Short visit to the East Coast

Charlie chooses his Halloween pumpkin

We left Denver on October 18 and headed for the East Coast.  As we have noted many times, it is hard to leave Bryn, Grant and Charlie.  We had a wonderful farewell dinner with them the night before we left.  It will be three months before we are back in Denver, and we know that Charlie will have grown and changed--but he doesn't seem to forget us, fortunately.

Our primary motivation for going East was to share a week at the Southern Outer Banks, more specifically Emerald Isle, NC, with some longtime friends.  We like going to the NC beaches in the Fall--for us it is the best time to visit.  The weather is almost invariably mild, the water remains warm, and the beaches are much less hectic and crowded. At Emerald Isle, we have found a lovely rental house, Breezy Cottage, that seems to suit us well.

Breezy Cottage

The gang, in part

It is big (six bedrooms) but not gigantic.  It is perfect for eight to ten people to gather, but also provides a variety of spaces for quiet reading or napping.

Breezy has two decks, a screened in porch, a large dining area and a comfortable living room as well.  It also has a great kitchen where three or four people seem to be able to work without getting in each other's way. It is so perfect, a number of us have committed to returning for another visit next October.

Bob & Mike

This year we were joined by Mart and Bob Larson, Mike and Marcia Mayo, and Blythe Tennent.  We have known Mart & Bob for more than thirty years; our children were in pre-school together.  Mike was Larry's college roommate; he met Marcia in their sophomore year, and all of us worked at the UNC-Chapel Hill Undergraduate Library together (where Larry and Sue met 45 years ago).

Blythe worked with Larry at East Carolina University and she and Sue were walking buddies. So we hoped we would all be compatible. Fortunately, the chemistry seemed to work incredibly well for the entire group. Missing was our friend Nan; house renovations gone amuck kept her from joining us.

Sue & Marcia

One of the delights was taking turns preparing the evening meals; it would not be exaggerating to say that a number of gourmet meals resulted, and certainly no one lost weight during the week. The wine flowed generously, a number of the evenings saw some pretty competitive dominoes games; Bob dominated the pool games among the boys, and all of us enjoyed long walks along the seashore.

Sun & water

When the tide is out, the beach is wide and flat making for easy walking.  Only Sue was brave enough to swim-the water was remarkably warm and the waves were quite gentle.  But sitting on the beach, with your face to the sun was an activity we all could enjoy.

Sunrise on Emerald Isle

Shells on the beach

Time seems to flow a little bit differently at the seashore.

At first, the days are languid, and you tell yourself that you  have all the time in the world to enjoy each sunrise and sunset and all of the bright and sunny days in between--but then all of a sudden it is Saturday, and you are beginning to pack up and getting ready for the Sunday morning exit.

It was a truly idyllic interlude that seemed all too short--but knowing we will be back next year made the leaving not too sad.

NB:  Mike is an author whose writings can be found on Amazon under Michael Mayo.  His novel, Jimmy the Stick is "a novel of suspense" set in the late 20's and early 30's.  It is a marvelous read and we highly recommend it and not just because we love Mike !

Maury starting his tour 

Leaving the beach, we drove to Louisburg, NC for a very short visit with some other friends from our ECU days--Dru and Maury York. They have moved to this little town and bought and remodeled a small, but delightful house in the old part of town.

Part of Maury's job with Louisburg College is to work with the community to enhance tourism and welcome visitors.  On the day of our visit, we were treated to Maury's inaugural Louisburg Tour--it was lots of fun learning about the town's very interesting history and architecture. Dru is an architectural expert and we enjoyed Maury deferring to her at times to describe what we were seeing as we studied some of the buildings on the tour.  Our time with them both was delightful.

After an overnight stay with Mike and Marcia in their new house in Chapel Hill, we flew to Atlanta for a short visit with Larry's Mom and extended family.  All seem well and it is always fun to see the grand nieces and nephew, catch up with everyone's lives and enjoy the beautiful GA countryside. Larry's Mom is 86; lives on her own and thankfully seems very healthy.  Her life is full with church, volunteer work and family.

We flew out of the Atlanta airport to Mexico City on Halloween day.  Our flight was uneventful until we arrived in Mexico City, and discovered our two checked bags didn't come with us.  The airline and its employees (Air Tran/Southwest) were very helpful.  The bags finally made it to us in San Miguel four days later. (In every life a little rain must fall.) We are now comfortably settled in San Miguel and are creating memories each day.  Come visit and you can show up in our next blog !

We'll be back next year, ready for the next Bocce Ball tournament.