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,

Emoticons

Tallulah Gorge, Georgia

On May 4,  on our way to Ocean Isle Beach,  North Carolina,   we stopped to do some hiking at Tallulah Gorge near Clayton, GA.   We wanted to check out their beautiful waterfalls (so--what else is new????)   and hike to the bottom of the gorge and back up!!!!  If you want to see a gorgeous video from Tallulah Gorge,  click HERE.

This gorge is known as one of the largest canyons in the Eastern US.  It is 2 miles long,  1.2 mile between the two sides,  and 1000 feet deep.  The Tallulah River --which formed the canyon and passes through it,  drops 500 feet in less than a mile --making for some spectacular waterfalls/cascades.

To get to the bottom of the canyon,  we hiked down almost 550 steps ---and then of course,  had those 550 steps BACK UP....  The going down was easy as you can imagine.  About 80 feet from the bottom of the canyon,  we crossed a suspension bridge before going on down to the bottom.

Today,  I'll share some photos with you from that hike.  Besides the hike down and back up,  we also checked out ALL of the overlooks on both sides of the canyon... The picture above was taken of us on the south side (after we had been down and back in the gorge).  Obviously,  we were RESTING... ha ha ...   It was a drizzly day---but luckily,  we didn't have too much rain.   I don't mind getting wet---but have to protect our cameras!!!

Here is a view looking down into the canyon from the north side --before we started down!!

This is a picture of some of the steps going down into that deep canyon.

And,  here is another one ---looking down-down-down.

Here is a picture taken from the south side of the canyon ---AFTER we climbed down and back up.  This shows the suspension bridge we crossed.  There are people on that bridge.  See them?????  (We are 80 feet above the canyon floor while on that bridge.)

AND---to prove that we made it down there to the suspension bridge,  George took this picture of me ON the bridge. I'm glad my jacket was plenty big --since I had all of my camera 'stuff' under there ---keeping it dry!!!!!

BUT---we have farther to go down in order to get to the bottom of the canyon.  We went down more steps ---and finally,  we could see the BOTTOM.

George took this AWESOME photo of the water at the bottom of the canyon.  He was able to use his tripod and get some excellent photos of the waterfalls and the water/canyon.  I'll share the waterfall photos plus more photos from the overlooks in another post. 

Here is a photo taken from the bottom,  looking BACK up at the rock cliffs (which are on both sides of the canyon).   Amazing gorge,  isn't it????

Here is a photo of George doing his 'thing' with the tripod!!!!  WOW--the pictures he can get with the proper filters, plus using a tripod!   I love watching him at work!

While he had the tripod out,  George got this picture of us at the bottom.  That is Hurricane Falls,  one of the SIX main waterfalls at Tallulah Gorge.  Hurricane Falls is 96 feet. 

Hope you enjoyed seeing some photos from Tallulah Gorge taken on May 4, 2013.  When our day was complete at the gorge,  we had put about 4 miles on our pedometers.. Great exercise!!!!

Hope you have a wonderful day --and be sure and get out in nature and do some hiking!!!!  It's good for you! See you on Monday!

Hugs,

Emoticons