24 Hours in the Outer Banks

With a very tight schedule and trying to beat traffic I spent a significant amount of time traveling back and forth from N.Va to OBX.  It was about 5 hours drive down with some road construction traffic.  24 hours at the beach house and another 5 hours back with even more road construction late at night.  The family decided to leave early Friday evening because we were trying to beat the usual Saturday rush in and out of OBX.  As there is always traffic to and from this location, as it took the others about 9hours to get down and a repeat of that experience would be a nightmare. Who wants to spend their vacation in traffic for most of the day?

Despite not knowing that my stay would have been so short I still enjoyed myself at the beach. I personally don't like the beach all that much but it's always good to visit and oddly enough I like swimming in the pool on the beach rather than the ocean itself.  This time around the ocean water was really cold due to our unusual mild summer and the pool was warm and refreshing.  I think the really nice thing was the rental house was right on the beach with its own private access and the pool was larger than the previous year.  I think I also realized that I really enjoy having a private pool and not having to worry about other kids and people getting in my way as I get to share it with only friends and family. 

If I had known that I was going to leave so early I would have taken more photos but for now enjoy what I have.

Summer 2012 @ Nag's Head, NC

I've spent more time at the beach this summer season than I've have in my entire life.  I personally do not enjoy the beach. I find it boring and very mundane sitting around. I hate the heat, the sun, the glare, the dried salt on my skin, and the water.  Yeah I basically hate everything about it yet I still enjoyed myself this past summer. I think it's mainly due to the friends and family I got to spend my time with.

@~10pm, 130 second exposure. I had to hold down the shutter button as I did not bring my remote shutter release. Not fun having to count to 130 and trying to hold still while the wind pushes you around.

Update:

I just realized something when I reviewed these photos.  At the beginning of the summer I spent it on the East coast.  The only way to capture the sun near the horizon is during sunrise.  When I traveled to Maui in August, it was difficult to see the sunrise but watched it set daily.  Interesting how in a span of a summer I traveled to two different oceans and saw different aspects of the sun.