Boogie-ing, But Not Bored.

Nags Head, NC – The mercury crept north to a thick 27 degrees even without help from the significant humidity. And the clock had only just struck 9 a.m.

With that notice plastered in sweat to our arms, we knew were in for some heat today, but it was nothing a dunk in the ocean boogie boarding at Nags Head couldn’t solve.

The day began with a drive through Virginia, where we stopped at the Calvin L. Adams Country Store, an eclectic little shop in an area where the first peanuts were grown in the United States. With antique cleavers, farm implements and cigarette labels lining cluttered walls, there was plenty to look at. And, to an outside observer, much of it seemed pretty random. Cardboard boxes of country cured ham (heads) rested by the front door, giving the air a spicy smell. Stuffed dear and bear heads stared back at us, their gaze frozen despite word bubbles taped below. Groceries, peanuts, baked goods and small boxes of seed cotton filled every nook and cranny.

We also chuckled at a couple signs along the way:

• A sign between Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia advertising a “Pork, Peanut and Pine Festival.”
• A gun store in Ivor, Virginia with a sign that said, “If size is an issue, get a bigger one. Get a .45.” (Got to love the right to bear arms.)
• A bumper sticker that said “Hunt WITH your kids, not for them,” in Windsor, Virginia. (Let’s hear it for family values.)
• Another bumper sticker with "Oh no no no" and a crude caricature of Barack Obama with an X through it. (Could it be we're in the south?)

After a fun drive through the Virginia country- side and along the North Carolina coast, we arrived in the Outer Banks and promptly found our great bed and breakfast, the Relax Inn, in Nags Head. Highly recommended. After an oyster po’ boy for lunch and a trip to the beach to boogie board and otherwise succumb to the crashing waves while large pelicans swooped in for a snack, the day was complete.

Not to mention a success and, at long last, an opportunity for a break.