Just Us: The Outer Banks, Part 1: The Definition of Fun: A Great Adventure

I guess depending on your life experiences, your definition of fun will be different from other people. Maybe it fills your heart to be in competitive events. Or, maybe you enjoy craft fairs and outdoor entertainment. For me, the definition of fun is to share time and experiences with Tony. No matter where we go or what we do, it's an adventure.

A. A. Milne, the creator of Winnie the Pooh, wrote, "I knew when I met you a grand adventure was about to happen." That's what every marriage should be.

Our most recent "adventure" took us to the Outer Banks. It's hard to describe the area and do it justice. We started out in New Bern. As you are driving to New Bern, you pass the typical shopping centers, grocery stores, gas stations and other commercial establishments. But, once you get into the heart of New Bern, the beauty of the water and old, historical buildings erase the mundane scenery that is behind you.

New Bern is a sea town that was hit hard by hurricane Florence last year. Houses and restaurants near the water suffered significant damage as did the trees and landscape. But, the city bounced back. The damage is fixed and Florence has gone from a major event to a bad memory.

We stopped at a small pub/restaurant that we visited last year when we had to turn back. The restaurant is located on the main street, just down from the Neuse River. We were told that the water from Florence was so high, it reached the mailbox on the outside of the restaurant.

We stayed at Aerie, a B&B that was restored and decorated, circa 1882. It had wonderful chandeliers, heavy drapery, overstuffed furniture and beautiful paintings. We stayed in the Magnolia Room that had a 4 poster bed a huge bathroom and tub/shower. We had our choice of breakfast food and ate in a well appointed dining area with the other guests. There was a social hour at 5:00 for all of the guests that included wine and appetizers. We met Ike and Wendy from Connecticut. Wendy asked what we were going to do during our vacation. We replied that one thing for sure was going to the beach. "What do you do at the beach," she asked? She went on to proclaim, "We are boat people." I'm not totally sure what that meant, except that they probably have a boat, but I think we were supposed to be more impressed than we were. They were nice, but she wore heavy, dark glasses for most of the time we were talking. Maybe it's a boat person thing!

New Bern is a German town. Bern is Bear in German. The city takes its bears very seriously--well, maybe not, as they have painted several of them in costume and other funny situations.

We went to dinner at a cute, local restaurant/pub and during our meal, we noticed that several cars were stopped for a train. We didn't give it a lot of thought until we left, quite awhile later. The train was still there. Hmmm. Well, no problem, we could wait it out. And we did....for a short time. Pretty soon, we decided there had to be a way around the train.

And so, we went on another great adventure--finding a way around the train. Easier said than done. No matter what road we took, there was the train. It was big and long and just sitting there--it was sitting everywhere! We thought it was longer than New Bern! We broadened our search and found ourselves going up and down dark roads and back streets.

On we went; passing places we had already gone by and we still couldn't find a way around the train. We even got on I-70 for a short time, but when we got off, bingo--right back into the train problem.

After an hour of driving around, we found our way back to the B&B and noticed that the train had gone. Later on, we heard that trains usually don't stop in downtown New Bern. Lucky us.

But, even the train didn't stop our adventure. We took a bottle of wine down to the enclosed gable area of the B&B and sat and went over our day. We enjoyed the night air, clear sky and just talking.

Part 1 Photos: