The beach is back

We spent several days at a beachfront condo on Emerald Isle. Beachfront, imho, is the only way to go for a beach vacation. There is nothing like being able to just run inside to go to the bathroom, grab some water or something to eat, or just get out of the sun, knowing we can come back to the beach without any big to-do. Here are some pictures of the view from deck of the condo we stayed in:







That's Rhett and BonnieBlue in the center of the frame.

We drove over to Beaufort one day...it is the 3rd oldest city in North Carolina (Bath is the oldest, but I don't remember the other) and is famous for being a bit of a homebase for the pirate Blackbeard.

There are several boat tours that operate out of Beaufort. We took one to see "horses and nature." There's an island right across from Beaufort called Carrot Island on which live wild ponies that descended from those shipwrecked from Spanish Galleons. Being that BonnieBlue is a bit of a horse nut, we took the tour. She loved the boat ride and seeing the ponies.

Ponies on Carrot Island as seen from the boat.

While we were watching, the stallion (not pictured here) got a bit frisky with one of his harem. A little bit of live x-rated nature for my 3-year-old daughter to see! 

Ponies also live on Shackelford Island, which the boat drove by. These are all small islands I'm talking about. Shackelford is cool. You can have a boat drop you off and you can spend an hour or a day there. On the way to Shackelford, we also saw dolphins off the bow of the boat, but I couldn't get a good shot. They jumped within 20 feet at one point, but all I got was a fin shot.

We also spent a day at Fort Macon, one of the most amazing civil war sites. Seriously, if you are at all interested in history, Fort Macon is a destination in and of itself.



Rhett and BonnieBlue at Fort Macon



In short, I highly recommend the outerbanks as a vacation destination. After Labor Day, lodging prices drop significantly. We use Emerald Isle Realty, which I highly recommend. We've now stayed at Camp Cottage and Pier Pointe Condos. Sometimes, when I'm having a really stressful day, I go to the site and browse possible beachfront houses/condos at which to stay next time.