The Crystal Coast, Salt water on my feet

The Best Twenty Dollars You'll Ever Spend

Post originally written June 22, 2005.

Once in a while, you do something really neat that you will remember of a long time.  Recently we had the good fortune to find one of those memories.

The weather was perfect with the temperature in the low eighties, with little humidity and a slight breeze.  The seas were pretty smooth, and we were about 13 miles north of Beaufort, NC at Harker's Island.  At breakfast I read an advertisement for Calico Jack's Marina and Pony Express.  Their claim to fame if you watch the little animation on their web page is that they are the closest ferry to Cape Lookout National Seashore and they run a four wheel drive taxi service from the Capelookout Lighthouse down to the Cape Point which is the first picture in the post.

The ferry with the shuttle service to the point is twenty dollars. It has to be one of the most beautiful places that I have ever visited.  Of course by its very location, there are not a lot of people there.  It would be a long hike in soft sand from the Lighthouse so the four wheel drive shuttle service is the only way to go. 

It took ten minutes by a 24 ft Carolina Skiff to get from Calico Jack's on Harker's Island to the beach where we had an easy exit after the skiff was beached.  Then it was fifteen minutes or so by Chevrolet four wheel drive down to the point.  We had an excellent captain and an equally accomplished sand pilot.

We then spent an hour and a half wandering and wading around the point.  The water on the ocean side was cool but not unpleasant, the clashing seas at the end of the point sometimes sounded like thunder, and the wading on the soundside was just right.  The Pony Express shuttle picks up every hour or half hour as needed and the boats run similarly.  They are even careful to make sure that they leave no one behind.

The beaches are pristine, the crowds non-existent, and the water nearly perfect.  It's the best twenty dollars that I have spent in a long time.

The last stand of the small coastal towns in the Carolinas

We took a trip recently down from Cape Carteret, NC to Murrells Inlet, SC.

It was an interesting trip from a lot of perspectives. 

Most importantly it was a confirmation that we made the right decision when we moved to western Carteret County.

It is probably no news to anyone that small town America is challenged these days with the increasing urbanization of our countryside.  The small town, Lewisville, NC, where I grew up in the fifties and sixties does not resemble the place that I remember.

Even the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia where I spent the early seventies is changing.

Our trip down to South Carolina reminded me that we could have wall to wall high rise developments here on the Crystal Coast like there is in Myrtle Beach.  Fortunately that does not appear to be a near term danger.

As we were driving back from South Carolina, I thought about the things that I love about the Crystal Coast. I like to use the term "small town feel" to describe what make here.

Yet when I talk about the small town feel or life, what does that really mean?

1. Above all I believe it is the opportunity to interact with and get to know a group of people who have somewhat common interests because they live in a certain area that ties people together.
2. Being bound together by that sense of place and common interests creates a sense of community which drives certain behaviors that you might not see in a more urban world.  People actually care about what happens to each other.
3. In a very uncertain world, that sense of community and provides both an emotional and a real safety net.
4. While urban areas tend to overwhelm their environment, small towns tend to be part of the environment.  If you aren't closed up in a high rise tower, you might care more about the world at your doorstep.
5. Small towns that give me the right vibes are places that still own their own soul.  They mostly have businesses owned by the people that live there.
6. Most importantly real small towns are populated mostly by people that make it their home not the spot that they occasionally visit.

I have no illusion that small towns are utopia.  I have lived in at least one small town that was not a pleasant experience for an outsider.  There has to be the right mix between locals and transplants to create an environment where the best of both worlds can survive.

If the outsiders and developers take over, you can end up with wall to wall high rises along the beach.  If only the locals rule, you can end up with a place hostile to newcomers or any change.  Neither would be a fun place to live.

So what protects that little section of the Southern Outer Banks where we live?  Of course I am only guessing, but I suspect being a little off the beaten bath helps.  I also think having an early migration of full time residents from the outside set the tone of accepting newcomers.

I know that being sandwiched between Cape Lookout, a national seashore, and the 157,000 acres of  Croatan National Forest also is good thing.

Beyond that I suspect the fact that there is no large city in the area has also made a difference.

Finally somehow I think the area has been self selecting. The people who have come to the area are here because they appreciate the towns and villages for what they are, rather than what they might be.

Our little patch of heaven is to a certain extent a land of boaters, fishermen, and people who enjoy walking mostly empty beaches.

For that reason the area has stayed a spot that caters to those kind people.

And that turns out to be fine with me.  I greatly appreciate the opportunity to live in area where there are still real fishermen and where the business person you talk to is often the owner.  It is neat to be a place where history is appreciated without having it take over your life.

It is good to see an environment where people can start small businesses and sometimes succeed.  It is nice seeing a mix of old and young people interact in a positive manner in the many area festivals.

While no place is perfect, this one works pretty well for the time being.  I hope we can keep the balance.

While development will continue to encroach on the area, I remain hopeful that we can preserve these last few remaining small towns.  I hope our love does not kill them.

They just might be irreplaceable.

Coastal Community Market, Beaufort, NC & Marmite

Finding Coastal Community Market in Beaufort was a nice surprise.  I have always been hooked on health food stores, and this one seems especially well stocked considering its size.

Finding one product on their shelves solved a major challenge for me.

It is funny how you carry around little tidbits of things that have stuck to you like a Velcro ball during the course of your life.

One of my Velcro balls is Marmite which most people have never heard of unless they have a British or Australian connection.

Marmite gets an almost mystical hold over you. London, England's Guardian has a story about the history of Marmite.

Marmite is vegetarian yeast extract that tastes like meat but is actually full of vitamins.  My preferred way of eating Marmite is spread it very thinly on buttered toast.

A couple of English friends that we met in Canada introduced me to Marmite.  It was love at first taste for me.  I actually brought some home from London once.

You don't just go down to the grocery store and buy Marmite unless you live in Canada, Britain, or near one of the stores which are enlightened enough to carry it.

A measure of Roanoke's growing sophistication is that it is no longer a challenge to find Marmite in Roanoke.  I actually have purchased Marmite at the Kroger at Tower's Shopping Center.

My regular spot to buy Marmite in Roanoke is the Roanoke Natural Foods Coop, but they went through a shortage in late 2007 so I picked up some Marmite from Fresh Market.

In Northern Virginia many of the Giants carry Marmite.  I haven't tried looking for Marmite at Ukrop's yet, but I would be surprised if they didn't carry it.

Finding Marmite on North Carolina's coast is a lesson in how serious the settlers were in keeping all things British out of the area.

However on a trip over to Beaufort, we visited the new Coastal Community Market which is located at 606 Broad Street.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Marmite on the shelves. It was also priced a little less expensive than my last bottle.

The shopkeeper was almost excited to find another person who likes Marmite as I was to find a local source of one of my favorite treats.

I will not encourage people to taste Marmite because it is expensive at over $5 per bottle, and I suspect the majority of people would not like it.

Also I would hate to see Marmite wasted, and I would be even more upset with an artificial shortage created by Marmite tasters whose taste buds cannot handle the intense flavor.

Marmite is the key ingredient of my "perfect" breakfast which I haven't had in ages since I switched to turkey sausage.  I might have to do one of those breakfasts soon.

My wife likens Marmite to country ham flavored axle grease.  She also doesn't like soft shell crabs and scallops.  That makes her taste buds suspect in my book.

If you have enough strength of character to be interested in Marmite, this link will get you to the FAQ that the Guardian published last summer.

Just don't eat it all.

We have been back to Coastal Community Market a few times.  We bought some millet and cracked wheat for my bread baking experiments.  Our last trip we bought some wonderful dill flavored cheese.

The store is extremely well stocked including some frozen meat, fresh local eggs, and some organic produce.

It is great to have a local natural foods store.  We'll be visiting Coastal Community Market often.

For more information visit their website or give them a call at (252) 728-2844.

Coming together at community meals

There is something special about sitting down to dinner with the people from your community.

If I had to give a name to the interaction that takes places at one of these events, I would have to call the Durgin-Park effect.

Durgin-Park is an old restaurant in the Market district of Boston which as the advertising says "was established before you were born."

It is famous for big hunks of prime rib still on the bone, somewhat saucy waitresses, and the long dining house style tables with red checked table clothes which can put you across the table from anyone.

Most of us would stay in a rut unless something pulled us out of it occasionally.  Making a new human contact is something that reminds us that we are part of human family that transcends our own families.

A community or church dinner is one of those things that will keep you human.  You learn what is going on outside your family and even meet new and interesting people.

The picture in the post comes from the Swansboro, NC Pig Cook off and Crafts' Fair which is held each fall.

We stopped by in fall of 2007 to enjoy a six dollar dinner of more eastern style barbecue than you can eat.  In the eastern part of the North Carolina, the community meals generally focus on barbecue, fish, and oysters.

As is often the case, we met some new folks and then got a visit by some friends that we had recently made.  Another year, and we will be old timers.

After lots of talk, we walked around and enjoyed the local crafts.

Today we had a lunch after the service in our Cape Carteret Presbyterian Church.  It was a great time to meet some new people.

We have enjoyed some great Wednesday night meals at our Roanoke church home, Covenant Presbyterian.

It seems many of the community meals in western NC and Virginia focus on chicken.  One of my favorites is Fire Station Chicken.  The chicken has to be appropriately charred to be tasty.

Besides providing some very good food, these community and church meals bring us together so that we can realize how much common ground that we still have.  We need more of that.  Talking to each other will bring us together and offers more hope of solving problems than a bunch of politicians.

It is hard enough for families to get together these days, so an opportunity to sit down with your community is very rare.  In many cases it is nearly impossible for communities to sit down at a few tables and look each other in the eye.  Luckily people work hard at figuring out how to it.  I think it is a part of our instincts.  The need to be together in a group is a powerful force.

Yet that being together is exactly what we need. I have learned that the Internet and Email can have a very dehumanizing effect on people.

The more people get hooked on electronic communication, the bigger chance we have of forgetting how to treat real people.

People say and do things in emails and instant messages that they would not do in person. 

I have seen people who are addicted to their Blackberries and cell phones completely lose their humanity and forget how to treat people as people.

I still believe in personal contact with other humans as a key to your sanity.

If that is old school then count me as old school.  Certainly my old school attitude is helping me be successful in real estate.

I hope I remain hooked on humans.  I can still remember when we lived on the farm in Tay Creek, New Brunswick.  One of the highlights of the summer was the community getting together to eat.

The next time you have a chance to go to a community or church meal, take advantage of it.  You will find something special there besides the food.

Glassy Waters

Taking pictures of water when the sun is starting to go down can be a lot of fun. 

Late this fall I was busy with clients until just before 4 pm on Sunday.   

We  do not get a lot of daylight after five in the fall, but I was desperate to be on the water.

I stuck the kayak in and paddled out on the White Oak to enjoy the sunset and flail the water a little.  I knew I likely would not catch anything because I would be torn between taking pictures and casting.

It was well worth the effort.  I got some interesting pictures. I love the reflective quality of the first picture.

The second picture had a similar but different quality to it.  If I were doing anything with the second, I would cut out the little flare at the bottom right corner.

It is pretty hard to get serious about fishing when the scenery is changing so rapidly, and when you haven't gotten a bite in your first few casts.

The clients I was with during the weekend had been searching for a place from Florida to the north, with significant time spent looking in South Carolina and Brunswick County, NC.

By the time they ran into me, they had pretty well decided what they wanted.

They took a "thirty" minute ride into the area which stretched into four hours as I showed them different choices.

I told them that we have almost as many different types of water as an Eskimos have types of snow.  When you factor in how different the same water can look in specific lighting conditions, it is no wonder people are often mystified by the dark waters of the White Oak.

I got some really nice sunset shots as I worked by way back to the house, but I was even more impressed by the stillness of the water as I glided in Raymond's Gut.

Living on the water is truly a treat, and I am determined to enjoy every minute that I can.

When we lived on the water in Canada, it was often too cold to enjoy the water.  Yesterday was November 19 and the temperature was seventy five degrees.  The water is still in the sixties.  We even had lunch at the Ice House in Swansboro and ate outside it was so warm.

That is one of the pleasures of living in the South on the coast. This year I have set a goal of seeing how late I can pick a ripe tomato off my three vines.  I would love to get to  December, but we will see.

The weather this next to last week week in November is supposed to be outstanding with temperatures getting into the mid-seventies.

Dragon Garden, Wilmington, NC

I am not sure when or where I first got to enjoy a Chinese buffet. It just might have been in Blacksburg, Virginia with my old friend Butch in the late eighties or early nineties.  It was a great way to have a pressure free business lunch.

Later when I  was a manager at Apple Computer,  the local Chinese Buffet in Reston, Va became our favorite place for  employee lunches. It was one of the few places that we could find a table that would seat eight without reservations.  The food was also inexpensive.  It was nice that people could pick whatever they liked even if was just tofu.

Later we were lucky to have Szechuan Restaurant move to close to our house in Roanoke, Virginia.  They brought with them a buffet that turned out to be an excellent place to bring the kids for Sunday lunch.

My wife is not a big Chinese buffet fan so I have probably found more good buffets when traveling for business than when on family trips.  I have eaten in Chinese buffets in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Mount Airy, North Carolina, and many places in between the two spots.

Recently I did convince my wife to try King Buffet in Morehead City, North Carolina.  It turned out to be a great find. Glenda, my wife, even likes it.  They have a great variety foods, and it is one of the most economical meals around.  You even get hand dipped ice cream for dessert.

In November 2006, I was down in Wilmington, NC finishing my real estate courses. I had planned to eat at a local Internet Cafe so I could check my mail, but it was closed.  I took a chance on Dragon Garden, which I had noticed the day before when grabbing a sandwich at Jersey Mike's.

I knew that I had lucked into a really good Chinese restaurant when I heard someone at another table say that they had been coming to Dragon Garden for Sunday lunch for years.

The buffet was definitely one of the best  that I have  tried.  All the food was well cooked, very tasty, and a little different than some of the buffets.  I especially liked the shrimp fried rice.  My only complaint is that I wish the food had been labeled.  I will certainly try Dragon Garden out again the next time I am in Wilmington.

Making the mountains or coast decision

      

My wife and I are both native North Carolinians.  We both spent much of our early years in the Mount Airy, NC area.

We are now living on the coast but have spent much of our time living in the mountains.  Our experiences might help others make the decision as to where to live.

In Mount Airy, the Blue Ridge Mountains were just a few miles away.  A trip up to the Blue Ridge Parkway was a normal thing to do on a hot summer day.  The temperature was often ten to fifteen degrees cooler. 

Taking a picnic up to the Parkway was a great summer activity.  Then there was the trip to Mount Mitchell with it spruce forests which were like another world.

Living on the side of the mountain was a dream for many of us in the Piedmont of North Carolina. It drove up land prices in the mountains. 

Still North Carolina is a state with many treasures, and its beaches are among the best. Each summer from the time I was only two, we were off to beaches.  I think salt water ran in my veins from early in my life.

For years, we ran a cattle ranch in Canada near Fredericton, New Brunswick.  Though the hills there were not quite mountains, we had a wonderful view and more snow than any of the southern mountains ever see. 

At the back of our Canadian farm was a stream filled with native brook trout.  Much of the vegetation was reminiscent of the Blue Ridge mountains and Mt. Mitchell.  Both before and after our time on the farm we lived along the shore of Nova Scotia, one of the most beautiful places on earth, and a place with a climate more like the southern mountains than the southern beaches.

After living in Canada for seventeen years, we have spent most of the last twenty years living that mountain dream in Roanoke, Va.

Roanoke is the downtown in the picture at the top of the post.  Our home is actually in the foothills of Twelve O'Clock Knob, one of the mountains surrounding Roanoke.

Roanoke was a wonderful place to live and bring up our three children.  It is hard not to be humbled by the beauty of the mountains when you are surrounded by mountains.  I took thousands of sunrise pictures from the porch just off our bedroom.

We joined a wonderful church, Covenant Presbyterian and our children attended exceptional neighborhood schools through middle school. The high school was not perfect but ended up better than most.

I felt fortunate to live on the side of a mountain high above Roanoke.  I was able to maintain two miles of trails on the mountain until it was sold to a developer a few years ago.

Those trails were a wonderful escape for us as we walked our Lab, Chester.  We could watch spring morph into Appalachian summer.  We knew exactly where certain wildflowers would show up each year.  A few years we were even able to use snowshoes on the mountain.  In the summer the cool canopy of tall trees was a great escape from the heat.

We even battled the bears for blackberries which my wife turned into wonderful blackberry jelly.  For a time it was like having the best of urban and rural living.  We were close to services, but ten minutes of hiking up a hill got us away from the city a couple of times a day.

It was a great period of mountain living.  We even had a crystal clear mountain lake, Carvin's Cove, to enjoy with our kayak.

Unfortunately people and places change.  I have come to believe and accept that change is the one constant.

We have changed and our mountains have changed.  The Roanoke Valley's air is not nearly as clean as it was when we moved here.  The thousands of trucks passing through the valley each day might have something to do with that.  Property taxes in the Roanoke Valley have gotten well beyond what I think is sustainable.

In spite of that, the jobs have not come to the valley.  All three of our kids moved away after college to find jobs.

Also I have come to admit that living in the mountains takes some effort.
 

Where I used to not mind loading my bike on the back of the car and driving for a few minutes so I could ride it, now I do.  Our hill outside Roanoke is too steep for all but the most fit bike riders.

We also were country club members for a while, then members of the local fitness club, and eventually the Salem YMCA.  All those were mainly for access to a swimming pool where I could swim some laps.

Swimming always meant at least 10 to 20 minutes of driving each way.

These are all minor things but they play a role in deciding where to live.

At some point, the mountains became more of a challenge than a paradise for me. 

Roanoke has had very little snow over the last few years, but some pretty good ice and wind storms have paralyzed the valley.

If  you live on the side of a mountain with a steep access road, you quickly learn that getting up the mountain isn't the challenge.  Going down the mountain on an icy road is what really separates the idiots from the rest of humanity.

Now after nearly eighteen years enjoying life on the side of a mountain, we find ourselves on the coast much of the time.

Before we made the decision, we looked long and hard through the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.  We also traveled up and down the Virginia and North Carolina coasts.

On the shores of the White Oak River in Carteret County, I have found plenty of good walking by just going out my front door.  There are also walks on the beach and trails in Croatan National forest that are just minutes away.

I have a great place to ride my bike, and I never have to load it on the back of the car.  I just have to slide the kayak in the water to go for a paddle.

The community swimming pool is about 150 ft from the end of driveway.  An indoor one at the fitness center is six or seven minutes away.

Overall taxes and insurance are about 35% less than they are in Roanoke.  Our utility bills are much less because the average temperature in Carteret County is pretty close to comfortable much of the year.

We haven't given up our mountainside home yet so in certain respects we have the best of both worlds. Still the beaches are slowly winning us over.

Perhaps we did not look hard enough in the mountains, but what we found in Carteret County turned out to be just what we were looking for in a new home.  We found a year around community with lots to do, pleasant weather, and most of all friendly people.

I think almost all of the beautiful mountain homes we looked at were isolated.  Having lived n some fairly remote spots over the years, we were looking for neighbors, we found them in our small subdivision near Cape Carteret and Swansboro. 

I am sure there are mountain communities that have the same feeling, we just didn't find them. 

Finding a place where you are going to be happy means figuring out what will make you happy.  For some people it is sitting on a deck and enjoying a mountain view.  For others like me, it is being able to hop on a bicycle or walk on a beach.  It is not so much the place that makes you happy, it is what you can find in a place that will make it right for you.

Try to imagine living in a place.  Living somewhere is far different than visiting.

There have been lots of people who moved to twenty acres in the country only to find out that it wasn't the place for them.  I suspect the same thing has happened to people who get a home at the beach or in the mountains.

Understanding your own needs and wants is the most important part of the equation.   If you don't figure that out first, you likely won't be happy in the mountains or on the beach.

Swamp maple and other spring southern cruelities

When we were living in Canada, I used to think that February was the cruelest month.

March was a close second.

It wasn't directly because of the weather in Canada.  Actually it was the weather in the South that caused the problems.

About mid-February, my mother would remind us about how lovely her Camellias were.

Then the last of February, my wife's Dad would let us know that he had planted his onions.  In March they would start talking about daffodils, tulips trees, and other insane southern vegetation.

Of course we were usually buried under a blanket of snow.

Now that I am living on the coast, I can even send pictures of Swamp Maple buds like in the picture to my northern friends.

Since we moved from Canada, I have clearly been guilty of highlighting the temperature differences between the areas a few times, but sometimes I get there unintentionally.

Recently I called to ask for some current pictures of the church we used to attend.

We were not far into the conversation when my Canadian friend told me that she had just gotten all her Christmas lights down.

I asked why that was so, and she explained that they had so much snow that she had to wear snowshoes to take down the Christmas lights that she had put along the fence down their driveway.

I couldn't pass up telling her that I had just come from walking on the beach which was bad enough, but I also stuck in the fact that it had been warm enough for me to go barefooted and then wade in the ocean a little.

That brought a "just how warm is it there?" question.  I had to say that we were closing in on seventy and that I couldn't remember the last time the heat had run.

Now that I had her on the run, I couldn't resist telling her that I thought I might plant my tomato plants in March this year.

Fortunately we are really good friends, and she realized that I might be pulling her leg.

I let it go at that, but I am wondering just how early I can get those tomato plants into the ground.

I did invite our Canadian friends down to the beach, but when I mentioned about strawberries being ripe the middle of April, I could have sworn she said something about that being unnatural.

We have had a great winter down on the Southern Outer Banks, but as you can see from the online gallery of Emerald Isle during the winter, it is not exactly crowded.

The good news is that it was very warm on Monday and Tuesday.

We actually had to open most of the windows in the house when the combination sunshine and warm temperatures got us to 78 degrees inside.

It was even warm enough to take the boat out for a spin twice this week.

I am just sorry that I had to work today.  Not only was it warm, but it was also calm out on the water which would have been a nice change from what we faced earlier in the week.

I can hardly wait until warm days are the rule instead of the exception.  I am ready for another serious boat trip like the one we did to Shackleford Banks last year.

It we can take the trip in early May, some Canadian spots will still be iced in from this tough winter.

I am sure some pictures of ex-northern friends boating and in the surf would help their frozen spirits.