Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Friday, June 7, 2013

Our Ocean Isle Beach Trip -May, 2013

George and I made our annual trip to the beach from May 4-11 this year.  We are basically mountain people---but we love going to the beach once or twice a year.  What we love about the going there:
-SEAFOOD  (very important since we can't get good seafood where we live now)
-Islander Inn (where we stay --with a room and balcony RIGHT on the beach)
-The beach itself (walking, collecting shells,  sunbathing, reading, RELAXING)
-The sky (sunrises/sunsets/pretty clouds/moon/rainbows, etc.)

Today I'll share with you some of our photos from this trip.  If you want to see photos from other trips,  you can go to my sidebar and scroll down to some of the different Ocean Isle Beach trips.  We see different things each time we go. Above is a photo taken from our room --on an evening when the sun was setting and reflecting on the waves.

Be sure to click on the photos for enlargements.



Here is a photo of George as we walked along the beach the first day we were there.  As you can tell (from the sweatshirt),  it was cool and windy that day.  BUT--we enjoyed our walk.  We averaged at least 3 miles of walking on the beach each day we were there.




George took this picture of me in front of the Islander Inn sign.  Note my new t-shirt--which he surprised me with one day.  That is Bryce Canyon from our trip there in 2011.  George took the photo and had the t-shirts made.  Isn't it beautiful?




This picture showing some of the waves near the fishing pier was taken during one of our walks along the beach.




Here is a picture George took of me during another of our walks toward the fishing pier.




I took  this picture of George as we were getting ready to eat dinner at our VERY FAVORITE  seafood restaurant in Calabash,  the Dockside Restaurant.




There are lots and lots of sea-birds ----so I managed to take this photo of another visitor who was feeding them one day. 




We love to sit on the beach ----SO one day,  George took this picture of me chatting with my son, Mark, on the phone!!!!!




We love Dockside Restaurant so much that we returned THREE different times for dinner.  We've tried other seafood restaurants --but this one is our favorite one. There is a pier next to Dockside where they bring the fresh seafood right up to the pier!!!  SO---we KNOW that food at Dockside is very, very FRESH...




The storm clouds were nearby ---but we only had rain ONE NIGHT that entire week.  SO---we were definitely pleased with our weather.




Here is one happy man ---eating dinner at Dockside.  We LOVED the fresh fried shrimp and those huge scallops... YUM... (I'm ready to go back for more!!!)




Who is this lazy woman ---relaxing at the beach????  The sun was warm --but since we use sunscreen,  we don't get much of a sunburn...  SUCH JOY --and REST!!!!!  As you can tell from these photos,  we go to the beach in May --ahead of the summer crowds.  We have the beach almost to ourselves the week we go--and we love that.




I love taking sky photos ---and this one turned out really good since the sun was shining on the big clouds over the water.   Neat one,  don't you think?  (Be sure to enlarge it.)




Proof that I got my feet in the water---even though it was quite cold...  There were some people swimming ---but we just continued to enjoy walking.




Here is one of my favorite photos EVER of the fishing pier --with the sun's reflection on it.  I have a trillion photos of the fishing pier --but this is my favorite I think.  Do you like it?




Finally,  Here is a picture of us taken from our room ---showing the ocean in back of us.  It was a wonderful week ---and we hope to return for a few days in late November or early December.

Hope you have a wonderful day.

Hugs,