Southwest Virginia Blogs

One of the neat things about the North Carolina's Crystal Coast is that everyone has a favorite restaurant and they're all different.  One of our neighbors had mentioned to me a while back that the Red Barn Grill in Hubert, NC was a great spot to get reasonably priced, very fresh seafood. He had described the directions from the gate at Camp Lejeune.

On one of our recent trips to Swansboro, I saw a sign for Route 172 which leads through Camp Lejeune.  On a whim we decided to see if we could find the Red Barn Grill since it was after 5 pm.  Since the roads didn't look like my neighbor's description, we stopped at Camp Lejeune's gate and asked directions from a youthful and clean cut Marine.  He had never heard of the Red Barn Grill, but on his advice we headed bad towards Route 24.

It was then I decided to try my favorite gadget on what I had at one time labeled "my new portable computer" which turns out to be my heavily computerized Acura MDX.  That  favorite device would be my GPS which I often describe as  a "Great Road Warrior tool." On the trip down from Roanoke to Swansboro I had discovered a neat feature which actually tells you the names of the services at a particular Interstate exit.  It also will list restaurants ranked by distance in an area where you're traveling. 

We've used that feature successfully before on trips to the NC coast when the hunger for barbecue struck us. Since we were a few miles from any known restaurant, I guessed that the GPS would have a listing for the Red Barn Grill.  A few taps on the touch sensitive screen and my guess was proven correct.  Without even slowing down or changing direction, we were off on a culinary adventure.  The GPS had also shown the distance to the Red Barn Grill as eleven miles so the trip was going to be short.

In just a few minutes we were pulling up in front of the restaurant where I noticed a hand lettered sign that said "Fresh Local Oysters."  I was sold immediately, and we started walking towards the building.  It was pretty obvious from the GPS that we were at the end of the road and a later look at another map confirmed it.

Once inside, we eventually figured out that you needed to order at the counter and then go wait at your table for your food in what appeared to be a converted general store.  Of course I went for the fried oysters, and my wife, Glenda, decided to try the flounder fillet.  It wasn't long before our food arrived.  It was fresh, tasty, and came with the fried seafood restaurant standard of "fries, slaw, and hush puppies."  The oysters were small but very good.  Glenda opined that her flounder hadn't been out of the water very long.  It was a very good meal at a reasonable price and was even served on a red-checkered table cloth.  The hush puppies were better than average but not up to the standard of the Sobotta Family Hush Puppies.

Of course it is pretty hard to beat home cooking, and I still favor fresh caught flounder either from the local sea food market or my own hook and line.  That way I can do my own cooking and end up with what something really special, "A Southern delicacy, pan fried flounder."

However, don't let that stop you from trying the Red Barn Grill in Hubert. It's a interesting experience with good seafood.  The other food must be pretty good also since they were out of their spaghetti special before 5:30 pm.  They also seem to be open for breakfast, but it's a little far us to give that a try. 

We didn't have great cell phone coverage in the area so if you're calling for directions, do it before you get on the road.  Their phone number is (910) 326-1163.  The address for the Red Barn Grill is 101 Red Barn Rd, Hubert, NC.

One other note, if you're out shopping for an auto GPS, they are not all created equal.  I find the one on our Toyota Avalon to be of limited usefulness while the one on our Acura MDX is something that I use all the time.  The rule for GPSs would be try before you buy.

One of the neat things about the North Carolina's Crystal Coast is that everyone has a favorite restaurant and they're all different.  One of our neighbors had mentioned to me a while back that the Red Barn Grill in Hubert, NC was a great spot to get reasonably priced, very fresh seafood. He had described the directions from the gate at Camp Lejeune.

On one of our recent trips to Swansboro, I saw a sign for Route 172 which leads through Camp Lejeune.  On a whim we decided to see if we could find the Red Barn Grill since it was after 5 pm.  Since the roads didn't look like my neighbor's description, we stopped at Camp Lejeune's gate and asked directions from a youthful and clean cut Marine.  He had never heard of the Red Barn Grill, but on his advice we headed bad towards Route 24.

It was then I decided to try my favorite gadget on what I had at one time labeled "my new portable computer" which turns out to be my heavily computerized Acura MDX.  That  favorite device would be my GPS which I often describe as  a "Great Road Warrior tool." On the trip down from Roanoke to Swansboro I had discovered a neat feature which actually tells you the names of the services at a particular Interstate exit.  It also will list restaurants ranked by distance in an area where you're traveling. 

We've used that feature successfully before on trips to the NC coast when the hunger for barbecue struck us. Since we were a few miles from any known restaurant, I guessed that the GPS would have a listing for the Red Barn Grill.  A few taps on the touch sensitive screen and my guess was proven correct.  Without even slowing down or changing direction, we were off on a culinary adventure.  The GPS had also shown the distance to the Red Barn Grill as eleven miles so the trip was going to be short.

In just a few minutes we were pulling up in front of the restaurant where I noticed a hand lettered sign that said "Fresh Local Oysters."  I was sold immediately, and we started walking towards the building.  It was pretty obvious from the GPS that we were at the end of the road and a later look at another map confirmed it.

Once inside, we eventually figured out that you needed to order at the counter and then go wait at your table for your food in what appeared to be a converted general store.  Of course I went for the fried oysters, and my wife, Glenda, decided to try the flounder fillet.  It wasn't long before our food arrived.  It was fresh, tasty, and came with the fried seafood restaurant standard of "fries, slaw, and hush puppies."  The oysters were small but very good.  Glenda opined that her flounder hadn't been out of the water very long.  It was a very good meal at a reasonable price and was even served on a red-checkered table cloth.  The hush puppies were better than average but not up to the standard of the Sobotta Family Hush Puppies.

Of course it is pretty hard to beat home cooking, and I still favor fresh caught flounder either from the local sea food market or my own hook and line.  That way I can do my own cooking and end up with what something really special, "A Southern delicacy, pan fried flounder."

However, don't let that stop you from trying the Red Barn Grill in Hubert. It's a interesting experience with good seafood.  The other food must be pretty good also since they were out of their spaghetti special before 5:30 pm.  They also seem to be open for breakfast, but it's a little far us to give that a try. 

We didn't have great cell phone coverage in the area so if you're calling for directions, do it before you get on the road.  Their phone number is (910) 326-1163.  The address for the Red Barn Grill is 101 Red Barn Rd, Hubert, NC.

One other note, if you're out shopping for an auto GPS, they are not all created equal.  I find the one on our Toyota Avalon to be of limited usefulness while the one on our Acura MDX is something that I use all the time.  The rule for GPSs would be try before you buy.

One of the neat things about the North Carolina's Crystal Coast is that everyone has a favorite restaurant and they're all different.  One of our neighbors had mentioned to me a while back that the Red Barn Grill in Hubert, NC was a great spot to get reasonably priced, very fresh seafood. He had described the directions from the gate at Camp Lejeune.

On one of our recent trips to Swansboro, I saw a sign for Route 172 which leads through Camp Lejeune.  On a whim we decided to see if we could find the Red Barn Grill since it was after 5 pm.  Since the roads didn't look like my neighbor's description, we stopped at Camp Lejeune's gate and asked directions from a youthful and clean cut Marine.  He had never heard of the Red Barn Grill, but on his advice we headed bad towards Route 24.

It was then I decided to try my favorite gadget on what I had at one time labeled "my new portable computer" which turns out to be my heavily computerized Acura MDX.  That  favorite device would be my GPS which I often describe as  a "Great Road Warrior tool." On the trip down from Roanoke to Swansboro I had discovered a neat feature which actually tells you the names of the services at a particular Interstate exit.  It also will list restaurants ranked by distance in an area where you're traveling. 

We've used that feature successfully before on trips to the NC coast when the hunger for barbecue struck us. Since we were a few miles from any known restaurant, I guessed that the GPS would have a listing for the Red Barn Grill.  A few taps on the touch sensitive screen and my guess was proven correct.  Without even slowing down or changing direction, we were off on a culinary adventure.  The GPS had also shown the distance to the Red Barn Grill as eleven miles so the trip was going to be short.

In just a few minutes we were pulling up in front of the restaurant where I noticed a hand lettered sign that said "Fresh Local Oysters."  I was sold immediately, and we started walking towards the building.  It was pretty obvious from the GPS that we were at the end of the road and a later look at another map confirmed it.

Once inside, we eventually figured out that you needed to order at the counter and then go wait at your table for your food in what appeared to be a converted general store.  Of course I went for the fried oysters, and my wife, Glenda, decided to try the flounder fillet.  It wasn't long before our food arrived.  It was fresh, tasty, and came with the fried seafood restaurant standard of "fries, slaw, and hush puppies."  The oysters were small but very good.  Glenda opined that her flounder hadn't been out of the water very long.  It was a very good meal at a reasonable price and was even served on a red-checkered table cloth.  The hush puppies were better than average but not up to the standard of the Sobotta Family Hush Puppies.

Of course it is pretty hard to beat home cooking, and I still favor fresh caught flounder either from the local sea food market or my own hook and line.  That way I can do my own cooking and end up with what something really special, "A Southern delicacy, pan fried flounder."

However, don't let that stop you from trying the Red Barn Grill in Hubert. It's a interesting experience with good seafood.  The other food must be pretty good also since they were out of their spaghetti special before 5:30 pm.  They also seem to be open for breakfast, but it's a little far us to give that a try. 

We didn't have great cell phone coverage in the area so if you're calling for directions, do it before you get on the road.  Their phone number is (910) 326-1163.  The address for the Red Barn Grill is 101 Red Barn Rd, Hubert, NC.

One other note, if you're out shopping for an auto GPS, they are not all created equal.  I find the one on our Toyota Avalon to be of limited usefulness while the one on our Acura MDX is something that I use all the time.  The rule for GPSs would be try before you buy.

In case you haven't been near a computer department at one of the big box stores, prepare yourself for the holiday push.  My guess is that it is "AIOs" or what is actually a printer, scanner, copier, and fax device all in one piece of equipment.

Over the last couple of months I've been trying to set up a small home office in our coastal location.  With an office view that you'll see if you click the link, there is also the challenge of not nearly the amount of space that I have in my Roanoke office where I have a real copier, a real scanner, and multiple printers in a huge basement office with a view that often leads to the photos that I post on my photography site.  Since we had to redo my basement office, "The Saturday afternoon technologist, electronic hair," due to flooding, it seems like I have been setting up home or business offices all year.  That even got me to do a post, "The Instant Economy,"  on how easy things are today when it comes to going into business.

Yet not all of this happens without challenges as any technology user will tell you.  Being mostly a Mac OS X user with occasional forays into Linux and some necessary trips to Windows, I've been suspicious of most AIOs which have traditionally not worked well with Macs.

Part of my suspicions have come from seeing some rather full open box shelves at local electronic stores in Roanoke.  I generally find that open box shelves are a good predictor of what people are having trouble getting to work.

My own self demo experimentations on some of the all in one products confirmed that they aren't the most intuitive products.  Yet they are very compelling and almost a necessity to people like me who are trying to cram a lot into a small space.

I'm pretty picky about technology or a wouldn't be a Mac user.  I'm also methodical and not afraid to ask advice and do lots of Internet research.  Researching AIOs on the Internet turned out to be very frustrating with no real consensus opinions unless I went to a site that was trying to sell me something.

Going to the local stores in Roanoke was no better and almost convinced me that customer service is dead and that people under twenty five aren't nearly as technologically astute as some of the media would have us believe.  Perhaps their technical expertise doesn't go beyond iPods. The experience visitng the big box stores certainly made me wonder how the Roanoke area could be classed as a "Technology Corridor."

We could find no one in two local Staples, the Circuit City or Best Buy, who could actually make one of the AIOs work properly.  One young Staples sales person finally admitted that he hated AIOs because something was always broken.  We also had the misfortune in that store of running into a hostile young clerk when we actually purchased some other office items.  She wasn't very subtle about the irritation I caused by questioning the pricing she gave me on some folders which came from bins clearly marked with other pricing.  She was still snarky even after another staffer went back to check the pricing and confirmed what I said.  Obviously this wasn't a very auspicious beginning to our hunt for just the right piece of equipment.

Thinking that being armed with more information would help, I consulted with a couple of my trusted technology advisors and got mixed advice.  Andy of DesignNine first gave me a Xerox recommendation and then when he learned of my budget and space problems suggested a Canon.  I read some good reviews of the Pixma which is by Canon, but there were also some bad reviews.  My friend Russ, one of the great technologists in Happy Valley up at Penn. State, told me he had enjoyed some good experiences with HP products.

Armed with that information, I headed up to the local Staples in Morehead City, NC.  It was there that I actually had my faith in sales people renewed.  We had been in the store only moments when a Staples staffer probably in her early thirties approached us.  We told her what we were looking for and that we wanted to see the products actually work.  She immediately set off to get what she needed to make that happen.  She got the first test, a simple copy done quickly. 

That was actually more than anyone else had been able to accomplish.  I asked about why the next model up was $100 more, and she came up with a reasonable answer, Bluetooth.  I next challenged her with actually showing us a photo print.  She told me that if I had a memory card with an image, she would be glad to oblige. I went out to the car and got my digital camera, and she quickly got the HP6180C working on the task.  We got a photo printed on regular ink jet paper about a minute later.  I then suggested that I would like to see the machine actually produce a 4X6 print as advertised on photo paper. Another quick trip and she came back with some properly sized photo paper.  About a minute and a half later, we were looking at the print.

They had no Canon products in stock, but as you'll find out if you start looking, the Cannons don't have fax capabilities and also don't come with built-in networking, so they aren't a complete solution by any means.

I'll be reporting on how the HP does with my Macs, Windows, and Linux machines. I would be glad to review a Canon if they want to send me one for a comparison.  The traditional web can't seem to keep up with the slew of new products.  Most of the reviews I saw were from 2005 and on machines that are no longer on the market.

However, the real story today is that having knowledgeable customer sales people sells products and results in happy customers.  I congratulate Staples on having at least one very knowledgeable customer helper in their Morehead, NC store.  It was a real pleasure talking to someone who actually understood the technology and could demonstrate it.  That's something which is getting a little rare these days as big box stores dig deeper and deeper to find warm bodies.

I wonder if they'll ever figure out that having people like the lady in the Morehead City store is a better way of doing it than making their open box shelves larger?

In case you haven't been near a computer department at one of the big box stores, prepare yourself for the holiday push.  My guess is that it is "AIOs" or what is actually a printer, scanner, copier, and fax device all in one piece of equipment.

Over the last couple of months I've been trying to set up a small home office in our coastal location.  With an office view that you'll see if you click the link, there is also the challenge of not nearly the amount of space that I have in my Roanoke office where I have a real copier, a real scanner, and multiple printers in a huge basement office with a view that often leads to the photos that I post on my photography site.  Since we had to redo my basement office, "The Saturday afternoon technologist, electronic hair," due to flooding, it seems like I have been setting up home or business offices all year.  That even got me to do a post, "The Instant Economy,"  on how easy things are today when it comes to going into business.

Yet not all of this happens without challenges as any technology user will tell you.  Being mostly a Mac OS X user with occasional forays into Linux and some necessary trips to Windows, I've been suspicious of most AIOs which have traditionally not worked well with Macs.

Part of my suspicions have come from seeing some rather full open box shelves at local electronic stores in Roanoke.  I generally find that open box shelves are a good predictor of what people are having trouble getting to work.

My own self demo experimentations on some of the all in one products confirmed that they aren't the most intuitive products.  Yet they are very compelling and almost a necessity to people like me who are trying to cram a lot into a small space.

I'm pretty picky about technology or a wouldn't be a Mac user.  I'm also methodical and not afraid to ask advice and do lots of Internet research.  Researching AIOs on the Internet turned out to be very frustrating with no real consensus opinions unless I went to a site that was trying to sell me something.

Going to the local stores in Roanoke was no better and almost convinced me that customer service is dead and that people under twenty five aren't nearly as technologically astute as some of the media would have us believe.  Perhaps their technical expertise doesn't go beyond iPods. The experience visitng the big box stores certainly made me wonder how the Roanoke area could be classed as a "Technology Corridor."

We could find no one in two local Staples, the Circuit City or Best Buy, who could actually make one of the AIOs work properly.  One young Staples sales person finally admitted that he hated AIOs because something was always broken.  We also had the misfortune in that store of running into a hostile young clerk when we actually purchased some other office items.  She wasn't very subtle about the irritation I caused by questioning the pricing she gave me on some folders which came from bins clearly marked with other pricing.  She was still snarky even after another staffer went back to check the pricing and confirmed what I said.  Obviously this wasn't a very auspicious beginning to our hunt for just the right piece of equipment.

Thinking that being armed with more information would help, I consulted with a couple of my trusted technology advisors and got mixed advice.  Andy of DesignNine first gave me a Xerox recommendation and then when he learned of my budget and space problems suggested a Canon.  I read some good reviews of the Pixma which is by Canon, but there were also some bad reviews.  My friend Russ, one of the great technologists in Happy Valley up at Penn. State, told me he had enjoyed some good experiences with HP products.

Armed with that information, I headed up to the local Staples in Morehead City, NC.  It was there that I actually had my faith in sales people renewed.  We had been in the store only moments when a Staples staffer probably in her early thirties approached us.  We told her what we were looking for and that we wanted to see the products actually work.  She immediately set off to get what she needed to make that happen.  She got the first test, a simple copy done quickly. 

That was actually more than anyone else had been able to accomplish.  I asked about why the next model up was $100 more, and she came up with a reasonable answer, Bluetooth.  I next challenged her with actually showing us a photo print.  She told me that if I had a memory card with an image, she would be glad to oblige. I went out to the car and got my digital camera, and she quickly got the HP6180C working on the task.  We got a photo printed on regular ink jet paper about a minute later.  I then suggested that I would like to see the machine actually produce a 4X6 print as advertised on photo paper. Another quick trip and she came back with some properly sized photo paper.  About a minute and a half later, we were looking at the print.

They had no Canon products in stock, but as you'll find out if you start looking, the Cannons don't have fax capabilities and also don't come with built-in networking, so they aren't a complete solution by any means.

I'll be reporting on how the HP does with my Macs, Windows, and Linux machines. I would be glad to review a Canon if they want to send me one for a comparison.  The traditional web can't seem to keep up with the slew of new products.  Most of the reviews I saw were from 2005 and on machines that are no longer on the market.

However, the real story today is that having knowledgeable customer sales people sells products and results in happy customers.  I congratulate Staples on having at least one very knowledgeable customer helper in their Morehead, NC store.  It was a real pleasure talking to someone who actually understood the technology and could demonstrate it.  That's something which is getting a little rare these days as big box stores dig deeper and deeper to find warm bodies.

I wonder if they'll ever figure out that having people like the lady in the Morehead City store is a better way of doing it than making their open box shelves larger?

Fall is pretty glorious on the east coast.  Recently we were enjoying some great  late fall weather in North Carolina's Crystal Coast area.  We had a very enjoyable breakfast at Yana's Ye Olde Drugstore Restaurant on Front Street in Swansboro.

We ran a few errands and decided to go over to Emerald Isle for a walk on the beach since the weather was so warm.  We were surprised to find a fair number of cars in our usual parking lot, but there turned out to be very few people on the beach.

We headed off down the beach for a leisurely walk on the firmer than normal beach surface.

It pretty hard to describe how nice it was on the beach.  The pictures can actually do a better job than my words.  The water had just enough coolness to provide a pleasant contrast to the warm sand.  The surf was pretty quiet and there was just a slight breeze.

We kept watching the schools of small minnows swimming in the surf.  It was amazing how many we could see.  It was about then that I started wondering if I had stumbled on the reason the Crystal Coast is called the Crystal Coast.

The clarity of the water was pretty hard to believe.  I spent a few minutes trying to capture an image that would adequately show what I was seeing.  I finally got the right small wave and snapped the shot below and to the right.

The picture doesn't do the water justice, but I'm just excited that there is still water around this clear and so full of marine life.

I hope that we can preserve the wonderful waters of the Crystal Coast for the next generation.  If my guess is wrong about the "Crystal," in Crystal Coast, I would be interested in hearing the real story.

I have more area fall pictures at this website.

Fall is pretty glorious on the east coast.  Recently we were enjoying some great  late fall weather in North Carolina's Crystal Coast area.  We had a very enjoyable breakfast at Yana's Ye Olde Drugstore Restaurant on Front Street in Swansboro.

We ran a few errands and decided to go over to Emerald Isle for a walk on the beach since the weather was so warm.  We were surprised to find a fair number of cars in our usual parking lot, but there turned out to be very few people on the beach.

We headed off down the beach for a leisurely walk on the firmer than normal beach surface.

It pretty hard to describe how nice it was on the beach.  The pictures can actually do a better job than my words.  The water had just enough coolness to provide a pleasant contrast to the warm sand.  The surf was pretty quiet and there was just a slight breeze.

We kept watching the schools of small minnows swimming in the surf.  It was amazing how many we could see.  It was about then that I started wondering if I had stumbled on the reason the Crystal Coast is called the Crystal Coast.

The clarity of the water was pretty hard to believe.  I spent a few minutes trying to capture an image that would adequately show what I was seeing.  I finally got the right small wave and snapped the shot below and to the right.

The picture doesn't do the water justice, but I'm just excited that there is still water around this clear and so full of marine life.

I hope that we can preserve the wonderful waters of the Crystal Coast for the next generation.  If my guess is wrong about the "Crystal," in Crystal Coast, I would be interested in hearing the real story.

I have more area fall pictures at this website.

Fall is pretty glorious on the east coast.  Recently we were enjoying some great  late fall weather in North Carolina's Crystal Coast area.  We had a very enjoyable breakfast at Yana's Ye Olde Drugstore Restaurant on Front Street in Swansboro.

We ran a few errands and decided to go over to Emerald Isle for a walk on the beach since the weather was so warm.  We were surprised to find a fair number of cars in our usual parking lot, but there turned out to be very few people on the beach.

We headed off down the beach for a leisurely walk on the firmer than normal beach surface.

It pretty hard to describe how nice it was on the beach.  The pictures can actually do a better job than my words.  The water had just enough coolness to provide a pleasant contrast to the warm sand.  The surf was pretty quiet and there was just a slight breeze.

We kept watching the schools of small minnows swimming in the surf.  It was amazing how many we could see.  It was about then that I started wondering if I had stumbled on the reason the Crystal Coast is called the Crystal Coast.

The clarity of the water was pretty hard to believe.  I spent a few minutes trying to capture an image that would adequately show what I was seeing.  I finally got the right small wave and snapped the shot below and to the right.

The picture doesn't do the water justice, but I'm just excited that there is still water around this clear and so full of marine life.

I hope that we can preserve the wonderful waters of the Crystal Coast for the next generation.  If my guess is wrong about the "Crystal," in Crystal Coast, I would be interested in hearing the real story.

I have more area fall pictures at this website.

Fall is pretty glorious on the east coast.  Recently we were enjoying some great  late fall weather in North Carolina's Crystal Coast area.  We had a very enjoyable breakfast at Yana's Ye Olde Drugstore Restaurant on Front Street in Swansboro.

We ran a few errands and decided to go over to Emerald Isle for a walk on the beach since the weather was so warm.  We were surprised to find a fair number of cars in our usual parking lot, but there turned out to be very few people on the beach.

We headed off down the beach for a leisurely walk on the firmer than normal beach surface.

It pretty hard to describe how nice it was on the beach.  The pictures can actually do a better job than my words.  The water had just enough coolness to provide a pleasant contrast to the warm sand.  The surf was pretty quiet and there was just a slight breeze.

We kept watching the schools of small minnows swimming in the surf.  It was amazing how many we could see.  It was about then that I started wondering if I had stumbled on the reason the Crystal Coast is called the Crystal Coast.

The clarity of the water was pretty hard to believe.  I spent a few minutes trying to capture an image that would adequately show what I was seeing.  I finally got the right small wave and snapped the shot below and to the right.

The picture doesn't do the water justice, but I'm just excited that there is still water around this clear and so full of marine life.

I hope that we can preserve the wonderful waters of the Crystal Coast for the next generation.  If my guess is wrong about the "Crystal," in Crystal Coast, I would be interested in hearing the real story.

I have more area fall pictures at this website.

Long ago we learned that every spot on earth has some wonderful secrets.  You don't find the neat things about a place by driving through.  Sometimes when you're visiting you stumble upon them, but mostly you have to spend some serious time in an area to really appreciate what makes an area special.

When we lived in Nova Scotia, the Halifax Public Gardens made living in Halifax even more special.  When we farmed near Fredericton, New Brunswick, there was a really neat wading pool that our kids used to love.  It was one of those places where kids could be kids.  In our short stay in Columbia, Maryland, we grew to love the well groomed trails that wandered through the huge Poplar trees which grew to heights unimaginable to someone whose last sixteen years was in the land of stunted Spruce and Fir trees.

In Roanoke, Va. before development took it away, we used to enjoy an old woods road that we groomed into a trail.  It was a haven away from pavement and even summer heat.  Once we had to retreat from the trail,  our deck with a view over the city of Roanoke became our special place.  I still spend lots of time taking pictures of the sunrises.  Many of those pictures are posted at my on line print site.

As we've come to spent more time in Swansboro, NC, it has become clear that the bridges over the White Oak River are a pretty special spot.  The area makes for some pretty special sunsets and seems to draw people every evening.

Recently we were out on a mission looking for some nippers to cut brush.  We struck out on the nippers but decided to have dinner on the water and make the best of the situation.

We picked the Icehouse Restaurant in downtown Swansboro for our Grouper dinner.  As we settled into our seats, I couldn't help but marvel at the view from our table which is captured in the image to the left.  The water and sky couldn't have been a nicer shade of blue.  The temperature was nearly perfect.  Add a great meal, and you have a perfect evening.

There are several restaurants clustered around the bridges.  We've tried many of them and the food is almost all universally good.  Yet part of me wonders how much the wonderful beauty of the White Oak River near the bridges contributes to those special moments.  We aren't to the point of one the diners who left the Icehouse by boat, but we certainly enjoy watching the boats skim across the surface.  Seeing so many others enjoy the water in such a beautiful place can only make it more special.

I'm enjoying learning a new world and look forward to sharing some additional not-so-secret secrets I've already discovered.  If you interested in the reasons we selected Swansboro as our favorite part of North Carolina's coastal paradise, you can check out my Coastalnc.org website or  the view from my kayak.

Long ago we learned that every spot on earth has some wonderful secrets.  You don't find the neat things about a place by driving through.  Sometimes when you're visiting you stumble upon them, but mostly you have to spend some serious time in an area to really appreciate what makes an area special.

When we lived in Nova Scotia, the Halifax Public Gardens made living in Halifax even more special.  When we farmed near Fredericton, New Brunswick, there was a really neat wading pool that our kids used to love.  It was one of those places where kids could be kids.  In our short stay in Columbia, Maryland, we grew to love the well groomed trails that wandered through the huge Poplar trees which grew to heights unimaginable to someone whose last sixteen years was in the land of stunted Spruce and Fir trees.

In Roanoke, Va. before development took it away, we used to enjoy an old woods road that we groomed into a trail.  It was a haven away from pavement and even summer heat.  Once we had to retreat from the trail,  our deck with a view over the city of Roanoke became our special place.  I still spend lots of time taking pictures of the sunrises.  Many of those pictures are posted at my on line print site.

As we've come to spent more time in Swansboro, NC, it has become clear that the bridges over the White Oak River are a pretty special spot.  The area makes for some pretty special sunsets and seems to draw people every evening.

Recently we were out on a mission looking for some nippers to cut brush.  We struck out on the nippers but decided to have dinner on the water and make the best of the situation.

We picked the Icehouse Restaurant in downtown Swansboro for our Grouper dinner.  As we settled into our seats, I couldn't help but marvel at the view from our table which is captured in the image to the left.  The water and sky couldn't have been a nicer shade of blue.  The temperature was nearly perfect.  Add a great meal, and you have a perfect evening.

There are several restaurants clustered around the bridges.  We've tried many of them and the food is almost all universally good.  Yet part of me wonders how much the wonderful beauty of the White Oak River near the bridges contributes to those special moments.  We aren't to the point of one the diners who left the Icehouse by boat, but we certainly enjoy watching the boats skim across the surface.  Seeing so many others enjoy the water in such a beautiful place can only make it more special.

I'm enjoying learning a new world and look forward to sharing some additional not-so-secret secrets I've already discovered.  If you interested in the reasons we selected Swansboro as our favorite part of North Carolina's coastal paradise, you can check out my Coastalnc.org website or  the view from my kayak.

There comes a point when you've said all you can say about our political situation.  I think that I've arrived at that point.  The newspapers are full of opinions so it's no trouble to find one that matches your own.

I'm for as little government as possible, and I'm going to leave it at that.  I am for protecting our environment.  It doesn't make a lot of sense to foul our own nest.  I would like the next generations to have the opportunity to experience some of the wonderful places that I have seen.

For a number of years we owned a two person kayak.  I spent many wonderful hours in Carvin's Cove exploring and even fishing. Mostly due to career demands at Apple Computer in my last years there, I gave it up.

Recently I passed my NC state real estate exam, and I gave my self a reward for all those long hours of study and classroom time, I bought myself a new kayak.

I had done some research earlier and decided on a Wilderness System Pungo 120.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any locally so we went on a GPS adventure.  It's rare when my Acura GPS screws up, but this time it really did.  What should have been a trip to Rocky Mount of slightly over two hours ended up being over three hours.  The trip back with some human directions and my new blue Pungo 120 only took a couple of hours.

The river in our backyard is the the White Oak.  It's a beautiful river.  Getting out on the river in the new kayak was a real pleasure.  It you could zoom in a little on the picture to the left you could see in the distance the bridges over the White Oak near Swansboro, NC.

I spent an hour wandering around and exploring which is about all the old body could take cramped up in a kayak.

The water is still warm, and it couldn't be much more beautiful out on the river.  It's a good way to completely forget about politics.

I need to find a better exit ramp than the boat ramp in our subdivision. It's a little steep for a graceful kayak exit, but that's just a minor problem.

On the way back in I did have to get cleared by the local air patrol, but he was pretty tolerant of me trying to get as close as possible for a photo.

Lots more kayaking pictures at "Kayaking the White Oak."

There comes a point when you've said all you can say about our political situation.  I think that I've arrived at that point.  The newspapers are full of opinions so it's no trouble to find one that matches your own.

I'm for as little government as possible, and I'm going to leave it at that.  I am for protecting our environment.  It doesn't make a lot of sense to foul our own nest.  I would like the next generations to have the opportunity to experience some of the wonderful places that I have seen.

For a number of years we owned a two person kayak.  I spent many wonderful hours in Carvin's Cove exploring and even fishing. Mostly due to career demands at Apple Computer in my last years there, I gave it up.

Recently I passed my NC state real estate exam, and I gave my self a reward for all those long hours of study and classroom time, I bought myself a new kayak.

I had done some research earlier and decided on a Wilderness System Pungo 120.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any locally so we went on a GPS adventure.  It's rare when my Acura GPS screws up, but this time it really did.  What should have been a trip to Rocky Mount of slightly over two hours ended up being over three hours.  The trip back with some human directions and my new blue Pungo 120 only took a couple of hours.

The river in our backyard is the the White Oak.  It's a beautiful river.  Getting out on the river in the new kayak was a real pleasure.  It you could zoom in a little on the picture to the left you could see in the distance the bridges over the White Oak near Swansboro, NC.

I spent an hour wandering around and exploring which is about all the old body could take cramped up in a kayak.

The water is still warm, and it couldn't be much more beautiful out on the river.  It's a good way to completely forget about politics.

I need to find a better exit ramp than the boat ramp in our subdivision. It's a little steep for a graceful kayak exit, but that's just a minor problem.

On the way back in I did have to get cleared by the local air patrol, but he was pretty tolerant of me trying to get as close as possible for a photo.

Lots more kayaking pictures at "Kayaking the White Oak."

There comes a point when you've said all you can say about our political situation.  I think that I've arrived at that point.  The newspapers are full of opinions so it's no trouble to find one that matches your own.

I'm for as little government as possible, and I'm going to leave it at that.  I am for protecting our environment.  It doesn't make a lot of sense to foul our own nest.  I would like the next generations to have the opportunity to experience some of the wonderful places that I have seen.

For a number of years we owned a two person kayak.  I spent many wonderful hours in Carvin's Cove exploring and even fishing. Mostly due to career demands at Apple Computer in my last years there, I gave it up.

Recently I passed my NC state real estate exam, and I gave my self a reward for all those long hours of study and classroom time, I bought myself a new kayak.

I had done some research earlier and decided on a Wilderness System Pungo 120.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any locally so we went on a GPS adventure.  It's rare when my Acura GPS screws up, but this time it really did.  What should have been a trip to Rocky Mount of slightly over two hours ended up being over three hours.  The trip back with some human directions and my new blue Pungo 120 only took a couple of hours.

The river in our backyard is the the White Oak.  It's a beautiful river.  Getting out on the river in the new kayak was a real pleasure.  It you could zoom in a little on the picture to the left you could see in the distance the bridges over the White Oak near Swansboro, NC.

I spent an hour wandering around and exploring which is about all the old body could take cramped up in a kayak.

The water is still warm, and it couldn't be much more beautiful out on the river.  It's a good way to completely forget about politics.

I need to find a better exit ramp than the boat ramp in our subdivision. It's a little steep for a graceful kayak exit, but that's just a minor problem.

On the way back in I did have to get cleared by the local air patrol, but he was pretty tolerant of me trying to get as close as possible for a photo.

Lots more kayaking pictures at "Kayaking the White Oak."

As we settle into our home away home near Swansboro, NC, I'm struck by the prospect of having water in our backyard.  In fact most places aren't very far from some type of water.

This will be the first time we lived with water so close.  We lived a couple of times within a mile or so of the water, but it has never been one of our property lines.

This view from the dock behind the house shows water in its most peaceful state.  I'm sure we'll see it in many different moods over the years.

Yet the water already has given me some new perspective and at least started to soothe my scared corporate soul.  I'm looking forward to dipping a paddle into the water in the next few weeks.  It should be a great new adventure.