Beach Week

Yes yes, I finally got to take my long-anticipated vacation to Nags Head, NC. The whole family got a house right on the beach for a week. And since this was my first real vacation in years, I enjoyed it very freakin' much. But since there was over a week worth of events to process and remember, I'm not even gonna try to write a narrative with a sequential plot or character development or anything - time for another list! Here we go...

-Sometimes you can microwave staples (accidentally) and get away with it.
-Scoping out our house for the first time was like walking into one of the Real World houses.
-There were lots of sand crabs running around to watch... or fish out of the pool... twice.
-We had a pool table downstairs. I still suck beyond measure.
-Some gas stations have Red Bull in 16 oz. cans, others have Monster in 32 oz. cans. Are 40's and kegs soon to follow?
-I was the first to the house. Thankfully others arrived before too long because I locked myself outside on the 3rd floor front balcony.
-If I have to fall asleep to background noise, I will always choose the Atlantic over Rt. 100 traffic.
-We ate lots of good homemade meals, but Stack 'Em High and Duneburger both got multiple visits.
-Leah's memory is getting really good; if she drops a pretty shell, she'll remind you later without prompting.
-If your beer gets cold enough to turn slushy, don't try to drink it - it's gross. Let it warm up, but not in the hot tub.
-I like mini-golfing better than shooting pool, especially when there are pirates or dinosaurs involved.
-Storm damage probably wrecked every other house-to-beach pier we saw. So glad ours was intact.
-I tried boogie boarding for the first time in years. The Atlantic won and celebrated by permeating me with salt water.
-For whatever reason (lotsa stairs?) I got a touch of plantar fasciitis here and there. And my left hip decided to go sore/retarded for a while. Both have mostly calmed down now, but weird.

INTERMISSION... (check your e-mail, go pee, grab some popcorn, etc.)

-This dude is obviously disturbed, but I couldn't stop watching...
-Near 700 miles of roadtime with zero speeding tickets = awesome!
-The night skies get pretty dark down there, so the stars really come out. I can't remember seeing so many stars before.
-I can build a fajita or a panini like nobody's business.
-Even when I retired to my room for the night, late night Scrubs episodes kept me company. I even caught myself watching the Dog Whisperer, and Iron Chef was killer.
-Had a migraine the first night and crashed early - glad to get it out of the way.
-There's something oddly peaceful about sitting on the pier bench at 3 am with a box of strawberry Pocky.
-Driving home was sucktastic. Even aside from just having to leave, traffic was horrible and I came across some real assholes.
-We had a slow-as-frick elevator, but it amused Leah to no end, so it was fun times.
-I needneedneed to take more vacations like that.
-I passed a wedding on the beach, but just kept walking - the temptation to do something dumb was immense, but I didn't want it coming back to bite me.
-Our mantra for packing/leaving day: "Fuck it."
-There's still some undeniable appeal to digging a big hole in the sand, though we never got around to burying anyone.
-If we acted silly enough in the ocean, Leah forgot her fear. It also helped for all of us to shake our fists and yell, "I'll get you water! Go away!"
-I won $10 for a sudden leap into the freezing pool. *Ka-ching!*

That's all I got for now. I'm sure I'll remember more as I am telling stories to people, but pictures will follow soon. Now... do I post them on MySpace, Facebook or both?