Instagram Vacation Photos

I took a lot of pictures on our vacation. I used Instagram, my phone's regular camera, and my "big girl" camera! So for today you all are going to get the Instagram photos and little snippets about the vacation relating to that. If I were to post my pictures from every medium this would be a very long post and I've already got a lot of pictures for today to post!

Our trip was pretty fantastic! We left Sunday afternoon and got down to the beach finally around 8:30pm or so. But it was a nice drive. Just rainy most of the way. Foruntately Collin was driving and the rain doesn't bother him much. I didn't take any pictures of this but we stopped for dinner on the way down there at a place recommended to us by some friends. The place is called Ralph's BBQ and it's just off exit 173 in North Carolina. Oh my goodness. That was the BEST pulled pork sandwich I've ever had. So, so, so good! If you're ever traveling through North Carolina on I-95, I highly recommend you stop at Ralph's. Remember, exit 173 for Roanoake Rapids... It's amazing! That is if you like Eastern North Carolina BBQ. =)

A rainy day of driving.

Getting so close!

Monday morning was beautiful. It was chilly but that was nice because Collin and I both wanted to get out and get some exercise. He went for a run while I took a walk.

I got to walk on the beach for a little bit!

We could see the ocean from our room. It wasn't technically considered an ocean view room but it was neat being able to see it from the room. =)

Monday afternoon we went to the aquarium and had a blast. I have lots of pictures on my Nikon from the aquarium that I'll be sure to share!

They have a shipwreck tank that has an actual sunken German U-Boat from WWII and during the afternoon they have diver's go into the tank and actually talk to you using a special microphone thing. But the coolest thing is they have at least 6 sharks in the tank! Love it!

Tuesday was another beautiful day and our anniversary! Collin and I started the day out by playing some frisbee golf up in New Bern and the course was beautiful! Definitely the best course we've played at yet. It was right on the water and the park it was in was pretty much designated for frisbee golf. It was really fun playing and the holes all had different challenges and elevations and that's much different than our course here at home! Tuesday afternoon we had lunch at Sonic on the way back to the beach and in the evening we went to dinner at this local bar and grill called Raps which was fantastic! We even ended up going back another night on our trip.

View from the beginning of the frisbee golf course

View from hole 7. Loved it! I almost permanently lost my disc on this hole. There's a hill just before the hole and I threw my disc from a ways back from the top of it and it landed on the hill and rolled. Because of the hill we couldn't see where it stopped but had an idea. So we went down to look for it and could not find it! I finally found it way far away from where it would have made sense that it was.

Right after I threw my disc on hole 17 I look over to my left and see that... Once I finally calmed down and realized what was going on I was okay. I'm not really afraid of snakes. At least not of non-venomnous ones. And this one is not venomous and Collin and I truly knew because the day before we had gone to a Creature Feature at the aquarium on snakes and the volunteer gave us all these tricks to determine if they are venomous or not!

I love tater tots. Definitely my favorite type of "fry". And Sonic's cups for their tots are funny!

On Wednesday after enjoying a delicious New York style pizza lunch at Michaelangelo's and walking through some cute local shops (including a book store!), Collin and I went to Fort Macon to enjoy a little bit of history. I have lots of photos of the fort on my Nikon that I'll definitely be showing soon but for now I want to share this one.

After Fort Macon we went to Dairy Queen and used a coupon we had for Buy One Blizzard Get One Free!

I got Chocolate Xtreme and Collin got Chocolate French Silk Pie.
For dinner on Wednesday Collin and I were going to go to a Japanense Steak House in Morehead City which was going to be our big anniversary dinner but they were closed on Tuesday. So we get all dressed up and head to the restaurant and they're not open! We think they might be closed for good or something because they are supposed to be open on Wednesday and every other day we drove by later during the trip they were closed also. Sadness. So instead we ate at Olive Garden and were treated so well! The manager even gave us a free dessert because she knew it was our anniversary! Funny story about dinner... our waitress asked us how everything was and I replied good and then Collin said "It's fantastic!" with a big smile on his face! Well, the waitress gets this look on her face like "oh wow! I'm so sorry!" and she asked Collin to repeat himself. So he does and relief washed over her. She thought that he had said "Everything's nasty!" hahaha! We were cracking up laughing. It still makes me laugh just thinking about it!

Thursday was our warmest day. It was also our windiest day. After breakfast Collin and I wanted to go take a walk on the beach. And then in the afternoon we played two rounds of mini golf! So much fun! Then in the evening we went back to Rap's for another delicious dinner!

On the beach with my hubby!

Under the pier that got pretty badly damaged during Hurricane Irene last August.

Enjoying a beautiful day of mini golf.

I got a hole in one on this hole! Hole 15! Collin then got a hole in one on Hole 4 on the second course we played!

It was really, really windy on Thursday. And at this hole there was a waterfall right above the green and I happened to be putting when a HUGE gust of wind decided to blow and it sprayed water all over me. I was pretty wet. Collin said the look on my face as it happened was priceless. lol I bet it was!

Pretty sunset over the Bogue Sound on the way to dinner.

On Friday Collin and I drove down to Jacksonville to check out another frisbee golf course. Then we ventured to the mall and after leaving Jacksonville we headed into downtown Beaufort and checked out the waterfront shops and did a little sight seeing. It was BEAUTIFUL. One of my favorite things about the trip.

A beautiful drive to Jacksonville that morning.

The beautiful downtown, historic Beaufort, NC. I really did enjoy seeing how quaint and cute this town was. I took more pictures on my phone but didn't post them to Instagram so I'll share them soon.

We passed this Morehead City restaruant many times and the name just cracked me up every time. Apparently they have really good seafood though. They better with a name like that! =)

We headed home on Saturday with heavy hearts to be leaving such a beautiful place. I would totally move there in a heartbeat. But we'll definitely go back for another trip. That's for sure. Collin told me before our honeymoon I would love the Crystal Coast and not want to come home and boy was he right.

Goodbye beautiful Crystal Coast. I miss you already...

Cindy