Duck Beach, North Carolina

January through May was a pretty hellish time for me at work. I was working anywhere from 60-80 hour weeks (more of the later), I hadn't had time to make many friends and so I was very lonely, I didn't have time to do the things I loved (reading, running, my church calling, being with friends, sleeping) and... well it goes on. At the end of April my friend called me up with the crazy idea (I'll explain why crazy in a minute) to go to North Carolina for Memorial Day weekend and I didn't feel an ounce of excitement. I rather would have spent the entire weekend curled up in my bed sleeping. Luckily this unheard of reaction to a trip startled me and I let my friend tell me more about the trip and convince me to go and I am so glad I did because this was just what I needed.

Turns out there is this HUGE "unofficial" gathering of LDS Single Adults at Duck Beach, North Carolina every Memorial Day weekend and she wanted to go check it out. She did some research and talked to people she knew and we ended up in a beach house with a group of people from Washington D.C. as well as a few stragglers from New York and Connecticut.

A week before the trip I mentioned to a friend of ours, Paige, what Melinda and I were soon to be off to do and asked if she wanted to come. The next day she had her plane ticket and added to the fun of the trip. Plus it would be her birthday while we were on the trip and what better way to spend it than exploring a new place with friends. I love it when someone is willing to drop everything for an adventure. It gave me an extra exhilarating jump!

After some research and price comparing we decided it was cheaper, and involved less driving, to fly into Norfolk, Virginia Airport. This was a smaller airport but I liked it because it was easy to get in and out of there and again... it was a shorter drive to get to Duck Beach.

Our first night in Duck Beach one of the houses with the "group" threw a dance party. We're talking DJ, colorful lights, glow sticks... the works.... on the beach. We had such a blast! Even though it was late in the evening and back home it would be cold, the night was warm and humid. We danced our little hearts out, which was HARD to do on the sand but every so often we would stop and laugh and say something like, "We're dancing on the BEACH! By the OCEAN! Under the STARS!" It was surreal. We were one of the very last people on the beach dancing.

At the house we read books on the porch swing, swam in the pool, hung out in the hot tub, made up games on the pool table, watched movies, ate big meals with the group and played one of the best games of double's sand volleyball I have every played (ok, this was the ONLY time I have played doubles but it was a blast).

Beach House Sea Calls

The only LDS church in the Outerbanks prepares for this weekend by holding church in the local High School. The ward house is not big enough to hold the Memorial Weekend LDS population. After church the we visited the Write Brother's Exhibit, as it was right across the street from the High School. It was fun to learn about their failures and successes and to see the place where airplanes were tested over and over again until they found success.

"If we worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true really is true, then there would be little hope for advance." - Orville Wright

Besides hanging out at our beach house we also spent the other days at the beach and riding wave runners in the bay. The water in the ocean was just the right kind of warm. The sand was ridiculously hot but once you laid down on it with a towel it was perfect with the warm underneath you and the ocean breeze evening out the temperature.

 Pathway to the beach

Watching the sunset and taking pictures with our new friends

Late Night Giggles: Our last night in the Beach House we stayed up late watching movies, talking just as friends and singing Happy Birthday to Paige at Midnight. When we finally decided to go to bed Paige and I went to our room and Melinda went to her room. As Paige and I were getting ready for bed I all of a sudden got the ridiculous idea that we should go run into Melinda's room and jump on her; of course Paige was on board. We sneaked out of our room and went running down the hall, threw open Melinda's door, flipped on her light and went flying onto her bed. She screamed, we laughed... and then we all laughed. We couldn't stop laughing and finally got to a point where, in the middle of shrill giggles and laughter, we were saying things like, "What on earth are we doing, we are 26 years old." The next morning one of the guys told us how he had heard us run down the hall and jump on the bed and then burst into fits of laughter. He was on his way marching up the stairs to pretend yell at us, "You girls get back in bed!" when he realized, "These are grown women. I can't scold them." And then he heard us saying, "We're 26-years-old" and he thought, "Oh good, they realize it themselves." We all had a good laugh about this.

26 and still happily taking jumping pictures... maybe not as well when we were 20

Since we did all of our cooking at the Beach House we didn't really get to experience any North Carolina cooking but we did make one great find, Duck Doughnuts! Just a delicious brand of Doughnuts famous in the area.

Like I said, this trip was needed. I needed the laughter, the break, the sleep, the warmth, the silliness, the adventure and I needed these friends. There is something about travel where it gives you a break from reality but it also gives you time to put it back in perspective.

The Outerbanks (the strip of land of North Carolina where Duck Beach is at) was beautiful and it is now a new favorite. I can't wait to go back and explore more of the beaches and more of North Carolina as a whole.