Well, the first three days of the vacation were absolutely stunning. A large fraction of the family got together -- Katy & Paul; Mike & Debbie plus their 4 boys (our grandsons, Aaron, Ryan, Josh & Kyle); Pete & Linda and their grandson CJ; plus for a special appearance, Katy's other brother, John.
On Sunday-Tuesday the weather was simply sublime. Temperatures in the mid-80s and a nice breeze. The waves were rough on Sunday, but we had a couple of days of great swimming weather. As usual, we spent the days doing a whole lot of nothing! Sitting on the beach, swimming, reading, drinking beer and chatting. Evenings were likewise filled with alot of very exhausting stuff like eating and having a glass of wine and swimming in the pool. We go every year to recharge the batteries.
The roof fell in on Wednesday morning. With Earl threatening, Dare County ordered a mandatory evacuation. We had 3 hour to pack up and leave. We found a moment to take the traditional family photo (above) and, as you can see, when we left the weather was still perfect.
All of us were pretty disappointed to leave. And in the end, it probably wasn't necessary -- Earl turned and passed off shore at Force 2. The electricity never stopped and though the roads flooded on Friday, by Saturday they were cleared and reopened. Had we been allowed to stay we could have hunkered down for 24 hours and watched movies. But of course if we had stayed, Earl would have stayed a Force 4 and never turned -- boy that would have been a challenge!
And so, on Wednesday we evacuated. Unwilling to give up the vacation, we headed to Raleigh, where we became Earl Refugees.
