We had great weather all the way on the drive down and for once we hit no construction zones. But we paid for that good fortune the next day.
The skies opened up and rain issued forth like racist comments at a conservative political meeting. The rain that fell wasn't light summery rain, it was soul deadening rain that would make lesser people tear their hair out and commit suicide. Actually, it didn't rain so much as it gushed water from the skies.
But despite moisture, some brave souls still went about their beach business.
And some fat bastards didn't give a damn if it rained or not, they had missed going to the beach last year because of they were in the midst of buying a house and packing and moving so they weren't going to let a little liquid sunshine stop their fun. (That photo of yours truly was actually taken on Thursday morning. Yes, it rained then too.)
No, we didn't go in Monkey Bar & Grill but I was glad to see Atlantic Beach is getting more classy as the years go by. What we did do when the rain was falling was go sightseeing, go to antique stores, go to the movies, hang out, and read.
When the sun was out I not only went to the beach, I went into the future as well. I journeyed to the year 2050 and there I saw on the beach blog bud ReRe and her husband James. I did not talk to them because I did not want to break the time space continuum. Any sci fi fan knows you don't fuck with the time space continuum.It didn't rain on Wednesday so we spent the day on the beach in the sun and in the ocean. Thursday it was overcast so we got in the car and drove around and we made our way to the Down East/Sea Level area. Yes, there is actually a town named Sea Level, well it's not a town really so much as it's a wide place in the road. It's an non tourist area and it's loaded with great old derelict buildings like this one:
After taking in the sights of Sea Level and Cedar Island, we drove back to civilization and got some lunch at this place:
Despite the odd name, it's a decent place to eat, as long as you stick to dishes that are their strength that is, dishes like deep fried seafood, she crab soup, and hush puppies. We had a massively good late lunch and we ate enough deep fried food to last me for the year but man oh man was it good.
The sun finally came out to stay on Friday so we spent the day once again on the beach under our canopy. And boys and girls, canopies are the way to go on the beach. Umbrellas break and get taken off in gusts of wind but canopies stay put and you can move in and out of the shade when you feel like it. The sunny days that we spent on the beach, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday made us forget all about the cold and rainy days like this one:
The surf was a little high on Saturday but it didn't stop us or this cute little family from enjoying the beach:
On one of our trips into Morehead City we spotted this scene:
I half expected to see those birds begin to attack people while Tippi Hedren ran screaming down the street. Luckily, I didn't see that but I did see this scary sight:
Damn Bill Collector, he follows me where ever I go, even on vacation! He won't give a monkey a break. But we still had a nice time despite him.If you agree that we had a good time Sparky, stand in the cold rain with your arms out above your sides.
Now, there you go. Would Sparky lie? We had a good time at the beach, as we always do, but we're both glad to be home. And now here's some useless lists:Seafood eaten on Beach Trek 2009:
- flounder
- scallops
- shrimp
- mahi-mahi
- grouper
- tuna
- crab
- oysters
- Julie & Julia
- Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
- Pepper by Amal Naj
- In The Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee Allen
After our cheap ass made in China beach umbrellas bit the dust on Sunday we went to Wal Mart, I know I know "Mr. I hate Wal Mart with a passion and so should you" went to Wal Mart after telling you to boycott them for months. Well, I had to, I was out voted. Anyway we went and bought a beach canopy and it was the best damn sun protection, outside of sunscreen that we've ever used. (While we were in Wal Mart a female voice came over the intercom and said, "I need a male member of management to help a customer load something heavy. I repeat I need any male member..." Before she could finish I was laughing my ass off and my gf said, "Calm down, Mom and Dad are with us Mr. Smart Ass.")
Now, notice that this fat bastard, me, is not wearing his bucket hat that he bought specifically to wear at the beach. Notice also how I could stand to lose about 50 pounds. Yeah, yeah, one of you smart asses is saying that I could lose ten ugly pounds by chopping off my head, funny. Real funny. Leave the jokes to me. This is my blog after all. Just for that insolence, you get an extreme close up of me:
Don't feed me or I'll follow you home. Notice how red my nose is. It got blistered over the next two days. From what you ask? Why fishing of course!
Here's the gf's Dad with one of the many Blue Fish he caught and that we later filleted and cooked and ate.
Here's the biggest fish I caught. It looks small but it was about 13 and a half inches long and it weighed about 3 pounds. Unfortunately I had to toss it back because it was under the size limit. Had it been another inch long I would have filleted it and we would have ate it. That was the biggest fish I was to catch all week. The rest I caught we small fish that we used for cut bait.
However Sleepy, the gf's sister, stepped up and caught a shit load of Bluefish. And the ho even caught a flounder that we filleted.
This one barely measured out and we cooked him later. She and her Dad caught a bunch more Flounders but they had to toss them back because they were under the size limit.
This was from about half way through the first day's fishing. Later we turned them into this:
After soaking the Bluefish and the Flounder in Buttermilk the gf's Mom breaded them lightly and fried them. They were mmmm mmmm good.
And the famous pastel houses of Atlantic Beach.
Actually these houses are for rent and I checked into renting one of them. It turns out $5000 a week is a bit out of our price range. But the condo we stayed in was super nice anyway. It was spacious, clean, and tastefully decorated.
Well there was one gal who started to write "Politits" but I told her that a shark was eating her kid so she ran off. And there was another chick who started to write "FranIam" but when I started to cry she quickly changed it to "Never What You Think It Should Be." I gave her five bucks to change it so she did and I took the picture above before she could change her mind. 
First up is a video from Brazilian songstress Bebel Gilberto. The phrase "Hubba, hubba," was invented for Ms. Gilberto.
And we'll be in this very condo complex.
And I'll be wearing lots of this:
Hell, I'm gonna go load 'em now so I don't forget.