Visiting Friends from the AT

Olivia & Grandma enjoying the beach with Nate & Sandy

     Monday morning we got up and headed down to have the free continental breakfast with our family members at the motel lobby. It was hard to believe the wedding was over and done. We said our good-byes and were on the road by 8 or so. We were headed to Ocean Isle Beach to visit our friends Mark (Skidmark) & Pat that we met on the Appalachian Trail back in 2011.

"Skid" enjoying the Appalachian Trail

     Olivia was excited to be headed for the beach. We told Olivia she would have a good time visiting Pat & Mark and that Mark would tease her for sure. When we arrived at their beach house around 1:30 or so, Mark and his son Nate met us. Pat is teaching Math at a local high school and wouldn't be home until later on. We decided to head down to the beach to give us a chance to stretch our legs after a 5 plus hour drive. Sandy, their yellow Lab, came along with us. Olivia raced up and down the beach looking for sea shells and splashing thru the waves.

Mark helps Olivia wash sand off her feet

     Olivia and Mark bonded almost immediately. He took her down to their dock and showed her his crab trap. Shortly after that he had her fishing from the dock. We enjoyed catching up with Mark and meeting Nate as well. Pat arrived home sometime after 3 and we enjoyed getting to see her again too. For dinner we headed down to Calabash, a famous seafood town, to eat out at Ella's. All five of us enjoyed shrimp dinners that were the best I can ever remember. Thank you Pat & Mark for the great meal. We headed home and enjoyed talking trail and just catching up in general until it was time to head to bed.

Olivia helping Mark with the crab trap

Fishing time!!

Great shrimp dinner @ Ella's

Olivia and her buddy

Pat & Joyce outside of Ella's

     Tuesday morning Pat headed to school and Mark and us went up to Wilmington to the North Carolina Aquarium. With is being May, it seemed 

every school in the area decided it was a great day to do a field trip. We had

a nice time and Olivia was especially pleased when we discovered a nice playground outside of the aquarium.

 After we left the aquarium we made a brief stop by Cape Fear Military Historic Park before stopping for lunch at Mickey D's. We then drove back to Pat & Mark's, Sarah, Nate's daughter was waiting to play with Olivia. The girls are only a month apart in age and they had a great time together. We took them to a nice playground nearby to play for awhile. They really played hard, but we think Mark played even harder. After a wonderful supper that Pat prepared we all just enjoyed our time together. Sarah was picked up around 8 and she and Olivia hugged good-bye and said they would be friends forever. Everyone was tired and after Olivia enjoyed a bubble bath she once again chose to sleep in the loft on the love seat. We had a wonderful time visiting Pat and Mark and as such the time went far too fast. Thank you Mark & Pat for being such wonderful hosts. We will miss you a lot. We got up early Wednesday and after breakfast we said good-byes and headed towards Natural Bridge, VA. I'll continue with the rest of the trip next posting.

 Olivia & Sarah @ Barbie's Beach (at one of the neighbors)

 The girls enjoying the playground

The girls having fun with Mark