Ok, so now to play catch
up with the blog writing. I’ll think back to Day 5 and try not to leave
anything out…
We woke up at the
Courtyard Ballantyne ready to roll to Holden Beach and our North Carolina
friends. It would be Week 2 for seeing The Mayor and the Fieldseseses.
Hopefully, they aren’t tired of us yet, because they have five more days of us
plus our baggage.
We purchased our GPS,
aka Karen, in 2005 and have very rarely had any directional issues with it even
though we have never updated the maps. Every time I’ve powered it up since
2006, I’ve gotten the “update the maps for $1,000,000” message. A $70
investment back then seemed a little pricey and we continued to reach our
destinations unabated, so we continued to ignore the message. However, last
year on the way to Holden Beach, Karen freaked out for about 20 minutes with
her constant and belligerent “RECALCULATING!” because that portion of the highway was newly constructed since our nearly seven year-old purchase. Whatever Karen. Eventually she caught
back up with 74 and all was well. The same thing happened this year and it
brought yet more joy. Add to that some downpours along the way and we had an
awesome trek back to the beach.
Once we reached Supply,
North Carolina, the location of The Mayor’s beach place, memory kicked in and
we found it rather easily. We even recalled when Karen wanted us to turn down a
seemingly non-existent dirt road. Oh the memories.
 |
| Saw this bit of awesomeness on the way into town |
Just outside of town
was a location of the South’s gift to ‘Merica, Bojangles, and we were going to
stop since A) we had not yet consumed lunch foodstuffs and B) because Brother
Peter hadn’t emptied his bladder for 29 minutes. Once they realized how close
we were to the beach, however, all hunger and need for liquid waste excretion vanished
in exchange for the mere notions of sunscreen, the smell of sea air and sand
between one's toes. So off to The Mayor’s we headed and he immediately led us to
the apartment that our new friends, Jane and Randy, offered us for the week. Julia
and Brother Peter changed into beachwear faster than a NASCAR lap and they were
off to the crashing waves and rip currents of the Atlantic. Add to that the fact
that Julia would soon be reunited with her favorite form of entertainment from
last year’s trip, also known as Kylie, and all was right with their world.
Before I continue, just
a word about Jane, Randy and Ashton… Other than Mr. Randy’s absurd Kansas City
Royals fandom, these people rock like a Halen concert. First The Mayor and fam,
then the Aldridges last year, and now the Fieldseseses – what gives with North
Carolina folks and their extremely kind and welcoming nature towards Midwestern
Yankees? All we did was direct them to good eats in Saint Louis (Crown Candy,
Bommarito’s, Ted Drewes, McGurk’s) and point them in the right direction for relatively
cool stuff to do. In return, they find lost cemeteries of my people, add to my
baseball collections and hook us up with super awesome beach accommodations. That
doesn’t even take into account introducing me to fatback and the world’s best
peach cobbler. Hardly seems fair. Maybe Cousin Don is right…maybe we will
move here someday…
As Julia and Brother
Peter headed off to the choppy waters, The Mayor and I headed out pickin’. That
is, visiting antique stores/malls, consignment shops, flea markets, used book
stores, etc., in search of the next T-206 Honus Wagner, Ming vase or Van Gogh
painting for next to nothing. While the word “pickin’” has a bit of a redneck/hick
sound to it, I much prefer it over the term “antiquing,” which is indicative of
what 80 year-old women do when in search of costume jewelry. To be clear, that
is something I do not do.
After a few hours of
perusing and haggling, we headed back to round up the clan to go out for supper to
celebrate Payton’s 14th birthday. Payton is the elder girl child
belonging to Kellie and Vernon, with Kylie being her younger, more caffeinated sister.
Payton feigned disinterest in both her birthday and the impending celebration
of it, so it was decided that she would be presented with the Homer hat
bestowed upon me by Cousin Cindi the night prior. Much amusement was provided
and enjoyed by all. What was especially humorous was the singing of “Happy
Birthday.” Payton was both horrified and happy with the attention showered upon
her, but I still managed to grab a few photos for purposes of embarrassment.
Oh the joys…and it was
only our first day at the beach…
To see the photos of
the day, click HERE.
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