IN MY MIND I'M GOING TO CAROLINA...... FOR LESS THAN 24 HRS

This past Saturday afternoon we drove all the way to the tippity end of the North Carolina coast and stayed overnight while on the way to a record buy Sunday. The "Crystal Coast" was mostly deserted but it was still interesting to visit in the cold of winter. For instance, it's not MINDNUMBINGLY hot, which is nice and it's not crawling with people and kids and trash and noise.

One of my favorite things to do in life is drive (let's be honest, Marty's driving- I'm in the passenger seat) into a town or city and just scour it. Marty has this great knack for finding historic main streets, (perhaps from having grown up in one, Danville, VA) and we love to explore them. You do not want to go on long trips with us if getting from point A to point B in record time is your aim however. We like to make lots of stops off the highways and take lots of business and rural routes whenever we can. That and our constant stopping to either get coffee or uhhh.... release coffee make us less than effective on "making great time" on the road. This trip was really quick but we were able to get in 4 towns, a couple of meals and an aquarium visit!

This little fella is an albino baby sea turtle !

Birthplace of Pepsi Cola in New Bern, NC

a very old cemetery and a beach cat

jellies at the aquarium

Washington, NC has a thing for crabs..