Duck Beach Day 1: And So It Begins

Dustin and I had a great drive down to North Carolina on Friday night, listening to some sweet tunes and a couple podcasts of "This American Life" as we traveled. Since our house wasn't available yet, we stayed the night in a hotel and had the continental breakfast in the morning, before heading to the beach to get Duck Beach started in earnest.

The main attraction on Saturday at Duck Beach is the volleyball tournament. While I didn't sign up to play, I got in on a few pick-up games and spent most of the day saying hi to and catching up with old friends. Single Mormons come from all over the country (and even foreign countries in some cases) to be at this gathering, so there are often unexpected reunions with people from your past, which can be really fun.

In addition to volleyball, bocce is a great beach activity. Using different features of the beach makes for variety in the bocce battle and allows each team to play to their strengths. My specialty is probably rolling along side-to-side inclines, and others are great at landing close in deep sand, or playing towards the waves (downhill inclines).

Since we didn't have a house or food to prepare lunches, Dustin and I were pretty hungry in the afternoon. Based on his positive prior-year experience, Dustin recommended the Bad Bean Taqueria (specifically the fish tacos), and Julie, Dustin, and I gave them a go, with happy results. In the evening, we cleaned up and relaxed at our beautiful beach home for a couple hours, and then stopped by another New York house that was having a huge party. Frankly, though, it was a little too much for me, and I wasn't feeling the club scene dancing, so I didn't stay too long. Back at our place, we socialized and did a little late-night swimming and hot-tubbing before hitting the sack. Phew, we'd had a jam-packed first day!