Topsail Island (Part 1)

As I was going through my pictures I had a hard time narrowing down which ones to include.  In fact I had such a hard time that I decided to make this trip report in two posts so here's part 1 of our trip to Topsail Island.

Our adventures began on Saturday, July 26.  We wanted to leave the house at 7:00 am but it took a lot longer to pack the car than we thought so we didn't actually leave till around 8:00.  I wish I had taken a picture of our car because we had the top packed with our duffle bags in one of those rooftop carriers and a cargo carrier rack on the back with a cooler, drinks and our beach chairs.  The outside of the car was packed which left the inside of the car pretty roomy...

I had the snack bag and the drink bag and I think each kid had a bag of things they didn't want to put on the top of the car (you know, like electronics, in the event it got wet if it rained) but that was it.

We didn't have to travel too far before we got caught up in traffic.  Everyone says that the traffic between Washington and Richmond on I-95 is terrible but we thought that since it was the weekend and it was the fastest route to our destination we would try it.  Well we should have listened!  We got lucky up to a point because we got to travel in the HOV lanes, see the traffic to the right of us?  Yeah, we thought we were hot stuff avoiding all of that!

But all good things must come to an end and we got stuck in that mess eventually.  So we got off on an exit just for a quick break because at this point we had been on the road for about 3 hours.  Instead of getting back on I-95 we ended up taking a different road for a little while which also had a fair amount of traffic on it in spots. While sitting in that traffic we saw these inflatable tube things that move around.

Normally I would not take pictures of those things but there's a funny story that goes with them.  Ask Paul about it, here he is laughing at them...

 

We were on the road so long that Zach took a nap.  He always has his mouth hanging open when he falls asleep in the car.

Yay!  We finally made it to North Carolina!  I was driving at this point so Paul took the picture.

Luckily for me there was no traffic while I was driving.  :)     I drove until we had to get gas which was just under 2 hours.

Then Paul drove us to our vacation destination, Topsail Island.  We were getting pretty excited when we started seeing signs.

On Topsail Island there are 3 towns, North Topsail Beach, Surf City and Topsail Beach.  We were staying in the middle of the island in Surf City.

There are two bridges onto the island.  The one in North Topsail Beach which is a high rise bridge and the one in Surf City which we were using.  It's called the swing bridge.

It supposedly swings open on the hour to let boats pass but we never were able to witness it the whole time we were there.  

After a quick stop at our realty place to get the keys we finally make it, after almost a 10 hour trip, to our vacation house.

We had an oceanfront, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house.  The front of the house had an enclosed porch that we had to enter first.  It was air conditioned and even had a tv. (This picture was taken later in the week but for the purpose of this blog I'm putting it here.)  We really didn't spend much time in this room.

Then you enter the house and you are in the dining area and living room.  It's not in the picture but the kitchen is to the left.

The sliding door on the far side lead to the deck and the beach.

The same areas, just taken from the other side of the house by the sliding door...

The kitchen was pretty well stocked with just about anything you would need.  The only thing missing were potholders!  Who the heck does not keep potholders in their house?  They could put a tv in the kitchen but not potholders?!?

Walking down the hall the first room to the right was this one, two twin beds.  This was Lauren and Megan's room.  They had a tv and a bonus... the washer and dryer were in a closet in their room.

Down the hall next to them was this queen bedroom.  Kristin and Zach shared this one.  They also had a tv plus a slider that opened to the deck right by the hot tub.

Paul and I of course got the king master bedroom, it was on the other side of the hall.  We had our own bathroom, the kids shared one in the hallway.

Onto the outside.  When you walked out the sliding doors from the family room to the left of us was a patio table and a hot tub.  The deck actually wrapped around that side of the house, more of that later.

To the right as you walked out was more areas to sit and then a gazebo.  The deck wrapped around on that side to the front covered porch area.  

Right in front as you walk out was an outdoor shower and hose and then the steps down to the beach.  The two youngest had to go check it out.

Let's back track and go back to the deck that wrapped around the side of the house that was near the hot tub.  If you followed that around there was a side yard with this little patch of grass...

...and this patio with a gas grill.

The stone pathway led back to the front of the house...

It was a cute little house, nicely decorated for a beach house.  My favorite was the lobster tree!  I do have pictures but I'll leave that one to your imaginations.  :)

The highlight, other than being oceanfront that is, was the hot tub!  We all were in it the first night and every night (sometimes even during the day) after.  It had color changing lights!

So now that you've experienced our trip getting there and toured the house we stayed in part 1 comes to an end.  Stay tuned for part 2 and many more pictures!