Sitting Duck

Duck Beach, North Carolina: not a place, but an experience. (Yes, one more blog about the happenings at Duck...get over it.) Common characteristics of the experience include; great hoards of single, flirting Mormons from all along the East Coast and beyond, sand, volleyball, sunburns, shameless flirting, Deer Park water bottles in excess, a lot more skin than accompanies your average Mormon gathering, an overuse of expletives such as "Fetch!" and "Flip!", and more shameless flirting. I only participated in some of the aforementioned activities.


In truth, this annual Memorial Day weekend trip takes place not only in Duck, North Carolina, but extends to any of the following locations; Outer Banks, Kitty Hawk, Corolla, Nags Head, and Sanderling. Large groups of people rent GINORMOUS beach houses in these and other locations that sleep anywhere from 10-35 people, thus making it an affordable venture. I stayed in a house w/ a total of 12 people (small by Duck standards), but which was RIGHT on the beach in Sanderling. In fact, the bedroom that I shared w/ my friend Becky faced the ocean and we opened our sliding door so that we could fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. Sigh. I miss it.


The weather was absolutely perfect. PERFECT! The temperature ranged anywhere from the mid-70's to the low-80's with a steady, warm breeze. Really, the majority of my time was spent laying on the beach, building upon 30 years of skin cancer. But I'm nice and brown now...if not still a bit itchy. I hate that part.

So, you may have noticed the distinct lack of men in my pictures here...yeah. It didn't end up being my greatest priority to meet new boys while there, but just to enjoy my time w/ my friends, who are primarily girls, and get in as much beach time as possible. I loved every minute of it. I did hit some of the big parties on Saturday night, but as I already knew would happen, I spent my time talking to the people I already knew or the ones I had come with. I'm not social in those situations. I don't like them. Give me a smaller group combining people I know and some I don't and I'm a much happier girl. Give me a group of around 4000 people and I just shut down. Sensory overload. Christina is closed for business.

But whatever, that was just one little part of an entirely fantastic weekend. Spending Friday through Monday at a beach is heaven, pure and simple. A few other highlights of my time there included:

• finding some sweet deals on beach chairs (and treating our fearless driver to one to assuage the ickiness of having gotten a ticket on the way down) :(
• learning that I do, in fact, love long walks on the beach
  
• trying crab legs for the first time and liking them
• driving down to the lighthouse to watch one of the most enchanting sunsets
• learning some new, hip lingo..."Hollerrrrrr"!
• discovering the most evil (read: exquisite) creation made by Nabisco - Strawberry Milkshake Oreo
• searching for and finding some perfect sea shells
• getting caught in a crazy hail storm on our way home and wondering if we would make it home in one piece
• strengthening friendships and striking up new ones - learning to appreciate others for who they are

Now aren't you just jealous?