Greetings!

Greetings from the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I'm going to go jump in the pool in a few minutes, but I thought I'd write about our trip. I'd like to post pictures of our trip, but that would have required me to pack my camera cables. They are, unfortunately, safe and sound back at home. Oh well. Mental note - put the cables on the packing list....

So... the atlantic ocean. Right now it's just as cold as the pacific ocean, and about as rough. I've heard it warms up in summer. There are more shells on the beach, but they're mostly bits and pieces of shells. I'm glad we told the kids that it wouldn't be like collecting shells on the gulf coast of Florida so they wouldn't be disappointed. Brandon still gets a thrill out of finding something pretty (or an egg case from a skate). Caitlin's still happy that she's near (or in) the water. The sand goes from soft to hard shell pieces. You have to watch where you walk.The coasts are long and uninterupted by cliffs or rocks.

It's a little odd to see the sun rise over the water. Being a west-coast girl, I've seen the sun set over the water. When I'm at the beach, facing the water, the wind is at my back. The breezes roll from the land to the water. Again, a reverse from what I'm use to. We got caught in the end of tropical depression Beryl the other day, and drove home during an amazing storm! Our area got over 6 inches of rain in 6 hours. There was much flooding, but most of it was gone the next morning. There's still a lot of standing water, but it's drying up fast in the hot, somewhat humid weather.

Okay - off to the pool. I'll post some pictures in a few days!