How's that for a 4th. of July float! It's made out of milk jugs.

Well...we're back. We've been back for almost a month now. We had a couple of blustery rainy days at Cape Lookout before we made the trip through Beaufort to Adams Creek and then on to the Neuse River and Oriental. We weren't in a hurry to get back this year. I guess that's because we know we'll have to deal with car, condo, doctor, dentist, and other types of "land" issues.

We had some weather at Cape Lookout


This is an unusual sort of craft that we saw in Cape Lookout



This year was no different. We've dealt with all of them. In fact, we're still dealing with them. I'm sure we'll get through all of them and be ready to get back cruising by the end of the summer. We do miss the water, beaches, and pace of the Bahama Islands. The whole attitude of the people where the standard response is "no problem" is pretty cool.

So far, we've been going to the happy hours at the Tiki Bar, enjoying the new bar/restaurant near us called The Trawl Door, going to pool parties, swimming in our pool, bar-hopping at the beach, attending concerts in New Bern, and completing a few boat projects. Kim is doing her basket classes and I'm actually looking for some sort of part time work. It would be nice to build up the cruising kitty a little.

You see lots of stuff in the Croaker Festival Parade


I'm sure we'll get to Annapolis at some time this summer, and Kim will certainly make a trip to Colorado, but right now no plans have been made. We'd also like to take a couple of trips on the boat to Ocracoke and Beaufort.

We had a fun 4th of July here in Oriental. They hold an event called the Croaker Festival. It's complete with a big parade, festival in the park, food, concerts and fireworks. It's always around the 4th of July and the fireworks are right off our condo. So we have a party that evening that ends with a great show from our porch. We'll do another update later on in the summer.

Kim and a couple of her "land buds".


Kim watching the parade


Part of the parade


For now, stay cool!