My First Night in Rodanthe

You know, my blends, the real play therapy is allowing adults (i.e. 20-somethings) to vacation in the Outer Banks for a week after the hardest academic year of their lives and the most intense one-week class that ever existed in parallel universes. I'm not referring to anyone specifically, of course. [Note: I'm also not trying to elicit sympathy; I placed this difficult courseload on myself this schoolyear and summer.]

I had never been to OBX before I vacationed with Ian's family in Duck in 2010, and in Corolla in 2011. This year, we're living out our Nights in Rodanthe fantasies. Kidding. Shout-out to Nick Sparks.

Let me back up a bit. Yesterday, I set out from my apartment at 6:20 a.m. (an unholy hour in A.K. World) to meet Ian and his family. Then it was time to road trip! After a delicious and wholesome breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Richmond,

it was back on the road.

We stopped at a favorite produce stand, Powell's, in Sligo to let Jazz out for a breather:

As soon as we got back in my car, I realized that my iPod connection had mysteriously self-destructed. Somehow, this is the second consecutive summer during which my iPod player has broken on the way to OBX. Needless to say, I was irritable and bitchy. My blood sugar was also low because we hadn't eaten lunch, so Ian kindly suggested that I nap while he drive. When I awoke an hour later, we had arrived in Rodanthe!

I will always be that guest who brings too much... And requires help to lug it all up three flights of stairs...

After a chaotic grocery trip (I won't lie, I almost lost my mind navigating the sea of vacationers to locate healthy food), it was finally time for dinner at 9:00. I'll spare you the gory details of scarfing Polynesian and Lisa's Supreme pizza, but it wasn't pretty. I was so hungry, I'm not even sure I breathed...

I have literally never had Coke in a glass bottle before, so there was no better time to try it than our first night in Rodanthe! It was a refreshing treat after such a frenzied day.

Ian and I enjoyed a beer on one of our myriad porches after dinner before calling it an early night.

Tragically, our first morning at the beach consisted of rain, harder rain, and hardest rain. That meant two things: it was perfect blogging weather, and perfect weather for beginning the Ellen Hopkins novel I've held off reading for months! I'm off to enjoy this rainy, relaxing day. Ta ta!

P.S. Have you ever been to Rodanthe? If so, what restaurants, tourist attractions, shops, or entertainment do you recommend?