found a very cute/new Italian Restaurant on the Island. We thought it would be nice to spend the last evening all alone without the entire family. It was well worth it. The coolest thing about dinner was that it was raining and when you looked out of one window on the right it was raining, when you turned and looked out the window on the left it was sunny and beautiful. Like out of a movie I tell you.
We also played Mini Golf on Vacation, went to another island and looked for wild ponies, went to the Aquarium... however I saw just enough Sea life in the ocean right outside our house. NO THANKS!
All in all if you have a family and want a cute getaway that is very very far from anywhere about Virginia, then go to Emerald Isle, NC. The 10 hr drive kicked my ass.