[Jim Price]

VACATION RECAP 8/9/08

It had finally arrived! My vacation week was here! It had been a hectic summer for me thus far, and although I had burned a few individual vacation days here and there, I had not had a long-term vacation since last year’s sojourn to North Carolina’s Outer Banks almost 51 weeks prior. (I had not done the late-winter Florida trek this year due to scheduling problems.) I was ready!

FRIDAY 8/1

Our departure. We had again rented a beach house in Kitty Hawk; in fact, the same one we rented last year, “Steele Away 2.” We would eventually arrive there on the morrow. This night, the destination was the Days Inn in Newport News, Virginia, where we would overnight before doing the last stretch of the journey. The initial travel contingent included Sparky D’Engineer as wheelman with yours truly, and our friends Rocky and Kate driving along from Hollidaysburg. Other members of the vacation entourage, including Big Jim and Kate’s friend Pauline, would make the journey down later in the weekend.

I had logged a very late night before to get things in order at the workplace during my absence, and had to rise early the next morning to pack and take care of other tasks. So I warned Sparky early on that I would probably zonk out and sleep through most of Virginia.

Following our departure after 8 PM, our first destination after leaving Altoona and Hollidaysburg was to drop off Rocky’s dog, Rambo, at Rocky’s mother’s residence near Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. I had heard many stories about Rambo’s antics beforehand; this night, I would witness them in person! This pint-sized dog was a wild whirlwind of a mutt, bouncing off walls and at the end of his chain like a superball in an earthquake! What a crazy dog!

With Rambo secured at his temporary new digs, we set off for the next stop on our journey, the pre-vacation victory meal at the Waffle House in Winchester, Virginia. Say what you will about these places, but I like the food, it’s cheap, and the Waffle House coffee is always great! And you’ve got to like an eatery that has its own themed songs on the jukebox! Waffle House has at least 8 or 9 of their own “hits” on the jukebox; watching the wait staff cringe when you pop coins into the box to play them is a treat!

Bellies now filled on Waffle House cuisine, we continued our journey through Virginia. Other than dodging the occasional Bambi or two on the side of the road (deer on Virginia roads are still pretty bad), the rest of the journey was pretty uneventful. We again noted what great condition the Virginia highways were in compared to Pennsylvania’s torture track highways. We saw an impressive lightning strike from a nearby storm while passing near Fredericksburg, Virginia. We arrived at our hotel destination at around 4:30 AM, and quickly were into slumberland to rest up for the next day.

SATURDAY 8/2

We were up and away from the hotel by 12 noon. Under normal traffic conditions, the road trip from Newport News to Kitty Hawk should take a little over 2 hours. However, Saturday is a heavy traffic day in this section of the world during midsummer. During the first half of the day, vacationers who have finished their Outer Banks stays are making the mass exodus out of North Carolina and northward, so the northbound traffic is heavy. But as the day progresses, the new vacationers arriving for their next week’s stays steadily increase, so southbound traffic reaches crawl status by midday, and gridlock abounds through the afternoon hours. Such was again the case today; it took us over 4 hours to get to Kitty Hawk, plus it was hot this day, with temperatures reaching the upper 90’s (the temperature gauge in Sparky’s Pathfinder read 105 degrees at one point) – our air conditioners got the workout!

Along the way, we did our usual stopover at the famous tourist trap in this part of the world, The Border Station, located right on the Virginia-North Carolina border along Route 158. We grabbed a bite to eat, browsed the souvenirs, and watched the backup of lines on either side of the store, as people lined up to buy Virginia or North Carolina lottery tickets.

Rocky, Kate and Sparky outside The Border Station.

We arrived at Kitty Hawk at around 4:30, and obtained the keys to the beach house, the Steele Away 2. We unpacked and settled in. The relaxation had begun!

As was the case last year, Kate offered to be our in-house cook for the week. Kate not just volunteered – she had already set the meal schedule for the week, and we were primed for some excellent eats! This night’s cuisine was lasagna, with steamed zucchini (picked directly from yours truly’s garden before the trip) – delicious!

Shortly before dinner, the next part of our vacation contingent arrived; Kate’s friend Pauline, and her boyfriend Joe.

Following dinner, we sat out on the front deck and took in the view and sound of the ocean across the road. We noted the skies darkening to the south of us, and then to the north. Thunderstorms were approaching. We saw lightning in the distance, and although we got a brief shower from one of them, neither storm gave us a direct hit. But both storms provided our entertainment for much of the rest of the evening once they headed out over the ocean. Both storms seemed to intensify over the Atlantic, resulting in a continuous display of cloud-to-cloud lightning! We saw a few lightning arcs here and there, but mostly clouds blinking on and off like Christmas lights – way cool! I broke open my first can of Genny Cream Ale, and sat and enjoyed the show!

Late Saturday night, after the initial fireworks had drifted far off over the sea, we headed to a supermarket to load up on supplies for the week. We hit up a local Food Lion, and since supermarkets can sell alcohol in North Carolina, I procured a good-sized bottle of sangria. Along with the two cases of beer I already had at the house, I was set!

Upon returning from the store, another thunderstorm pushed through the area and out to sea, before I finished the night in front of the tube. (Fuzzy Bunny Slippers was playing up the road at Kelly’s in Nags Head, but we were tired from the long journey and passed on going there. Hell, I was on vacation!) I finally got to see Titanic for the first time. I didn’t know Lenny DeCaprio bought the farm at the end of the movie! (Sorry if I spoiled it for you…oh well, we already knew that the boat sank at the end!)

SUNDAY 8/3

It didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out what the first order of business was this day, our first full day at the beach house…THE BEACH! By early afternoon, I had set up shop, with folding chair, beach blanket, sunscreen, radio…and a book.

As was the case last year, I planned to get caught up on some reading while at the Outer Banks, and had brought two books along. The first one I would tackle was written by a musician, Pittsburgh’s Bill Deasy. I started into Bill’s first published novel, Ransom Seaborn. This turned out to be an interesting book, full of unusual twists and turns, and a sad and bizarre ending. The story follows the main character, Dan Finbar, as he enters college and soon befriends the book’s title character, the eccentric Ransom Seaborn. But Ransom brutally exits the story shortly into the book, leaving behind a leather-bound writer’s journal and his surviving parttime love interest, Maggie. Dan and Maggie explore the journal together in search of answers, and along the way learn about Ransom’s soul and about themselves. I liked Bill Deasy’s ability to paint pictures with words, as he describes various characters and settings throughout the book’s course. I breezed through this book in two days; it kept me riveted, and was a fascinating read!

After logging several hours of beach and ocean time (the ocean waters were calm, the norm for most of the week), I returned to the beach house in late afternoon and awaited supper. Kate’s main dish this day was chicken marsala. Kate also had a knack for making salads, and one of her best was a salad with mandarin oranges, almond slices, topped with a sweet herbal dressing. To die for!

The next member of our vacation entourage, Big Jim, arrived later in the evening. Kate saved him a chunk of lasagna from the evening before, and Jim was happy. We again lounged on the beach house front deck for the duration of the evening.

A Kitty Hawk sunset.

MONDAY 8/4

I didn’t experience a Shark Bite this Monday. Since I was at the beach, it likely would have been pretty bad news if I did experience one!

But I did experience seeing some jellyfish up close for the first time. Shortly after doing breakfast at the house, I put on my old walking sneakers (a navy-blue leather and cloth pair I bought for $5 years ago at the Altoona Woolworth’s before they shut their doors), and walked the better part of a mile down the beach road to the Avalon Pier, a large fishing pier in Kill Devil Hills that stretches out into the ocean. I walked out onto the pier and watched as various fishermen (and fisher ladies) tried their luck at landing ocean fish. One older gentleman had some luck, landing a big fish about 3 feet long; I observed as he cleaned his catch at some sinks positioned midway out on the pier, and tossed the skin and entrails out into the water, where hungry seagulls were swooping in to claim a quick treat. I looked out into the water and could see various fish, mostly sea minnows and bluefish, meandering around the pier supports. And I also noted several jellyfish pass beneath the pier; some of these appeared to be a good foot across in diameter; I’m glad I didn’t have any close encounters with the business ends of these creatures!

Noting that it only cost $10 to fish off the pier per day (which covers fishing license fees), I tentatively planned to return to the Avalon Pier later in the week to try my hand at some ocean shore fishing.

Avalon Pier.

The view further out on Avalon Pier.

A jellyfish propels its way underneath Avalon Pier.

A lady tries her luck fishing off Avalon Pier.

After returning to the house and doing lunch, it was beach time again! I finished reading Ransom Seaborn and logged some more quality time in the water. Sparky and I both spotted two small jellyfish about 3 or 4 feet away from us, and we steered clear of them. Again the water was calm, and in the upper-80 degree heat, it felt good!

Sparky, Kate, Rocky and Joe enjoying the warm ocean waters.

I was enjoying other ocean scenery as well.

More interesting scenery…

And then there were the dogs. A middle-aged woman brought two dogs to the beach; one appeared to be a black Labrador, the other a golden retriever. The Lab’s name was Molly; the retriever was Maggie. Anyway, the woman had a tennis ball and an orange plastic toy that she tossed out into the ocean, and both dogs would jump in, swim out and retrieve the respective items. The dogs were loving it, and it didn’t matter how far out she threw the items, both dogs instantly plunged into the ocean waves and went after them. These dogs were friendly; when the woman threw the items near where either Sparky or I were, the dogs would grab their toys, swim over to get pats on the head from us before returning to the woman on shore. She brought the dogs back a few times later in the week as well, and we found out that Molly was 8 years old and the elder dog; the retriever was “in training.” Molly also liked to chase the sandpipers and other water birds along the shore as well, running full steam to make the birds scatter.

Molly and Maggie retrieve their respective toys, while Sparky looks on in the background.

In lieu of the regularly-scheduled Monday wing night, this Monday was…steak night! Rocky and Kate had procured humongous steaks on sale, two for the price of one, at Food Lion. I did my lone cooking assignment of the trip, doing my recipe for grilled Old Bay potato slices (slice up several potatoes, coat in olive oil, sprinkle Old Bay seasoning and celery/seasoned salt, and grill until light brown). I improved on my effort from last year, and didn’t char any taters (only one slipped through the grill, as a sacrifice to the grill gods).

After enjoying our fill of steak and potatoes (and another of Kate’s salads), we didn’t feel like moving much, so we became couch potatoes. As you may recall, last year’s vacation was when we discovered the joys of the movie Borat. This year, we discovered the joys of comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. Pauline had brought along a DVD of Jeff Dunham, featuring his stand-up routine, where he introduces a number of puppet characters (my favorites are Walter the grumpy curmudgeon and Jose the talking jalapeno). It was good laughter, at least while I was able to keep my eyes open (steak-induced happy stomach soon took over and I nodded off). Vacation life was good…

TUESDAY 8/5

Although I had thought about starting off this day with another long walk down the beach road, the hot and humid blast of air that hit my face and steamed up my glasses as I opened the outside sliding door this morning changed my mind. I decided to enjoy the air-conditioned comfort of the indoors and start reading my second book of this vacation journey, Juniata: River of Sorrows by Dennis P. McIlnay. Juniata River fishing enthusiast that I am, I had wanted to read this one for a while. In the book, Dennis documents his nine-part, 100-mile boating and fishing excursion along the Juniata River from Ardenheim (east of Huntingdon, where the Frankstown and Raystown branches join to form the main body of the river) to where the Juniata empties into the Susquehanna River near Duncannon. He alternates chapters between descriptions of each leg of his journey with historic facts, stories and folklore from each section of the river. Not only did I learn about the river’s features, fishing hot spots and bad boating spots, but also stories of Pennsylvania’s earliest colonists, their treaties and conflicts with the Lenni Lenape Indians, and the role of the Juniata as America was forming as a nation. It was a fascinating read, and will give me plenty of things to consider and look for whenever I next fish along the Juniata.

In early afternoon, Big Jim, Rocky, Sparky and I headed out for a short ride, first heading to a Sonic drive-in eatery. This is the first time I ever experienced a Sonic, where you place your order outside at various callboxes located alongside picnic tables, and the wait staff brings your order outside to you, often on roller skates! I did a Fritos corn chip chili wrap, which was similar to a walking taco. Good stuff! As we ate, we were entertained by a number of observing sea birds, keeping vigil in case one of us dropped any food. We then stopped at a dollar store to look around, before returning to the beach house. At that point, I returned to the beach to log more beach bum and ocean time.

Big Jim, Rocky and Sparky outside of Sonic.

A local resident, waiting for free food handouts outside of Sonic.

Kate’s meal this night was meat loaf and scalloped potatoes, with a cauliflower and broccoli salad. Again, great eats!

The post-meal entertainment was provided by Big Jim. Singing for his supper, Big Jim had brought along his guitar and amp, and set them up on the front deck for a post-dinner concert. Jim entertained the capacity front porch crowd of six – and as we soon realized, the vacationers on the nextdoor neighboring porch – with favorites from Jimmy Buffett, the Eagles (the neighbors yelled over requests for them), Rick Springfield, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers and more. Jim received some accompaniment along the way, with yours truly making my multi-instrumental debut on chromatic harmonica (hard to bend notes on one of those!), kazoo (my best performance), and plastic cooler cajon. During the later stages of the performance, Rocky provided some unintentional accompaniment with his rhythmic snoring.

Since Big Jim had to leave early to return back home the next day, the concert ended at around 10:30, and front deck lounging and couch potato-ing finished out the rest of the evening.

Live in concert from the Steele Away 2 front deck, Big Jim.

Once again, Big Jim entertaining a beach bum audience.

Part of Big Jim’s audience, Sparky and a slumbering Rocky.

WEDNESDAY 8/6

Big Jim was playing a Shark Bite gig with Adam D at the Blue Knob Clubhouse this night, so he hit the road back home shortly after 9 AM.

After doing breakfast myself, I decided to do another walk. I had noted that a Big K store was located close to our location, so I figured I’d take a walk there; I thought it was only a few blocks away from seeing it from the car on the road. I soon learned on this walk, however, that locations seen from cars are further away than they appear. What I thought was 3 or 4 blocks was actually more like 13 blocks away. I handled the walk fine; however, my old Woolworth sneaks didn’t. The right sneaker’s sole cracked in two midway through the walk, and a nasty blister had developed on the bottom of my foot by the time I returned to the beach house – OUCH! This would be my last long-distance walk for this trip, and ended up scuttling my tentative plans to hoof it to the Avalon Pier to fish later in the week. My ocean fishing debut would have to wait until next year.

After returning and getting a shower, Kate, Rocky, Sparky and I headed out for lunch, going to a restaurant we’ve enjoyed during our last two vacation trips, Sam & Omie’s in Nags Head. (Pauline and Joe arrived and joined us after we got there.) I did marinated tuna steak sandwich and crab bisque, excellent stuff! On the return trip, we stopped at the fish market near our beach house to load up on the supper menu headliner this night – jumbo shrimp! Six pounds were purchased; we were going to be enjoying shrimp en masse!

Upon returning, it was back to the beach for ocean and reading for the rest of the afternoon. I finished up my reading journey through Juniata: River of Sorrows, and the ocean water felt good on my newly sore foot! This day also saw a number of interesting ocean creatures swimming along the shore, and we saw some interesting stuff in the water. I noted a little black fish with white stripes running along its length; this fish was about 6 inches along and investigating my knees. I also saw a flounder rise up out of the sand and move out into the deeper water. Joe spotted a skate (similar to a stingray; I spotted a school of them last year). And a bigger fish, about two feet in length, spooked Pauline out of the water. And we saw a plump jellyfish battling ocean waves as well, about 4 feet away from us.

This mysterious-looking black and white-striped fish swims in towards my knees.

One of the uglier fish populating the ocean this day...

I returned in time for the shrimp feast, and we gorged ourselves on steamed shrimp, corn on the cob and more!

Later this night, another member of this year’s vacation entourage, Sparky’s engineering cohort Matt, made his arrival. Matt’s work duties (he builds and repairs transmitters for radio stations up and down the coast) had brought him to North Carolina, so he was enjoying some ocean while he was here as well.

THURSDAY 8/7

By this time, you probably already know my itinerary for the day…beach. Despite my sore foot, I did do a walk, this time barefoot down the shoreline about a half mile and back. The wet sand and waves were easy on my foot. Along the way, I noticed a few small jellyfish washing up along the shore. This prompted me to bypass going fully into the ocean this day; I just stepped in enough to get my feet wet.

I started a third book, which I had bought a couple of days earlier at the dollar store. With football season only a few weeks away, I spent a buck for a copy of Sunday Morning Quarterback by former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms. In the book, Simms offers his insight on the NFL game, and dispels misconceptions often spewed forth by television announcers during game telecasts. If you’re a football fan, it’s interesting reading, and Simms’ thoughts and insight will make me a bit more observant of what’s actually happening on the field when I watch games this upcoming season.

Kate again served up seafood for supper, this time doing up grilled scallop and salmon skewers, along with zucchini slices and salad. Once again, excellent eats! The meal was followed shortly afterward with a celebratory moment, as Pauline served up a birthday cake to Joe.

This night, Matt, Sparky and I headed out to catch some live music. Our destination was Kelly’s in Nags Head, where New Jersey-based modern rock/party band The Benjamins was performing. Featuring Joe DeGennaro on vocals, brother Ben DeGennaro on bass, Jeremy Mykietyn on drums and Anthony Picone on guitar; The Benjamins generated the party as the night progressed with their rocking and energetic blend of current, 80’s and 90’s rock, with a few original songs included from their just-issued CD The Chronicles of the Garden State (which they were giving out free copies of during the show). As the Kelly’s crowd grew as the night progressed, The Benjamins drew more folks (mainly ladies) out onto the dance floor, and kept them there with a tight, strong performance. The sound mix wasn’t the greatest, but The Benjamins’ spirited presentation, tight musicianship and friendly stage personality won the evening.

In between The Benjamins’ sets, a deejay played club dance music, yapping and shooting off fire sirens over top of it. This cacophony was irritating to listen to, but it did draw some hot females onto the dance floor. Maybe I’ll start firing off sirens when I’m talking on the air at my radio gig!

From Kelly’s upper level, a view of The Benjamins.

The Benjamins keep Kelly’s dance floor busy.

Once again, The Benjamins and a busy dance floor.

After the band finished, we exited Kelly’s to note flashes in the sky as a thunderstorm was arriving in the area. This storm kicked up some fierce winds and generated some impressive lightning during our trip back to the beach house, but quickly exited the shore without giving us much of a sky lightning show like we observed on Saturday night. But this storm did kick up the ocean waters, setting the stage for our last day at the beach.

FRIDAY 8/8

Time flies when you’re having fun, and our week at the beach was already drawing to a close. Since Sparky had a wedding to deejay on Saturday, he and I were departing for home on Friday night. Kate, Rocky, Pauline and Joe would turn the keys back in at the real estate agency and depart the beach on Saturday. Matt had more work duties to take care of during his stay in the Carolinas, so he departed late in the morning.

Since we were departing in the evening, we had one last chance to experience the beach before heading out. As it turned out, the beach was about all we could really enjoy, as we noted a number of small jellyfish washing up on shore – apparently kicked up by the rough seas from the previous night’s thunderstorm. So we didn’t step far into the water, and were cautious where we stepped! Later on the television, we noted a news report cautioning beach goers about jellyfish stings, so apparently the creatures were washing up all along the North Carolina shorefront.

I also noticed an increase in the number of ghost crabs establishing burrows at the edge of the shore. These critters were possibly sensing the increase in dead jellyfish along the shore, and were setting up shop for some meals.

A ghost crab awaits outside its burrow.

On the beach, with a good stiff wind blowing, Rocky was using the opportunity to break out his kite. The first two attempts at getting the kite airborne resulted in the kite crashing into the beach and the side of a beach house, but after attaching the stabilizing wind sock on the end, the kite took high into the sky. A few other folks had kites going along the shore as well.

Rocky gets his kite airborne.

I remained at the beach into the late afternoon, before bidding farewell to the sand and ocean for another year, and making my way back to the beach house to pack and enjoy one more supper before our trip.

As was the case last year, Friday was largely leftovers night. Kate did up a grilled chicken salad for the main course, and we finished up leftovers for the side dishes. We watched another Jeff Dunham DVD as we enjoyed our meal.

After the meal, we loaded up the Pathfinder, and were on the road by around 8:30 PM. Traffic was relatively light for much of the trip back home, and even with a stopover at the Border Station and a Sheetz in Winchester, VA to gas up, the trip home only took a little over 8 hours. We arrived back in the ‘Toona around 4:40 AM Saturday.

It was fun while it lasted. Thanks to Sparky for setting up the accommodations once again, Kate for the meals, and Big Jim for the front porch concert, and the rest of this week’s entourage for the good times! Barring unforeseen disasters, I expect to be back here again next year!

JP’s HAIKU

Outer Banks sojourn
Beach, fun, sun, delicious meals
And dead jellyfish
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http://pamusician.net

[Jim Price]

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http://pamusician.net