Last year we took a few days following my son’s wedding and headed to Virginia Beach, 50-ish miles from where I live on the Virginia Peninsula. It was wonderful—days lounging at the beach, perfect weather, good food, wonderful conversations. We even had an oceanfront room with a balcony where I settled myself in the early morning to write while she slept in like normal people.
I knew it would be hard to beat.
We discussed heading east to Virginia’s Eastern Shore—a wildly beautiful and intriguing body of land that separates the Atlantic from the Chesapeake Bay. I’ve traveled up and down the area many times by car while trekking to New Jersey, but I’ve never stayed there.
I’d always wanted to explore the shores along the Carolinas, however, and vacationing with my oldest/best friend provided the perfect opportunity. Unlike some husbands I know, she loves exploring and doesn’t complain about leisurely and impromptu side trips. I have a good friend from Jersey who settled there a few years back, and my friend discovered a mutual high school friend on Facebook who lives there. We’d have the beach, sunshine if all went well, good food, wonderful conversation with friends...perfection.
Our destination? (You've probably already somewhat guessed.) Wrightsville Beach outside Wilmington on North Carolina’s Atlantic coast. If that sounds familiar to you, it’s because that’s where Hurricane Florence landed a few weeks back.
As the storm predictions zeroed in on that exact town, I contacted my friend and said, “We need to come up with a Plan B, quickly.”
After tossing out a couple inland suggestions (rivers and cities are nice, but not the same as the ocean!), we decided on North Carolina’s Outer Banks where so many books and movies have been set.
One of my favorites is BEACH RENTAL by Grace Greene (a fabulous writer and friend from Virginia Romance Writers).
Another is MEANT TO BE by another friend and fabulous writer Terri Osburn.
That wasn’t a deciding factor in our vacation discussions. I just thought it would be fun to throw in a few book plugs while I was at it. :-)
Anyway, we were lucky to get last-minute reservations. While we don’t have an oceanfront room (woe is us), we’ll have the beach, good weather (if predictions are correct), great food that we don’t have to prepare and clean up, and wonderful conversation. What more could we ask for?
We’re so blessed we only had to make a slight change in our plans. But as I write this, many thousands of people are still out of power and in harm’s way of floods across the Carolinas, and lives have been lost. I’m thankful my friend from Jersey is well and has power back. We haven’t heard from our mutual high school friend so hope she is also well and will be in touch soon. And I have a feeling we’ll be making Wrightsville Beach our destination for next year’s Ladies’ Week Off .
Stay tuned for my vacation report next month!
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Leah writes stories of mystery and romance, good and evil and the power of love. The beach is one of her favorite places to be and to write about. To learn more, go to her website, or visit her on Facebook or Pinterest where she will probably pin some vacation photos when she gets around to it.
(For any who’d like to help the people of North and South Carolina, there are many nonprofit organizations providing support to the area. I Googled Relief for Hurricane Florence and found a bunch of them.)
18 comments:
Thanks for the book suggestions and the setting descriptions (I do remember reading about the Misty horses, long ago...I'd forgotten). That part of the country is not familiar to me except for its reputation for many good golf courses...and beaches, of course. Most importantly, you've got some down time with a friend. Precious. Enjoy it...you deserve it!
I'm glad you got your vacation and hope your other friend is okay. This ladies week idea of yours reminded me of our ladies weekend off we used to do back when my friends and I all had little kids. For our mental stability, we dumped said kids with our husbands once a year and took off. Sonoma wine country once, Napa wine country once, and Carmel by the Sea once. Good times. I need to do that again. Our much discussed and never accomplished retreat beckons. LOL
I'm so glad (and amazed) that your plan wasn't completely blown apart by the hurricane. Have a wonderful time.
I loved the Misty of Chincoteague books, Rolynn, but have never been to see the ponies. It's on my list, especially since I live so close.
I found out last night that our high school friend is fine, thankfully, Jannine. She was without power for about a week, but things are thankfully improving for her. I love spending time with my women friends. I'm still hoping to get a ROP retreat in the works some day! :-)
I know, how lucky did we get, Alison? :-) It's supposed to be a little rainy but I don't care!
I hope you have a safe and a mostly dry vacation. Get your tan on and a tummy full of seafood. Happy travels. I'm flying to MIT on Friday for 3 days to see my grandson Ryan. He sent me a text last night. "One week and you'll be on my turf. I'm so excited to show you everything."
Greetings from Wyoming. Seems like late Sept/Oct is travel month. Hope you have a super time!
Thanks for the mention! Hope you're having a fabulous time. I'm down around the Charleston area this week and thankfully, the hurricane spared this area. My heart goes out to those in NC who weren't so fortunate. The footage I've seen is heartbreaking.
What a debacle, but glad it turned out well. Thanks for the book suggestions. Hope all of your friends are safe.
Arrived safely, Vonnie, despite being stuck in a traffic jam for more than an hour to go two lousy miles! It's glorious here tonight. Perfect. :-)
Wow, Andi, Wyoming? That's fantastic! Enjoy. :-!
How wonderful for you to plan a ladies' vacation and enjoy time with your friend. My sisters, cousin, & I used to do a cousins' weekend which then extended into a week. Haven't done that in a while. So glad your friend is okay. I loved Misty and always wanted to visit that area. Maybe next year for you. Have fun!
Thanks for stopping by, Terri! So glad Charleston was spared. It's a lovely city. And yes, my heart aches for all who have suffered so much and who have a long way to go.
I can't complain when my Plan B is so wonderful, Brenda. And it gives us a destination to shoot for. :-)
We're already having such a great time, Diane. There's nothing like the comfort of being with someone who knows all your skeletons. :-)
Sounds fantastic. Hope you had/have a wonderful time. I do those girlfriend weekends once in a while now. Unfortunately, my oldest/best friend is no longer here with me, but I cherish the times we did have. And also cherish the newest/best friends I have now.
It's already a wonderful trip and we're just on our first full day. :-) I'm sorry your oldest/best friend is gone (I hate using that word), but "cherished" is the perfect word for those memories. And new friends are charished as well. :-)
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