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.

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.

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.