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.

Pick Your Own Blueberry

First time blueberry picking at Butler's Orchard.  Pretty amazing place, large spacious area with acres of blueberry trees/shrubs to choose from.  Best of it all it was relatively in-expensive.  I enjoyed eating as I pick and photographing a few of the berries before I consumed them.

The cutest blueberry bandit I've ever met. She appeared from nowhere and picked at our container and then walked away with a handful of berries in her mouth as her mother calls for her. The only time I was happy to have been a victim of thievery.

South Riding Virginia Sunset

Almost everyday as I drive home I'm usually watching the sunset.  Chasing it down along the horizon and always marveling at how I've usually failed to capture it properly or wished I had my camera on me.  It usually brings me back to driving on Honoapiilani Hwy in Maui and imaging the bright blue waters of the ocean and the orange glow of the sky.  For now I'll enjoy the rustic stale air of a stagnant neighborhood pond with a slight glow of paradise sun.

Shingles - Day 14

It's been about two weeks since I've infected with Shingles. Give or take a few days as I did not remember when exactly it all started as the initial rash was just a few bumps.  At the beginning I made the rash worse by scratching constantly, damn thing itched like hell.  I lathered on anti-itch cream for a few days which only made it spread even more.  Then 6 days into the whole rash thing finally diagnose with Shingles.  Confirmed by the Docotor's office with skin culture and note of "Finish your Valtrex, repeat you have Shingles, please complete your prescribed medication."

My back acne won't go away, wth? It's been almost 4 days like this!

The teenage face pimples are drying up but will it scar?

Great Pickpocket Documentary

There are few documentaries that I've seen from National Geographic that I've found exciting and extremely interesting.  This is by far one of the best I've seen in a long time.