Thanksgiving - In North Carolina with Sasha's Family

So after the winery, we headed over to Yvonne and John's beach houses in Topsail/Surf City, North Carolina. They have two homes right next to each other, one is their beach house and the other is one that they rent out. Here are a couple of pictures of the homes:

This is a picture of the two homes together, and as you can see, we are in the one on the left. Yvonne told us we could use that house to stay in, but we decided to sleep in the camper, rather than messing up the house. We used the house's bathroom but not the bed. I guess it comes down to comfort, we liked our house on wheels more so than so other bed, and so, slept in the camper. We did not tell Yvonne that until the last day. 

Here are the two decks (sort of) where you can see the ocean - it was pretty calm for the Thanksgiving weekend. Love the colors of the beach, yellows, blues and greens - very calming. Their house was very modern with stainless steel guard rails instead of decking - so no painting/staining involved.

Here is a double deck coming off of the walk way decking, and a double chair for couples wanting to get close. And you can see the beach more.

Great views from the deck as the sun starts to set.

This is the back of their home, two story decking so that you have great views from the family room and kitchen and the master bedroom.

You can see the moon rising. The beach is not completely north-south, so the moon and the sun are not angled straight in front of the house when they rise and set. But you still get great views.

Although we do not have any pictures of the family in the Thanksgiving day clothes, I do have a picture of my niece's apple pie. (My niece (Kristina) is 10 years old - she did a great job for her first apple pie.)

Family Portrait on Friday night before the fireworks.

Some of the fireworks that were done on the beach. Sasha was the one lighting the fireworks and the rest of us were up on the deck. I was able to get most of them, using fireworks setting on the camera. This has a slower shutter speed so that you can take the pictures:

Patriotic Colors

Pink Lights

Rockets blaring!

So that was Friday night. On Saturday, we got up, had breakfast and decided to go back north a little earlier. We want to go to Busco Beach ATV park on the way home. Yvonne, John and the kiddies as well as Sasha's parents also left on Saturday too. We knew there would be traffic, and it made sense to go back a day earlier.

So we went to Busco Beach - there were quite a few people there for Thanksgiving weekend, but if you do not have a RV, washing up can be a problem. It looks as though some people stay there, I don't know, maybe year round? At least some of the RVs were there a couple of months.

We were both riding very well. Busco Beach has several lakes, that is why it is called The Beach, and not too many rocks, which we both like. There are great dunes and trails to go on. Lots of ruts, which you have to be careful about, and lots of mud holes for those with modified ATVs to go through. We were riding a small hill with what I call loop-de-loops not really loops but bumps in a row.

Anyway, I was going along it - Sasha was already way ahead, and I felt I needed to get out of the bumps, so I went up a hill and flipped the ATV over. Thankfully, I was going at such a slow pace that I was not pinned, but was able to get out using my legs. That was the first time I had flipped the ATV and I hope the last. So I was a little nervous after that. It took a while for me to get the confidence back but I did as you can see in the pictures.

Sasha is of course, really hitting his stride with the motorbike. It looks as though he and the bike are starting to be one, based on the pictures below. I have more pictures of him than of me, because I held the camera most of the time. That jacket that I wear has pockets galore, I could probably have tons of supplies right in the jacket. Alas, it is not pink.

We were on the ridge, there was a small ledge that I was on, so that I could take this picture.

Although this picture is further away, you can see how he is starting to get the hang of his motorbike. He has started jumping it, but not too much, Thank God. But enough, so that he gets the thrill.

Although this one is blurry, you can really see the height of the jumping. We found this little area that we had not been to before, and he was really hitting his stride with that area.

Of course, we stayed over for the night, rode some more the next day, and as it had started to rain, we bagged it, and left. Here is just one more view:

We got home quite late, on Sunday, after having stopped at Bill Ellis BBQ in Wilson, where we had been before. We just got BBQ sandwiches this time, not eating at the sit down place as we were not too hungry, and the sit down portion is all you can eat.

So Thanksgiving was the last hurrah for the RVing for the year.

Check out December 2007 -