Coastal

Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge

Washington Baum Bridge

Finally we reached the coast. And not just any coast. A tiny fragment of land lying out, rather audaciously, in the Atlantic ocean. You gain access to the Outer Banks across a series of cement ribbons that stretch across river inlets and bays and connect you to this sand spit. The same audacious place where the Wright Brothers took their leap of faith. It feels so much better to be here. I can't really explain it… but being on the edges of the continent has this calming effet on me. Being all bunched up in the South was just not feeling right.

North Carolina Beach Dining . . .

. . .versus typical inland stuff

Motels: Sort of a crap shoot. There we were… months ago… booking places to stay. Using various methods, none of which are really reliable, to select a spot. Now here we are, in Kill Devil Hill, and we got a gem. A slightly run down, but not seedy, place on the ocean's rim. Kind of old fashioned fifties with a view of the water. The smell here is an amalgam. As soon as we started getting oceanward, I noticed this odd, burnt smell in the air. In my usual paranoid reaction, I thought it was our baby Versa burning up, but the odor was much more malodorous and organic then what a car might emit. When we checked in at our wonderful abode by the sea, I asked the desk person what was going on, and she said there has been an ongoing peat bog fire. It started, months ago, on the surface, and was a wild fire at first, but that was extinguished; yet the underlying peat continues to smolder. The smell is rather pervasive, but not totally unpleasant. Perhaps they will need a hurricane to put it out, it but a hurricane here would be not so good. The land does not rise much over the water.

So --- we are happily checked into our little bed for the night. We found a local seafood establishment with the unappealing name of "Awful Arthur's" down the road where we managed to snag some seats at the bar and got to eat very yummy seafood, including grilled locally caught tuna, spiced shrimp, oysters, steamed clams and a crab cake. And, oh yes, some hush puppies and a couple of fat martinis. We enjoyed the casual beach culture that consists of families with way too many children, callow youth, and romancing couples. The bar tender, Milo, was a real pro. Sitting at the bar can be quite fun as long as you can remain perched upon your stool.

Okay -- tomorrow we head to the bosom of our family. We will be staying with JD's sisters who each have a place on the DelMarVa Peninsula and my brother and his wife will come down form Brooklyn to stay as well. It will be s sibling reunion. We are all Jews with not that many relatives, so for the next few days we will rally our meager tribe in one place and eat vast quantities of traif. If we don't write again for a few days, don't worry, but now we are pretty much addicted to pouring our thoughts out and will probably continue to regale you with our ongoing antics.

Andrea