Family trip to Topsail Beach, NC - Aug 2014

On the beach enjoying the sun and reading a book.

This was a pleasantly fun trip.  I have to be honest here and admit that I was not thrilled about it at first and I almost didn't go.  I was so scared of what David's family would think of me and it was intimidating to meet them in a place so far from home without having any means of getting away. David was so excited to go on this trip and he seemed genuinely interested in bringing me along, so I caved and decided to go.  Now, I am happy that he convinced me to join him and his family on this trip because I met a lot of very wonderful people.


Topsail Beach is in an island like area.  It's mostly beach houses and very few stores.  It was a pretty perfect area to get away from regular life and get absorbed by life on the beach.

One of Carmen's delicious drinks for our daily "Happy Hour".

 Each day a different family was in charge of the food and David's cousin, Carmen, had a different cocktail every day for her "Happy Hour".  It was a nice arrangement because some families live in the South and the rest of us live in the Midwest in Wisconsin.  The range of flavors and styles of cooking was pretty wide.  I have lived in the South but in Louisiana where cajun food rules.  Here the family cooked shrimp and made BBQ chicken and we even had a pork for a Southern BBQ with all the side dishes.
We had a packer night which was organized by David's family and they did an amazing job at bringing bratwursts from Wisconsin, cheese curds, and Wisconsin beer.
The daily cocktails were so amazing.  Carmen did an amazing job at bringing different flavors together.  We had Sangria, Margaritas, mojitos, banana baileys drink and there is one more that I can't think of.

David and the dogs taking a very relaxing walk on the beach.

The weather was perfect.  There were only two very hot days at the beginning of our stay but the temperature quickly cooled down after some rain.  We enjoyed clear skies and warm weather for the most part.  The last couple of days were rainy but that didn't stop us from swimming in the ocean and enjoying the beach.

During the first few nights we had open mic and we had a great time listening to live music.  There is a side of the family that is obviously very musical and it was great to enjoy a few drinks and sing along to a few tunes. That was one of my favorite things from the whole week.

The view from the beach house.

On the last full day, while the rain kept on falling, we visited a cute book shop called Quarter Moon Books.  David's aunt, Petra, wanted to get her daughter, Carmen, a chance to exchange an article of clothing so us girls took the opportunity to get away from the house and enjoy a couple hours browsing through books and scarves.  It was a very good time.

I would recommend Topsail Beach to anybody who wants to enjoy the beach and a small town away from their busy lives.  Check it out!