ah yes, trader joe’s. back in chicago, i never had the good fortune of having one convenient enough to use regularly, but now i’ve quickly come to love our local trader joe’s. it is quite literally a two minute drive and we certainly go there a lot.

more pumpkins.

they even hosted a little halloween party for the community. cute.

checking out.

grandma L knit a really cute pumpkin hat for Rebecca. we love it…

except it’s bit tricky getting her to wear it and sit still for longer than 2 seconds.

oh well. our little pumpkin!

our hotel room had a view of the ocean and was only a few steps from the beach.

there wasn’t too much time to sightsee during our last morning in kill devil hills, but we squeezed in a visit to the wright brothers national memorial. the memorial commemorated the first successful airplane flight in 1903.

and we were off!

we ended up in the town of plymouth for lunch. we found a very sleepy downtown. the cafe we went to was… an interesting cultural experience. joe had quiche, congealed “fruit salad”, a muffin and butter on a paper plate.

the rest of the drive home was pretty uneventful. all in all, a great mini-vacation!

in the week leading up to our trip, we kept getting forecasts for rain and thunderstorms. so we were really happy when we woke up and saw some blue sky peaking through. we decided to take full advantage of it and drive south along the cape hatteras national seashore.

first, we visited the bodie island lighthouse. we were the only ones there (if you don’t count the swarm of mosquitoes we encountered) to enjoy the beautiful view.

we drove a long stretch of road, flanked by sand dunes on one side and water on the other.

the houses were all constructed so that they were elevated off from the ground to avoid flooding (i guess). we drove through towns that were still struggling with rebuilding after hurricane irene. apparently some towns were completely under water for a long period of time.

finally, we reached the second lighthouse, the cape hatteras lighthouse. An interesting fact we learned is that in 1999, due to erosion of the shore, they had to literally move the lighthouse 870m inland. Big job!

lunchtime at a local seafood diner. fried shrimp, fried fish bits and crabcake sandwich.

on our way back, we stopped at a beach to stretch our legs. not a soul in sight!

another long bridge.

dinner was at “la cabana”, kind of a hole in the wall, but rated #1 in tripadvisor, so we decided to give it a shot. everything was good but the shrimp enchiladas were our favourite.

the outer banks is a long strip of narrow islands on the east coast of north carolina. our destination was the town of kill devil hills, a four hour drive from chapel hill. we set off on our roadtrip in the morning, just in time for morning nap.

after a lengthy nap, it was perfect timing for lunch. we found a local family restaurant in williamston featuring southern comfort food. we tried the fish burger (better version of a filet-o-fish), fried trout, and a country fried steak.

a bit more driving left to do, including over a long bridge to the outer banks.

after some rest and a brief walk to the beach (more tomorrow), it was time for dinner!! we were excited to try some seafood at colington cafe… we weren’t disappointed! all the seafood was fresh and perfectly cooked.

after a lot of food, we were really stuffed but couldn’t resist dessert… the coconut chocolate custard cream pie was delish.

haven’t seen too much yet, but our stomachs have certainly had a good tour of the area so far!

helen is visiting us this week in chapel hill! after church we went to “weathervane restaurant” for an authentic southern brunch, complete with biscuits and grits. i think the waiter thought we were a bit dim for asking “what are grits?”, a southern staple. but now we know, it’s kind of like a porridge made of coarsely ground corn. it was good… kind of gritty.

for dinner we tried an italian restaurant called “four eleven west”. a lot of shrimp. baby tried scallop, mmmm.

we checked out “Festifall”, an annual arts festival right in downtown chapel hill.

initially we thought we might take the free local bus and avoid parking. we waited for 30 minutes until a kind passer-by stopped and told us there are no buses on sundays. riiiight.

luckily it was a beautiful day so no harm done. we walked home, hopped into the car and headed to the festival. we managed to find decent parking close by, for a whopping $1.25 an hour.

it was a lovely community event with many arts and crafts stalls.

all in all, a great way to spend a sunday afternoon!

as we continue getting to know the area, we recenty discovered a baby store: buy buy baby. everything we might need and more. sippy cup, anyone?

there was an annual music festival in carrboro this weekend. carrboro is the town right next to chapel hill. we spent a couple of hours exploring the area and taking in the sights and sounds of the day.

some wall art:

people watching:

we enjoyed our first ‘locopops’! locally made frozen popsicles, perfect for the hot weather. joe had cinnamon latte, and i tried the mango chile (spicy!).

tonight we were kindly invited to join one of joe’s UNC colleagues for a friday shabbat dinner. we have never experienced one before so it was very enlightening to be part of the ritual and meal.

challah bread

shabbat candles

making friends