One great thing about travel is that you get to meet so many interesting people. The nice thing about retirement is that you get to take advantage of opportunities to reunite with people you meet when you travel. That’s how I ended up spending a week at Emerald Isle, NC, just hanging out with the girls.

Jeanne

I met Jeanne in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2017 when she spent a month living in our building as part of a 3 month tour through SE Asia. I admired her spirit and her bravery for travelling mostly on her own at 68. She didn’t sit around waiting for things to happen, but went out in search of adventure and made her own if she couldn’t find any.

We went looking for temples that we could only see the tops of from our rooftop pool. We walked to the zoo and aquarium then stopped at a little authentic Thai restaurant on our way back for duck. I helped her move her pictures off her phone to her computer to make room for the rest of her travel pictures. We showed up late for Christmas morning service at one of the only Christian churches in town and we drank champagne in a stairwell with a view and watched paper lanterns float up above the city on New Year’s Eve.

After she carried on to Malaysia, I didn’t think I would see her again, but I should have known better. I travelled to North Carolina in May of that year to attend her famous “Girls Retreat” where she invites many of the people she has met on the road, as well as women from her community, for a few days to share stories and try new things.

Once in a lifetime event

Jeanne was celebrating a once in a lifetime event. She was turning 70 in February and wanted to share her birthday with her friends from near and far. Last summer she booked a house right on the water of the outer banks of North Carolina on Emerald Isle. It had 8 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, an enormous kitchen and views of the water almost everywhere you looked.

I blocked off my calendar and arranged for my sister to attend as well. It was a perfect spot for hanging out with the girls. We arrived at the house on Sunday and stayed until Saturday afternoon. Others came for a day, a couple of days, a few days… They came from South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Chicago, all parts of North Carolina, and Canada of course. There were between 7 and 17 for dinner each night.

Hurricane Florence

The women who came from nearby communities really needed a week of fun and quiet. They are still recovering from Hurricane Florence and the devastation caused by this storm. Everyone in the town of Oriental, NC has had to clean up and attempt to restore their properties after 8 foot waves roared down their streets.

Houses and garages were inundated with water and debris from the water left sea grass, tree branches and ladders from riverside docks in people’s yards. Everyone in town is dealing with their own loss and there hasn’t really been anyone available to help out with this overwhelming job. It has been an emotionally trying time in Oriental.

What to do?

I wondered how we would spend our time. Would there be opportunities for quiet time or would everyone want to be active? Fortunately the weather was unusually nice. We had a day of some rain and cloud at the beginning, and a cooler day at the end, but the middle days were sunny and breezy with highs around 19. That’s a pretty nice February day, in my experience.

Shelling

The beaches I go to are not very interesting in terms of shells. I had a great opportunity to learn from 2 great “shellers” and a master sheller who came for a quick visit. A small group went down to the windswept point the first day to look around when the tide was out and there were lots of shells left behind. Pat and Jeanne described what animals had lived there.

I learned that North Carolina has a state shell called the Scotch Bonnet, which I always thought was a hot pepper. I even found part of a black one, which are not as common as the white ones. It amazes me the energy that these animals put into building a shell, only to have it wash up on the shore for me to find. Some had holes and grooves caused by other animals trying to get at the food inside. The ocean is a tough place to survive.

It enticed many of us to walk on the beach with our heads down. I did find a perfect Scotch Bonnet later in the week. I brought home some large scallop shells to use for serving seafood.

Shell Authority

On Thursday, we were pleased to spend some time listening to Bean. She is a shelling expert and all of her free time is spent travelling to beaches and islands looking for unusual shells. She puts these collections together for her friends and attaches them to a backing with a nautical theme. Her knowledge was more than impressive. She brought a pail of shells so we could each take one home.

Real Estate Tour

We had an opportunity to visit another beach house that had been a possibility for our stay. It was 10 000 sq ft and rents for $15 000 a week in high season. It was built by a doctor who had his main living quarters in one part of the house, and a separate wing for his extended family in another part. The 4 car garage is built of concrete and was used in the past by the police during hurricanes.

Although opulent, it was not very cosy and we would not have been able to spend so much time together in a common area. I understand it gets rented out quite often for weddings. The whole family can stay in the same building. There is a platform near the beach for the ceremony and a large grassy area for a reception.

Sunsets and sunrises

At this time of year, the sun rises and sets over the water. It came up just before 7 am and set about 5:45 pm so was perfect for capturing the beautiful colors over the waves. It was a good excuse to go for a walk along the beach.

Whales and dolphins

We saw dolphins almost every day, swimming quite close to the beach. Fishermen set up poles in the beach, but I didn’t see what they caught. One afternoon, we even saw whales breaching a little farther out. The locals were impressed as they had never seen whales along this part of the coast before.

Evening Entertainment

The evenings usually started with everyone enjoying dinner together with lots of storytelling and even more laughter. Although the group tended to be early risers, there was time every night for some singing and dancing. Luckily the DJ of Oriental was part of the group and she had brought along a great playlist of songs that were from the era we were familiar with. The living room was a perfect karaoke bar. Still can’t get “Red Solo Cup” and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” out of my head.

One evening we were treated to the Witch’s Crawl. Several women from Oriental, NC learned some moves to the Witch’s Crawl and performed at a few dining venues on Hallowe’en night in fantastic witch’s costumes. They did it as a fundraiser to maintain the cemetery. There weren’t enough brooms at our guest house, but mops and vacuums did the trick for the excellent reenactment.

Late night hot tub soaks and even a brave ocean swimmer filled out the evenings.

Food

I have no idea how we managed to feed so many people so many meals without a plan. Jeanne had bought some fresh oysters, shrimp and a huge prime rib roast. Everything else just arrived with the guests. Italian meatballs for the Superbowl. A ham was picked up from the store one afternoon, fresh fish and crab appeared another day to be transformed into fried fish and crab cakes. Shrimp and grits started our day, except for the eggs and custom hand smoked bacon that came from Atlanta. One morning I just indulged in rum cake for breakfast!

Oysters

I knew next to nothing about oysters, but they were the highlight food of this week. I learned that if you buy them fresh and keep them cool, they will last a week to 10 days. We only cleaned the mud off as many as we were going to eat each day. They can be eaten raw, right out of the shell or lightly warmed on a low barbecue just until the shell is hot. That was my favorite. They tasted of the ocean, salty and succulent. We also prepared them in the oven with ham, cheese and spinach as Oysters Rockefeller for a dinner appetizer.

I also got to experience an Oyster Shooter. One of the guests had a seafood sauce named after her. Mother Shucker was poured into a shot glass with a small chunk of oyster, a splash of V8 and topped off with vodka. Wow! What a treat for a prairie girl.

The Birthday

Gifts

The best part about a birthday are the presents, the cake and those you get to spend your time with. There were some presents, several cakes and many people who made an effort to celebrate Jeanne’s “Once in a Lifetime Event.” The proclamation by the mayor of Oriental was a way to acknowledge her contribution to the community. An anchor covered in shells as well as a perfect shell from the beach, complete with a thoughtful message certainly fit the occasion. There were gag gifts as well as lots of cards and well wishes.

Cakes

We had cakes every night, besides the rum cake for breakfast. Nancy made a gluten-free chocolate cake trimmed with skor bar chips and whipped cream. Jeanne’s cousin Gail brought a lemon and blueberry cake made by a friend. Penny brought by an Amaretto pound cake.

We even had a King’s Cake which is usually eaten on Fat Tuesday. It’s filled with cream cheese, jelly and topped with purple, green and gold sprinkles. There is a little plastic baby hidden inside. The person who gets it in their piece has prosperity for the year, but has to host the part and/or buy the cake for next year.

The People

It’s always about the people on special days. I’ve included some photos to try and catch everyone who attended for a day or for a week or anything in between. Comment if I missed you and I’ll add a photo if I can.

To sum up, if you had told me when I retired that I would be spending a week on the beach of North Carolina hanging out with a group of amazing, interesting women, I wouldn’t have believed it. Be open to opportunities whenever they arrive. Life is short. Don’t have regrets. I heard today that one of the guests at the party passed away from cancer this week. She hadn’t told anyone she was sick, but didn’t let it keep her away. Live your life however you can. Don’t wait for it to happen.