Life takes you on some unusual journeys, and our journey to the Crystal Coast is no exception.
We came to live on the North Carolina coast as North Carolina natives who have been visiting the coast since we were children growing up in and around Mt. Airy, NC.
We did not come to live in Carteret County without exploring other areas. We looked closely at areas from Assateague to Oak Island.
We looked at these places with the eyes of people who have lived in places as diverse as wilderness of Canada and the shore of Nova Scotia to suburban Maryland and the mountains of Roanoke, Virginia.
We were not looking for utopia, we were looking for a place where we could enjoy living, make some friends, have an active lifestyle, and be relatively safe and warm.
What we have found are welcoming beaches, good fishing, friendly people, and an area that is a pleasant place to live. We found a good church, some very good friends, and I am working my way towards being successful in real estate.
By chance we also found a great place to grow tomatoes. I planted mine this week, and one is already showing a bloom. Beyond that this is one of the greatest places in the world to go boating. There are no places on earth that I have seen more beautiful than this area on an early summer morning when you head out for fishing.
We are fortunate to be guarded on one side by the Cape Lookout National Seashore and on the other side by Croatan National Forest. And through it all runs my favorite river, the White Oak. A couple of miles wide at its widest point, the White Oak is a clean river where you can catch fish almost every day in the summer.
In addition we are in an area of modern services with no less than four large modern grocery stores and three chain drug stores within ten minutes of our house. Many other services are available in the area and twenty minutes away in Morehead City.
If we ever get a Target in MHC, we will rarely have to make that thirty minute drive to Jacksonville.
With good schools, low property taxes, warm weather, unbelievable water access, and friendly people as neighbors, Carteret County is pretty hard to beat. It is not the place for everyone since night life here consists of going on a beach walk or cuddling up with your loved one.
However, it is great place to enjoy life at a different pace. Each time I drive across the bridge and look out over the beauty of Bogue Sound, I know that I am in the right place. There is just a lot to love about Carteret County and the surrounding area.
Where else can you walk almost deserted beaches as you plant your tomatoes and see them bloom by March 26?
