Lola loves Frank...

...Frankie loves Lola
on their second honeymoon in Pensacola
tryin' to find a little privacy
-Jimmy Buffett, “Frank & Lola”


There were 3 songs I thought would be good intros for this anniversary trip. So as not to waste good musical inspiration, you get the 3 part blog post. Anniversary Post, Part 1. I'll follow up with parts 2 and 3 in the next few days.

First off, I must say that all married couples really ought to make time to get away from home, sans children, to spend some time alone together. I can't tell you the last time hubs and I had a conversation that didn't either begin or end with some mundane “Who's picking up the kids?” kind of discussion. That's not all we talk about, of course, but the boring stuff that's required to run a household always creeps in. So off we went, leaving the boys in the good care (or good spoiling) of their grandparents, and we headed east for the Outer Banks. It's pretty embarrassing when you meet someone from outside NC who goes there every summer and you have to admit you've never seen a lighthouse.

So like the good tourists that we are, we headed off to do all the touristy things that OBX have to offer, with the goal of squeezing in as many cheezily romantic moments as possible.

(crossing over to Roanoke Island)

First up, a rainbow to welcome us to the coast. It was beautiful – you could see both ends and it went right across the road in front of us. An anniversary treat to start our trip right!

(was much more impressive in person, I promise)

We arrived around dinner time and had a romantic candlelit anniversary dinner overlooking the sound at The Blue Point in Duck, NC. This was right up there with the best meals I've ever put in my mouth. I'll keep the appetizer a secret because we're going to try to re-create that one for some friends in a couple of weeks. Then she-crab soup, crab cakes, and pork chops (I know – who eats pork chops at the beach?!) … all fantastic. To top it off, I had a dark chocolate banana bread pudding concoction that was like eating a little piece of heaven. Holy moly. We ate very well all weekend, but that was over the top awesome. Follow it with a moonlit walk on the beach, a glass of champagne, and our second honeymoon was off to a great start.

On Friday, we started the day at the Wright Brothers monument, where I learned that what I always assumed was the tail of Orville & Wilbur's plane was actually the front. Who knew?!

(See!  He's facing what looks an awful lot like a modern plane's TAIL!)

Then we headed over to Jockey's Ridge to check out the sand dunes. Definitely one of those things where pictures just can't do it justice – they are HUGE! We hiked to the top and did goofy things like jumping off and pretending to fly. But I haven't had that much fun in a really, really long time. Nor have I had that much sand in my ears, cuffs of my jeans, or in my hair. I should just call it a couple's exfoliation spa – kinda like a couple's massage, right? Sounds so very romantic.  My hair was some kinda tangled and we were some kind of sandblasted. But it was a blast (the fun kind, not just the sand kind).


Next up - lighthouse looking.  Check back tomorrow for more pics and the rest of the OBX tourist attractions.  We hit 'em all.  Promise.