Off to the Outer Banks ...

Unfortunately, it's not me going to the Outer Banks ... Fishersville Mike and his family are heading that way. I'd love to smuggle into his vehicle and go, too. It makes me remember many childhood (and adult) memories of spending family vacations at Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Duck, Pea Island, Hatteras....

Those sand dunes are oh-so-familiar and in August there will be sand-hot-enough-to-burn-your-feet ... sea oats waving in the breeze ... sea gulls circling overhead with their high-pitched screeches ... waves crashing on the beach as hermit crabs scurry here and there in the sand ... a blue horizon with puffy white clouds ... far-off ships at sea barely visible from shore ... and bright, bright sunshine along with hot "like-summer-at-the-beach-should-be" temperatures.

Throughout our years of vacationing at the beach, evenings would often find us climbing THE sand dune ... Jockey Ridge ... followed with ice cream at one of the local stands.

Or we would plan a day trip to Ocracoke Island and ride the ferry from Hatteras with the wind in our faces as we stood on deck while our vehicle was ferried across the waterway ... then we would roam the sandy lanes of the island, something we knew like the back of our hand because it's not that big, and we would have lunch at a local eatery or picnic at the beach. When at Hatteras, we always climbed the light house steps to look out over the sea from the deck at the top.

On rainy days we might wander over to Manteo, always making a stop at The Christmas Shop ... or stop in at the Wright Brothers museum at Kill Devil Hills. Evenings sometimes meant going to Manteo to see The Lost Colony, the famous outdoor drama about Virginia Dare and the lost colonists.

For groceries or forgotten items or fishing bait there was Calhoun's and Wink's along the beach highway but for the past 20 years there have been "real" grocery stores such as Harris-Teeter and Food Lion.

One summer our church youth group from Richmond was invited to sing at an entertainment facility known as The Circus Tent, a huge tent that served all kinds of ice cream treats while offering wholesome family entertainment. I believe it was a project of some of the churches in Kitty Hawk and the surrounding area. Our group of 100 teenagers that made up the "Good News" Christian musical entourage sang and entertained guests in the summer of whatever-year-it-was, a special memory to me. Not only did we get to spend our evenings singing ... but we got to spend our days on the beach. It was a wonderful opportunity that we remember to this day.

Now grown with children of my own, we have backtracked many times the paths of my childhood so my kids would know and love the Outer Banks.

So Fishersville Mike is off to the beach, leaving me behind in a sea of memories. I know he and his family will have a wonderful time ... there are no hurricanes on the horizon ... just the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. I can almost smell the Coppertone from here....

Update: Heard from Mike Saturday night (see comments) and he has wireless at the beach. That's perfect! He can keep blogging and maybe -- just maybe -- he will post photos of his surroundings.