Knee Deep in "Aaaaaaah"

Well, I hope you all had as nice a holiday weekend as we did. After some last minute planning and some willingness to "go with the flow", we found ourselves in lovely Wilmington, North Carolina this weekend. The trip was not entirely pleasant. As many of you have done already, we (for the first time) paid more than $4 for a gallon of gas.

He's on vacation, he doesn't care.

Yes, I can hear you all, "Boo hoo for Mark." But we've had it pretty easy.
Another first on the way down -- our first tobacco field.

Yeah yeah. Smoking is bad.

We were kind of hoping for a contact high on the drive through these many fields. Alas, it wasn't to be.
And the highlight of the trip down, finding the Ava Gardner Museum in lovely Smithfield.

Me calling The Princess in P-town.

I have to admit. Ava Gardner was not really high up on my list of Hollywood icons. I mean, yeah, she was friggin' gorgeous and all, but she really robbed Lena Horne of her rightful part in Show Boat, and she married some pretty famous guys and all. But really. Wasn't high up. But, after learning more about her, I have to say she was pretty fabulous and we're definitely adding The Killers to our Netflix list.

Trying to make Tyra proud.

Anyway... Wilmington, three beaches in three days. Yes, we think Mark definitely got his ocean fix.

Wrightsville Beach. Not a WORD about the belly!

Bald Head. Yes, we really were all alone.

Oak Island Beach. Added bonus: lighthouse.

In addition to the lighthouse at Oak Island, we took in the one on Bald Head Island. I'm told that purists don't really care for it, because it's not round. I thought it was pretty cool.

The nephew's souvenier t-shirt purchase.

More firsts:

Spanish Moss.

Palm Trees.

Ouch. First sunburn of 2008.

Hey, whattyawant? I needed a beach fix!
(The Partner in Crime is uploading a bunch of photos from this trip, I'll link them as soon as he's done. What did YOU do for the 4th of July?)