Memorial Day Weekend Part 3

Day 3 started out the same!  After enjoying an amazing breakfast of yogurt parfait, sausage and french toast with fruit, we headed off to Oak Island for our Oak Island Lighthouse tour.  I knew the lighthouse had ship ladders to the top since the Coast Guard built it and that's the fastest way for those guys to climb to the top.  I actually pictured the ladders going straight up the side of the lighthouse and that was a little frightening!  I got sweaty palms on the drive over.  HOWEVER...even ladders straight up the side didn't prepare me for what we would face!  There were, indeed, 9 ladders to the top.  And they were angled slightly with handrails.  But, if you were to miss-step or lean backwards, you'd fall off and down to your death!  AHH!  And...instead of climbing at your own pace, there was a group of about 20 of us and we all had to go at the same time.  So, there was no pausing to catch your breath or steady yourself on the landings because as soon as you mastered one, there was another one waiting with people directly in front of you and behind you!  What made it even worse for me is there were kids just climbing up and enjoying it, no fear for them, but I could just see one of them making a wrong move and falling.  It terrified me! 

Looking up at our doom to the top!

Well, we made it to the top!  And we spent awhile on the open gallery walking around the perimeter of the top of the lighthouse and taking pictures.  It was a very slow pace as we were inching along with 20 people crammed up there.  Then I was ready to get the heck down from there!  Going down wasn't as hard and our group going down only had 5 people in it, so I was able to take my time!

I'm so glad we did it, but it is checked off the bucket-list!  I'll stick to old spiral staircases from here on out, thank you very much!

Fun Fact: Oak Island Lighthouse is North Carolina's newest lighthouse.

Our plan was to then drive into Fort Caswell and show Kevin the forts, but the guard told us because it was Sunday, we could only enter after 12 noon and then we couldn't get out of the car to explore.  It was only 10:45am.  So stupid!  I've been to Caswell many-a-time and I just wanted to show him the fort.  Oh well!  We drove over to Oak Island for Sunset Slush and they were closed too. :(  They weren't going to open until 1pm.  So, we decided to go back over to Southport and grab lunch.

We stopped at the Inn to drop the car and then walked over to Howe street and Baked with Love for lunch.  The owner of Baked with Love is friends with our Innkeepers, so we knew we had to try it out.  We randomly stopped at the perfect time because the lunch rush had died down.  Everything was so fresh and tasty!  We finished our meal and walked along the street stopping into shops along the way including the Christmas House where we purchased a few ornaments!

The Inn offers a complementary tour of Southport via golf cart and we hadn't yet cashed in on our tour, so as we were walking by the visitor center we saw Rick (Innkeeper) and asked about the tour.  He was booked for the next two hours even though he had asked for the day off.  So, we went to swing down by the water again and then ambled back to the Inn where we sat on the porch and just relaxed!  Eventually Rick came back from his booked tours and took us for our private tour of Southport!  It was awesome hearing where different movies were filmed and the history of the small town!  It actually came at a great time too because we had been there long enough to see things and wonder about the history already, so we had questions to ask and his stories meant more!

Fun Fact:  Going East from the Inn, the street names are Lord, Howe, I Am, and Dry.  "I Am" is a tiny little ally street and the story goes it was named I Am to fit the little sentence because that's the direction the sailors and townsfolk would walk in search of a drink.

After our tour, we went on a brisk walk back around to most of the sites we had just seen #1 as part of the 5K training and #2 to snap some pictures from the tour route.

From top left to right: Alex's house from Safe Haven, Ivan's Restaurant (really Old American Fish Co.) from Safe Haven, Pilot's Tower (used for the new TV drama "Under the Dome"...Stephen King and Steven Spielberg), "Crimes of the Heart House" from the movie filmed in 1986

We hit up the Inn again for a little "cocktail hour" snack...

...before grabbing some bikes and riding over to a hotdog and ice cream stand where we ordered dinner and walked over to a park covered in live oaks for a concert "British Invasion"...older songs by Brits...the Beetles, Rolling Stones, etc.  It wasn't the best, so before the first half was even complete, we rode back to the Inn and settled in for the night!


Day 4 started out much earlier that I would have liked!  Kevin woke me up early for a 3 mile run before breakfast.  Mile 2 was a beast, but by mile 3, I was cruising and I could have kept going!  Everything was so quiet!  No cars were out and we only encountered a few walkers.  It was just peaceful!  After we got back and showered, we went down like normal for a full breakfast with our new Inn friends of quiche, sausage and parfait.  Except, we all lingered a little longer!  No one really wanted to pack up and leave.  I don't know if it's the fact that we had the extra day on Friday and we had just gotten relaxed or if it's just the slow charming and quiet pace of Southport, but we really felt relaxed and on vacation and we didn't want to face the real world!  It was so hard packing up and saying goodbye!

We stopped by the visitor's center to check out their movie room before hitting the road...back to Oak Island.  I was bound and determined to let Kevin see Fort Caswell and this time we got in!  And were able to get out of the car and explore the fort.

Then...we snuck down to a roped off area that looked like it lead to the water and walked the path until we were on Caswell Beach!  We walked the beach for a little bit and I did some shelling. 

Then it was back to the car and a pit stop at Subway for lunch before making the drive back to Raleigh!

What a GREAT vacation!  Only 4 lighthouses left in NC: Ocracoke, Hattaras, Bodie and Currituck!  That just means more fun vacations on the Outer Banks with my love!

Memorial Day Weekend Part 2

Day two we got up and dressed and went downstairs to enjoy a wonderful breakfast and meet the other couples staying in the Inn.  Breakfast was fruit and quiche and sausage.  It was good amazing!  I had signed us up for a day over at Bald Head Island with a tour of the island and the lighthouse included.  We weren't exactly sure what to expect, so we packed up for the whole day with a cooler full of drinks and snacks, our beach chairs and beach bag, bathing suits, etc.

I'm so glad we talked about our plans at breakfast because another couple was signed up for the same package and they were told to be at the ferry much earlier than we were.  Thank goodness for the Innkeepers because they have a golf cart and they loaded us up and shuttled us to the ferry terminal.  We hopped on the boat and 20 minutes later we were docking at Bald Head Island.  I was sad because we didn't see any dolphins on the way, but my mood quickly changed when I saw the gorgeous houses around the dock on the island!

Once over, we loaded up in an extended golf cart and started our island tour!  We saw Old Baldy from the river-side of the island...West Beach.

Then we got out and walked through the marshes a bit.

There's a 100 year old boat house out there on the marsh...can you spot it?

We viewed the iron "feet" of the skeleton lighthouse that no longer stands, but was named Cape Fear Lighthouse and helped guide boats around Frying Pan Shoals.

We got out at the Private Shoals Club and walked up on their club deck to view South Beach.

And then we saw Old Baldy and got to climb to the top!  I was a little disappointed that you can't walk out on a gallery once you're to the top.  The entire top was enclosed, making photos hard with the reflection off the windows and making it really steamy at the top with not much room!  Oh well!  Another one off the bucket list!

Fun Fact: Old Baldy is the oldest lighthouse in NC and is octagonal with walls 6 feet thick!

Once we climbed back down, we walked over to the church that stands beside Old Baldy.

Pretty stained glass windows and I just LOVED the moss hanging from the trees!

Then we were shuttled back to the dock area and had lunch at Mojo's on the Harbor.  We were starved and it was oh so tasty!

Fish Tacos....YUMMY!

After lunch, we walked over to the bike rental station to rent two bikes.  We really wanted a tandem, but they were all rented.  We changed into our swim suits and off we went biking towards South Beach.  Well...I had it easy...just me and some items in my basket.  Poor Kevin was carrying the backpack with all of our beach items, the cooler full of drinks and snacks and two beach chairs.  He did a great job of balancing it all and pedaling, but at the first beach access sign, I pulled off the main road and declared that we would not go any farther.  I guess technically we were between West Beach and South Beach, but we were definitely in river water and not on the ocean side. 

Regardless...we relaxed on the sand for a few hours before packing up and taking the ferry back to Southport!

Kevin made one call on the ferry and as soon as we arrived, the Inn golf cart was waiting to shuttle us back!  What service!  We showered and enjoyed wine and snacks in the side garden before walking off in pursuit of dinner.

Panorama of the side garden at the Inn.

After 3 meals of seafood, I was craving pizza or something else.  Well, the pizza joint we walked to was closed, so we ended up at Thai Peppers.  Their slogan... "The best kept secret in North Carolina"...WHAT?  We thought you could only eat outside, but the tables were all abandoned with empty plates that hadn't been cleaned off.  Kevin went in to use the bathroom and spotted a booth inside, so he pointed to it and came and got me and I was seated.  When he got back from the bathroom, he told me there was an entire room in the back that was slam-packed with people.  The waitress saw him point and assumed we wanted to sit there, so that's where she sat us and we were none-the-wiser.  That was our first mistake.  Because we were seated at the front, we didn't get any service!  My food was just average, but we felt like we were in the twilight zone!  Everyone coming out of the back room was happy and laughing.  There was a wooden musical instrument at the register and everyone played it on the way out.  I just thought everyone was stoned!  Then, three guys poked their head in and got the attention of a waiter and said, "Yo dude, we just caught some fish.  You wanna cook 'em for us?" and the waiter said "yes".  HUH?  I made eye contact with a guy waiting for a to-go order and we both did a double-take.  WHAT?  It really was the most bizarre dining experience I've ever had!

Kevin proposed with a "ring", made of straw paper, at the Thai restaurant.  If you can't understand them, joint in the crazy!

After all of that, it was time to call it a day!  We walked back to the Inn and went straight to bed!

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day this year, I planned a trip down to Southport, NC.  One of our bucket list items is visiting and climbing all of the NC Lighthouses.  Last year we visited Cape Lookout and had a great time climbing it and exploring the island.

Cape Lookout- June 2012

From Southport, you can visit Old Baldy on Bald Head Island and Oak Island Lighthouse on Oak Island/Caswell Beach and we saw both!  But I'm jumping the gun!  Before I get to that, let me start at the beginning of our trip!

Originally, we planned to leave after work on Friday and drive down to Southport.  That would have put us arriving at 8pm or later and the Innkeepers were okay with that, but check-in was at 3pm.  After thinking about it more and realizing that we could easily take the entire day off, we did just that!  We woke up at a normal hour, packed our stuff and we were on the road by 9am.  Which was perfect because I made reservations for lunch at the Wilmington Tea Room.  You'll remember this post where I visited the tea room with the girls in February.  I had been raving about the seafood bisque and the tower of treats since then and I just wanted Kevin to experience it too, so we went.  He thought I was overselling everything and couldn't believe it was that good until he tried it for himself.  Once again he's the BEST husband in the world!  We were seated between two bridal parties of all women and he was the only man in the room.  He was a little uncomfortable, but he didn't complain too much and really enjoyed the tea.

Here's a picture of the seafood bisque since I devoured mine last time and never got a shot of it!  Yumm-o!

 
Onward from Wilmington to Southport and we arrived around 1pm.  We pulled up in front of the Robert Ruark Inn and asked to use the facilities before walking down to the waterfront and swinging for a good two hours.  It was warm out, but so cool and relaxing in the shade!

Panorama from our swing in the shade overlooking the river!

Then it was back to the Inn and we checked-in and were shown our room: The Charlotte Room, so quaint and comfy!  The stained glass window was just beautiful!

Then we did something crazy!  We changed into our running gear and went on a 2.5 mile run.  We were training for the 5K that we completed June 2nd and we knew we had to get some runs in on vacation!  It was great running around Southport because we were able to see a bit more of the town and it's about a mile from the yacht basin to the graveyard, so we made a big circle and ended back at the Inn!  After a shower, we enjoyed some wine and humus on the front porch while we decided where we should eat for dinner.

Relaxing on the front porch.

Then it was off to the Provision Company and we were not disappointed!  The wait was long, as it should have been since it's the best restaurant in town, and we enjoyed a drink on the docks while we waited! 

The food was delicious and we had a great view of the sunset as we finished our meal.  As we were leaving, we ran into the Innkeepers with some of their family and friends.  They confirmed that it was the best spot in town and we chatted a bit before wandering off.


Sunset from the Provision Company!  Beautiful!


It was a full moon, which in Southport means that the high tide comes in so far that it floods the gravel/sand road by all of the restaurants at the yacht basin.  We thought that was so cool!  So we went walking towards Fishy Fishy and the water to check it out!

Notice the "dock" that the restaurant puts out so folks can walk to dry land during a full moon!


We wound up walking past the filming location of Alex's General Store from the movie Safe Haven, book written by Nicholas Sparks.  Well..I'd read the book months before and really enjoyed it, like I do all of Nicholas Sparks' books.  I don't think it clicked with me that the movie was filmed in Southport until I started researching some restaurants before we left for the trip and found that some were featured in the movie.  I missed seeing the movie on Valentine's Day when it was released and it wasn't yet out on Redbox, BUT the dollar theater in Raleigh was showing it for the last time the night before our trip down to Southport and I jumped on it!  It was meant to be!  The movie didn't start until 10pm and we got out at midnight, but I'm so glad we saw it because it made our trip down so much more enjoyable.  All that's left of Alex's store is a picture of it framed on a wooden sign post.  We debated between ourselves if they had really burnt it down or if that was the magic of Hollywood!  We didn't find out until later on our trip, but the store was built there at the docks across from "Alex's house" and it was burnt down on the spot for the movie!  So crazy!

A picture of the store is all that's left in the spot where it stood while Safe Haven was filming!

After an eventful first day, we walked back to the Inn and turned in early to prepare for our slam packed 2nd day!

Hamburger Stroganoff

My favorite meal from my childhood is my mama's beef stroganoff.  We had it maybe once every other week growing up and those were my favorite evenings!  I took her recipe and started making it for myself in college and then when I lived on my own.  It was one of the first meals I cooked for Kevin when we started dating and something we eat often that he likes!  It's also my "go to" meal to take friends when babies are born!  It's an easy meal to freeze and eat later and everyone seems to love it!  It's one of the few meals that I can kind of "wing".  My style of cooking is very much to follow the recipe exactly instead of getting creative and tossing in a little of this and a little of that.  Kevin is much better with the creative cooking and his creations are always REALLY good!  I can't do that, except with mama's beef stroganoff.

The Ingredients:

*1 lb ground beef
*1/2 cup chopped onion
*3/4 teaspoon salt
*1/4 teaspoon paprika
*1 can mushrooms
*1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (10.5 oz)
*1 cup dairy sour cream (do not use fat free)
*dash pepper
*hot buttered egg noodles (or base of choice...we use white rice...it's all I've ever had and all I ever want with my hamburger stroganoff)

Directions:
Brown the ground beef.

Add onion and cook until tender, but not brown.

Drain off excess fat and add seasoning to meat mixture.
(Be really careful to add the amounts of seasoning that the recipe calls for...I made this for friends with a new baby in February and added 3/4 tablespoon of salt instead of 3/4 teaspoon.  It was WAY too salty.  The good news is I had made another batch for us, so I was going to combine them and save the day.  The bad news is, I had done the same thing to our batch and so they were BOTH WAY too salty!  It was embarrassing!  I do add more paprika than the recipe calls for.  I have a smoked paprika that I just love and it adds an extra kick!)

Stir in soup and mushrooms.

Cook slowly, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring frequently.  If you haven't already, now is the time to get your rice or egg noodles cooking.

Stir in sour cream and heat through- do not boil.
I always guesstimate with the sour cream too.  I know what color the end result is supposed to be, so I just add sour cream until it looks that color.  Sometimes it's a cup, sometimes a cup and a half.  It really depends on how much beef you have.  You know these days it's hard to get exactly 1 lb. of beef in a pack!

Serve over rice or hot noodles and Enjoy!!!

Busy Life!!

I have so much to post from our Memorial Day Weekend trip to new recipes and just life in general, but life itself has just been so busy lately with so many things happening that I haven't even had the chance to sit down and post.

Let me just give you a synopsis of our last 72 hours or so...
I'm on summer hours at Saint Mary's now..so on Friday, I worked from 8am-1pm.  Then I drove over to All Saints Chapel in Raleigh to assist Priscilla with a wedding from 1:20pm-10:00pm.  Kevin was off work at 6pm on Friday and I have no clue what he did except eat dinner and watch tv and then try to shuffle me off to bed as soon as I walked in the door that night.  He was eager to get me into bed because of our early start on Saturday, but I still needed to gather things and prepare myself for the next morning.

The Bride and Groom!

All Saints Chapel Rocking!!

Saturday, we were up at 5am to load furniture in Kevin's car and be at church by 5:45am to unload and set up for our church-wide garage sale for orphans.  We were out there from 5:45am-noon.  Seriously, at 9:30am, I was ready for lunch and thought it had to at least been noon or later!  (Sidebar-but our bible study raised the most money of any group based on items sold and all together, we raised $17,000 for the orphans in Haiti through Help One Now.  Second sidebar-I am not cut out for garage/yard sales!  I feel that my "stuff" is more valuable than people think it's worth and it crushes me when I don't get top dollar...and all of the money was being donated, so I may be greedy, but I'm greedy for the sake of orphans!)
At noon we packed up our unsold wares and went home to unload and grab our pool stuff.  We stopped at Subway for Kevin to grab some lunch and headed to Clayton to swim with Jamie and Billy and their kids for the next few hours.  We were there until 7pm and had a BLAST!  We did not want to leave! 
However, at 7pm, we had to pack up and drive back to Raleigh to the Oakwood neighborhood to deliver a piece of furniture that we sold.  We drove home and remembered we had been invited to our neighborhood block party, that we had forgotten about, but drove right into!  So, we parked, walked over to talk to the neighbors and grab some food and spent about an hour out there.  We finally made it inside, showered, lathered Kevin up with Aloe because he was FRIED from a day in the sun with no sunscreen, and went to bed....

Hayden was attached to Kevin all day.  She just loves him!

 Only to wake up at 7am (I think Kevin got up at 6am since he had to get to church early to set up the parking lot) to park cars at church.  We parked from 9am-1pm, packed up and Kevin finished his Team Leader duties while I ran to the mall for a quick trip to Loft (I had a coupon that was expiring that day).  Somehow that turned into over an hour of shopping in Loft, but I grabbed my bags and went home to eat.  Thankful that Kevin had cooked lunch!  I ate, napped for about 2 hours and then we got up and dressed and drove 30 minutes to Wakefield for the 2nd Annual Catchin' Fireflies 5K that we've been training for for about 2 months.  We didn't run until 7:30pm, so there was a bit of waiting around after registration.  The hills were killer and it was so hot and humid out, but we both finished strong!  By the time we left there it was 9pm and we had a 30 min. drive home.  We both showered and then it was time for bed.  Forget dinner or catching a quick show on tv.  And we didn't care because we were so exhausted!

After the race..the street lights look like "fireflies"!

This morning we both slept in a little bit, but it was still off to work.  And that, my friends, is the last 72 hours of our life!  Whew!  How do we do it?  I don't know, but I hope to slow down this week a bit so I can post things I've been meaning to post for the last few weeks!  Happy June!! (HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???)