Lovin' the good ol' NC!

“Real life” is often hard to face after vacations.  I’m definitely feeling that right now!  I just got back from visiting my sister in North Carolina.  I had sooo much fun!

This is how my vacation started.  I have this… thing.  It’s called BAD TRAVELING KARMA.  Not sure what I did to deserve it.  All I know is that every time I fly, I end up in some weird situation!  I’ll either have an airplane with some crazy delay, or else the airlines will loose my luggage.  Really, like every time.

My plane from SLC to Houston was supposed to take off at 1:30.  They loaded us all on the plane at about 1:00, then we sat there for an hour and a half while they tried to "fix a small problem."  Wonderful.  After an hour and a half they finally asked us to get off of the plane.  Oh goody. Okay.  Officially missed my connecting flight.  I guess the problem was with the navigation system or something.  I don't know.  I didn't really get it.  Finally at 4:30 (!!) they came on the intercom and said, "The navigation system on the plane has been fixed, and the plane is now ready to take off."  Everyone was pretty excited until they went on, "The BAD news is that our flight attendants are nearing the end of their shift, and if they work this flight now they will be clocking in overtime hours, and that isn't something we can do.  We have a new flight crew coming, however.  They should be here at about 9:00, so we'll plan on taking off at approximately 9:30."  Oh. My. Heck.  You have got to be kidding me.  I just sat there and laughed.  It was so dang funny to me!  So then I had to get in a line to find a new plane to take me from the Houston airport to North Carolina.  How long did the line take?  Oh, only 2 hours.  Ugh.  There were no more flights out of Houston that night, however.  So I flew to Houston (we took off at about 10) then they got me a hotel.  I couldn't get any of my luggage, though, so I just had to go to the hotel with... basically nothing.  By the time I got through all of the lines at the Houston airport and at the hotel and everything it was 3:00 in the morning!!  Guess what time I had to be in the hotel lobby to catch the shuttle back to the airport?  Oh- 5:45.  Yeeeeah.  I was really afraid of falling asleep and missing my plane, so I just went to my hotel room and watched tv for a couple of hours.  It was actually kinda fun!  My hotel room was super nice.  Anyway, so I ended up getting to NC at like 10ish in the morning.  It was crazy.  So dang funny, though.  There were a lot of mad people, but I just thought it was pretty funny.  :)  This is me by myself at my hotel.

The next day we drove three hours to Emerald Isle.  Emerald Isle is a little island right off of the shore of North Carolina, I guess.  Lindsay and her family and her friends and all of their families rent a beach house on Emerald Isle a couple of times a year.  Yep.  We need an ocean in Utah.  Anyway.  So we went to the beach for 4 days.  I don’t think there is a way to describe how much I love the beach.  I could live on a beach coast for the rest of my life.  Sometimes I love getting out in the waves, and sometimes I like to just sit and watch them.  I always get into a very reflective mood when I watch the ocean. 

 

Sorry- tangent.  Anyway- a couple of funny things that happened at the beach: 

(Sorry to those of you who read Lindsay’s blog, too.  There might be a little repetition.  Not all of it, though, just a little!)

 Lindsay and I were wading out into the ocean (we weren't even hip deep in the water yet) and we saw a gray fin sticking out of the water, swimming RIGHT NEXT TO US! (okay... the fin probably wasn't swimming- but whatever it was attached to sure was!)  It was literally only two feet away from us.  We hightailed out of that water as fast as we could.  No.  No, we don't know whether it was a shark or a dolphin.  The fin was large, though.  The "animal" was probably like 4 or 5 feet long.  So basically, we were either ALMOST eaten, or ALMOST Flipper's new best friends... and we don't even know which it was.  Huh.

Ah yes, and then there was also the time that I stepped on a dang sting ray while out jumping waves!  Luckily it didn't sting me.  It was really slimy, though.  Ugh. 

Really, I think my favorite part of the beach this time, though, was being there with Lindsay and her family.  I hardly ever get to see them and it was so fun to be with them.  Lindsay and I got tons of talking time in (which was great because she is super insightful and funny and helps me see things more clearly), Brian (my bro-in-law) is one of the funniest people I know, and their kids are absolutely adorable.  (I may be a bit biased, but really- they are the cutest/funniest kids in the world.)

We checked out of the beach house, and on our way back to Durham we stopped at a cool aquarium.  I love aquariums.  I really do.  Ocean life fascinates me.  McKenzie and Carson were super cute, too.  Carson just couldn’t get enough of all the fish.  

 

We also went to a rad museum.  Linds says she takes the kids there a lot.  It was fascinating.  They had so many things to do there.  It was gigantic.  They had a little zoo and a whole collection of really nasty bugs and weather demonstrations, and… yeah.  Just tons. Here we are in the butterfly… place at the museum.  TONS of butterflies flying all over the place.

 

We did other fun things, too, like going on walks, playing tag with the kids, listening to Carson sing (he never stops singing.  No, really.  Like never.  It’s awesome.), listening to McKenzie tell one of her many stories, and… ya know.  Just hung out.  It was such a good week.  I love them tons.

 Then of course on the way home, my plane was delayed… but only by 30 minutes, so I didn’t miss my connection.  No, instead I just had to SPRINT through the airport, where my backpack broke open (no trip is complete without me making a fool of myself in front of dozens of strangers) and spit all of its contents upon the ground.  Yes- my laptop included.  How is it you might ask?  Not so good.  Sad.  It'll be fine- it's usable, but needs a little doctor's visit.

Oh, and then they lost my luggage.  Shocker.  :)