I was really glad to get back to the beach just before New Year’s Day.
The number one reason I am happy to be back on the coast is the weather. The Monday before Christmas was a cold one in Roanoke. The temperature dropped to ten degrees Fahrenheit. The winds were unbelievable. It did make shopping a brisk affair.
We had a nice warm New Year’s Day here on the coast. The high temperature that day made it to sixty one degrees Fahrenheit.
Since then, things have gotten even better. Today’s high temperature was sixty-five. It is still fifty-seven degrees at 11 PM on Sunday night. We have four nice days on tap this week before it cools into the fifties on Thursday.
We have had some great blue sky days in contrast to the foggy ones that we saw before the holidays.
The waves with the bright winter sun have shown some very neat colors which are more summer-like than winter-like.
There have not been many opportunities for great sunsets, but I have found lots of nice beach scenes and waves.
An empty beach is nice to see once in a while. Even in winter, the beach does not stay completely empty on a nice day. There are always a few people walking. It is even easier in the winter to lose yourself in beach sounds, smells, and sights.
The period after the holidays was always the hardest time to go back to work in the cities. At least that was the case for me. A week at the beach after the holidays would be a nice transition back to work.
When you get away from the traffic jams and demands of work, it is easy to figure out what is really important.
Life is down to the essentials at the beach in the winter. There are not a lot of distractions, and the beach is still a great place even in the winter when most people forget about it.
My skiff was pretty high and dry that morning, and as you can see from the picture there was some ice in an area protected from the wind.
I am thinking if we stay warm most of this week, it might just be time to take the boat out on the river. I last took a run down almost to Swansboro on December 19.
The Saturday after my boat ride, the temperature got up to seventy five degrees Fahrenheit. I actually put on shorts to load our truck for the trip to the mountains. I snapped this picture on our way out of town at the new Swansboro park on the White Oak.
By the time we got to Roanoke, the temperature had dropped to forty degrees. I put on jeans rather quickly.
Here’s a link to my favorite winter wave picture from this past week. I looking forward to some sunsets this week, if the clouds are right.
January 9 Update-
I finally got to enjoy a nice sunset. I posted a few shots of a White Oak River Sunset. There is also a nice photo of a field of winter wheat. It is nice to see something green growing.
I have started up the 2009 version of my blog on Carteret County. One of the first posts is about dining at one of our favorite local spots, The Fairway.
Why we love it here?
It is hard to say that any place is perfect. There always a balance between what you like and what you don't like. That also changes as you age. At one time I was close to homesteading in Newfoundland.
Today we live in a small subdivision called Bluewater Cove near Cape Carteret. It is what we were looking for in a place to live. It's close to services and close to the beach but not on the beach. We have a dock behind the house and are close to some great trails. I can ride my bike in the neighborhood and not face a lot of traffic.
I can also use my Kayak on the White Oak River and hopefully soon try our new skiff there. The area also has some great festivals like the Newport Pig Cookoff, the Emerald Isle Saint Patrick's Day, and the Swansboro Oyster Roast. We were also impressed with the Emerald Isle Christmas Parade.
It is a friendly area with a great future. So right now it is the spot for us. I often write about the area in my other websites. If you are a very avid reader, you might find some content on multiple sites, but usually the content is fairly specific to the sites.
View from the Mountain
Ocracoke Waves
Active Rain Blog
More Crystal Coast Info
Crystal Coast Blog