The warm weather has disappeared from the Crystal Coast this past week. Since those long ago sixties that we saw on Monday and Tuesday, we have struggled to even get into the fifties.

I felt sorry for the folks working on the Emerald Isle bridge yesterday. It was definitely cool in the wind. We got a chance to view a number of houses on Emerald Isle yesterday and the day before.

It amazes me how nice homes that there are in the area. One home turned out to be a real surprise. The people selling their home had just bought a home just up the street from us at Bluewater Cove.

We did take the time to stop and hike the wonderful trail at Emerald Woods. I'll try to get up a site with some pictures of that this evening. By the time we hiked down to the sound at around 5pm, the temperature had dropped to 39 degrees Fahrenheit. I had hoped to catch the sunset there, but my wife disappeared on me. She headed back into the woods to get out of the constant wind.

I convinced her to ride over to the Point at Emerald Isle which is where I snapped this shot. It was 36 degrees when I got back in the car. It felt great to warm my hands up a little.

It was good practice for this morning when the temperature got down to 20 degrees.

We have had some really warm weather recently. Monday and Tuesday, the temperatures were in the mid to upper sixties. With those temperatures in mid-February, the Crystal Coast was an even nicer spot than usual.

I snapped the picture to the left of the Swansboro bridge disappearing into the fog on Tuesday afternoon. I think the air was so warm that fog was forming just a few feet above the surface of the water. It made for an interesting picture. Earlier in the morning the sky had been a beautiful Carolina blue. The surface of the water leading to the White Oak River was also dead calm.

Later in the afternoon, we headed over to Emerald Isle to preview homes which are listed by Bluewater GMAC, the firm where I am a new Broker. We have some great houses listed over on the beach. This is the view from the upper deck of one of our listings over by the point at Emerald Isle. Now is a great time to be looking at beach property. Mortgage rates are low and many people are still waiting to jump back in the market. There is also plenty of inventory to view. The best properties always go first so don't wait if you're interested.

I have been surprised by my how many homes are rented this time of year. I think it is a great time to be at the beach, but I guess I thought I was the only one with that thought. I have had to wait to view a number of homes because they were occupied with renters.

I love all the small restaurants here which typically have far better food than your average chain restaurants. Tonight my wife and I had a special Valentine's dinner at Floyd's 1921 on Bridges Street in Morehead City. It's only 20-25 minutes from Cape Carteret. I had the Prime Rib, and Glenda, my wife, had the baked stuffed Salmon. Everything we ate was delicious. The service was excellent. We'll be going back, and I'll write a review once I've been a few times.

The weather will cool off over the next two days. We may even struggle to get few degrees about forty Fahrenheit on Friday. Still, we can't complain very much since the Valentine's Day Blizzard of 2007 was just some nighttime rain here on the coast. Some rain is a lot better than twelve feet of snow.

When I got up this morning, it didn't take long to figure out that the temperature had dipped below freezing. There was ice on Raymond's Gut which leads out to the White Oak River. Still it didn't take long to warm up. We decided to do another visit to T&W's Oyster Bar for their Sunday brunch. It was well worth the trip. The food was great, and there were a number of people there so business is good.

With warmer temperatures of fifty predicted for the afternoon, we decided to head out for some more hiking in Croatan National Forest. We had done part of the Tideland trail on Saturday, but we started so late it was a little cool to contemplate finishing the bigger loop. Today we got to the park in plenty of time to enjoy the warmth of the early afternoon sun.

We had a nice leisurely hike around the larger trail loop which takes you through the maritime woods and along the shore marshes. We stopped several times to take pictures and to say hello to a few new canine friends. In addition to the website with pictures from yesterday, I put up another website with some additional trail shots from today including one of the not so rare black-backed swimming cheetos eater. Lots of people were hiking today, but there was still plenty of room on the trail.

Tomorrow the temperatures are supposed to get into the sixties. I guess that will mean going for a hike on the beach.