We made it safely home from Atlantic Beach. Kinda sucks to think about going to work tomorrow.

We had our final morning at the beach all planned out. Check-out wasn't until noon so we were going to rise fairly early, enjoy a nice leisurely breakfast, spend some quality time on the beach, come back to the room and pack and then leave. Well...our plan almost worked.

I remember waking up to daylight through the cracks of the curtain. I leaned over Carmi to look at the clock and it was somewhere around 7:00ish. This would have been a really good time to get up but I made the mistake of laying down again 'just for a few minutes'. Next thing I know, I hear Carmi mumbling something like, "Shoot. If we're gonna have any time on the beach, we better get up. It's 9 o'clock.". What was amazing was that Eliana was still fast asleep.

In record time, we were all up and dressed. I didn't shave or fix my hair. Carmi didn't put any make-up on and the thought briefly crossed my mind to snap a picture but I really wanted to make it home. Eliana downed half of a pop tart and we were off.

There was an elderly man with a small boy standing in the hall and waiting for the elevator. As we approached, they appeared to be Chinese but I couldn't tell for sure. It was one of those situations where I really, really wanted to ask but didn't want to offend. The older gentleman caught a glimpse of Eliana and stared at her with a big smile on his face. We all rode the elevator down together and the two also headed for the beach but they went one direction and we went the opposite way.

We had been on the beach collecting shells for 10-15 minutes when the gentleman and little boy came walking our way. About the time I looked up, the little boy ran up to us, handed Eliana a bird (seagull?) feather and darted back. Then a minute or so later he was back with another feather and this time the older gentleman was with him. We all walked together for a while. The boy spoke very good English and was quite talkative. He was 5 years old and said that his grandfather spoke Chinese which answered my question. I didn't ask the little boy's name but he and Eliana palled around for a bit until it was time for us to go back and pack. It was so cute to see them searching for more feathers together.

It's hard to explain but I felt such a kinship with them as soon as we met. How I wanted so badly to sit and talk but of course there was no time for that. You can see pictures here of our last morning on the beach with our new friends.

Carmi's seminar was over around 1:30 so we were able to spend the rest of the day together. She wanted to go to Beaufort, NC which was only 6-7 miles away and reportedly home to an infamous pirate called Blackbeard. Eliana still seemed to be in a good deal of pain so Carmi first drove to a drug store and brought back some children's ibuprofen which we quickly administered. Before leaving the room, Carmi called and booked our reservations for the Beaufort Ghost Walk at 7:00 pm.

Arriving in Beaufort, the first order of the afternoon was to find a place for lunch. We settled on a nice restaurant called Clawsons. Once our tummies were filled, we mosied a few doors down to a bookstore where Carmi browsed a while and then asked the whereabouts to Blackbeard's house. Eliana loves to hear the story about Blackbeard so we wanted to get a few pictures of his humble abode just for her. "Sure!" the lady behind the desk answered as she whipped out a map of the neighborhood. On paper it didn't look like a bad walk but sweat was rolling by the time we arrived. It's tough on an old man to carry around a 40-pound Empress. Before going back to Atlantic Beach, we stopped by the North Carolina Maritime Museum.

The clock read 5:30 when we arrived back at the hotel. At 6:20, we turned right around and returned to Beaufort for the Ghost Walk. The group was told that there were a few more people coming and the tour would start as soon as the stragglers arrived. So we waited...and waited...and waited. Let me tell you...the wind was gusting pretty good this night and it was quite chilly out. When the remainder of the group showed up, one of the ladies spoke up in a syrupy voice and said, "Thank you all for waiting for us". I didn't say it loud enough for anyone but Carmi to hear but I mumbled, "Lady, the only reason we waited for you is because we had to. Had it been up to the rest of us, we would have been gone a long time ago." Was that mean? Yeah, I thought so.

Fortunately by the beginning of the tour and following another earlier dose of ibuprofen, Eliana's ankles were feeling better and she could walk some on her own. The tour was pretty neat. We returned to Blackbeard's house for a few spooky tales and also spent some time at a nearby cemetary. After the tour, we ate a very late dinner at Clawsons again. There weren't many pictures taken today but you can see what we have here.

When Eliana and I woke up this morning, she was complaining that her feet hurt. More specifically, her ankles. I thought at first that she was being her usual little drama queen self but now I'm not so sure. She was holding onto the bed and trying to walk but literally screaming and crying a river of tears. The only thing I can figure is that she spent so much time (3 hours) yesterday walking and playing in the sand and surf that the muscles in her ankles are quite sore. She's really pitiful.

It is completely overcast, windy and quite cool. Looking out over our balcony, there were some (fool)hardy souls windsurfing. She wanted to go down to the water. However, I could tell by an almost-empty beach that it wouldn't be much fun.

We just grabbed breakfast at the hotel restaurant and returned to our room where she is watching cartoons and I'm surfing the net until Carmi comes back after lunch.

Following breakfast, Eliana and I headed for the beach with bucket and shovel in hand. There was a little girl playing in the water in the general area where I planted my chair in the sand. Not two minutes later, this little girl walked over to where Eliana was digging and watched with an "I want to play but I'm shy" look on her face. She happened to glance my way and I said with a smile, "You can play with her". That was all the encouragement she needed.

As I looked down the beach, the little girl's dad threw up at hand at me so I went over and introduced myself. His wife was also attending the seminar and it turned out that this family is originally from Vermont but now lives in Charlotte. We really hit it off and ended up talking for almost three hours as our two daughters played in the surf. We even saw some dolphins. You can see pictures of our day here.

By the way, if your legs are lilly-white like mine and someone is kind enough to offer their sun screen, take 'em up on the offer. The tops of my legs are on fire.

I was up by 7:30 or so this morning...about the time that Carmi was headed out the door for the beginning of her day's activities.

I got online and checked my email then shut the laptop to shave and finish getting ready. Eliana was already dressed and READY to go!

Once dressed, I wanted to get online again before breakfast and check on some attractions in the area that might interest an Empress. I tried and tried and tried but was unable to connect with the wireless network. Horror! So off we flew to the front desk again to inquire about the situation. There was no one behind the desk but a lady attending the seminar had her laptop open and I asked her if she was online. She had been but was kicked off a while ago so I knew that the problem wasn't with my computer. About that time, a guy came out of the office and said the 'problem' was on their end and that their network people were going to reset the server and we should be back online in 5 minutes or so. I was satisfied with that so Eliana and I went to the hotel restaurant for eats.

We were seated in the restaurant and after placing our order, Eliana said she needed to go potty. Crud. I told the lady responsible for seating people that we were going to the bathroom and would be right back. She pointed us to a guy's room just around the corner so we ducked in and fortunately no one else was using the facilities. However, it was evident that someone HAD preceded us because a foul odor smacked us as soon as we walked in. Eliana picked up on it right quick and was quite vocal with her dissatisfaction with the stench. When I placed her on the toilet, she looked up at me with a very serious look on her wrinkled face and said, "Daddy, don't EVER take me in the boy's potty again!".

We didn't leave town until right at 8:00 am this morning. Our plan was to leave at 7:00. Ha!

By 1:15 pm, we had checked into our hotel room. Just in time because Carmi had a board of director's meeting at 1:30. However, all of our stomachs were growling so we first paid a visit to the hotel restaurant for lunch.

After finishing our meal and while Carmi was trapped in a conference room, Eliana and I got busy moving luggage from the car to the room. It took us three trips. Three trips! And I was loaded to the hilt every single time. That means we brought everything but the kitchen sink. Where's a doggone bellboy when you need one, eh?

The whole time we're walking back and forth, Eliana is insisting that we go to the beach. She couldn't have believed me when I said we would go because if she said, "I wanna go..." once she said it at least one hundred times. And wouldn't you know? Just as I have finally convinced her and we're preparing to leave the room, I had to fiddle with the deadbolt on our door only to discover that it was not engaging properly. I knew I wouldn't feel comfortable tonight if the door couldn't be locked so we paid a visit to the front desk. After four visits to our room, the maintenance guy finally fixed the problem. Carmi came to the room just as he was leaving. By this time, it was around 4:00 pm and all three of us went down to the shore together.

You can see pictures of our adventure here. The highlight of the afternoon is when Eliana was knocked off-balance by a small wave and fell forward into the water fully-clothed. The look on her face was priceless but I wasn't quick enough with the camera.

Carmi has a work-related seminar in Atlantic Beach, NC today through Saturday.

Eliana and I couldn't stand the thought of her being all alone at the beach for three days so we came with her. Actually we'll be staying an extra day and not returning home until Sunday.

Just thought I would share with you the view from our 6th-floor balcony. There will be lots of pictures coming over the next few days.