Snapshots of Beaufort, North Carolina: Before the Summer

It’s getting to be that time. Next week, I’m going to head down to Beaufort, North Carolina for Memorial Day weekend. I’m even taking off Friday to give myself a four day weekend at the beach.

Ahhhh, thank goodness. It’s going to be GLORIOUS! But first, I thought I’d share some pre-summer snaps of Beaufort that I took on my last trip…

I’ve been going to Beaufort with my family since I was little. If my memory serves me, I’m pretty sure I even learned to ride a bike down there. We frequently spent weekends and holidays at the beach, Beaufort being about an hour and a half drive from my hometown of La Grange.

The summer after my sophomore year of college, I lived in my family’s beach house with a friend, and that’s when the real fun began. We waited tables at No Name Pizza (omg, it has a website now!) and went out on the boat as much as possible. It was amazing. We made local friends, rode bikes around town (rather unskillfully), used our fake ID’s at bars, and generally raised hell.

In the years to come, I continued to milk that beach house for all it was worth, staying in Beaufort the following two summers and living the dream. During law school, I returned for a not-as-fun-but-still-awesome summer to work in the District Attorney’s office down there. That summer taught me that if you can’t be out of the courthouse, out of your suit, and onto a boat in thirty minutes or less, you’re not doing it right.

Now that I work in Raleigh I still try to get to Beaufort as much as possible, dragging Charlie with me of course. My family goes for Christmas every year, but obviously the warmer months are the most crucial. This year it looks like my summer calendar is wide open for more beach time than ever. Thanks to all my friends for not having weddings in June this year! [Last year was tough, guys!]

When I studied abroad in Argentina, the hardest part about living in the Southern Hemisphere was seeing all of my friends in their social media pics (let’s be real, it was really only Facebook in 2009) having fun day drinking in Beaufort, Morehead City, and Atlantic Beach as summer rolled in… without me. It was all fun and games when I flew to Buenos Aires in February and arrived to 90 degree temperatures, but when June came around and it started to get colder, I couldn’t bear to watch North Carolina heat up and not be there.

Nothing made me more envious than seeing people cracking beers in their bathing suits on Shackleford Banks (or uncorking wine bottles in the case of my mom and aunts). I have severe FOMO as it is, but never more than when I’d catch a glimpse of photos of family and friends hanging out on boats without me. As soon as my flight landed in North Carolina that July, I packed a bag and was headed to Beaufort the following day.

What I’m saying is, when I think about all the things I love about home and North Carolina, Beaufort is really where my heart is. I just have so many great memories of this place (not to mention scars from bike accidents).

I mean, you do know it was named America’s Coolest Small Town, right?

So before we get too deep into all this hot weather beaching and boozing talk – there will be time for that all summer, oh and there will be posts – let me just show you the town of Beaufort in all its glory… before the tourists get there. And before our boat gets in the water. I took these pics when it wasn’t quite warm enough for me to put on a bathing suit. These snapshots of Beaufort will be the last time you see the docks, streets, and boardwalk this empty for a while. It’s probably already crowding up down there as I type this…

Grandma’s front yard

The night before the Beaufort Wine and Food Festival, my mom and I arrived before my brother and Charlie, so we spent some time with my grandma and aunts. My grandmother lives down in Beaufort, and she was even the mayor once! Before settling in for some conversation (and showing my grandma my blog), I wandered the streets near her house looking like a serious tourist with my camera. These shots were taken from her dock, the sidewalk, and mayyybe some other people’s docks…

No, the dinghy isn’t ours.

Props to Aunt Anne for leaving some bread all over the dock so I could lure that seagull in closer.

Since nobody was cooking on this particular evening (a rarity for us), my mom and I cruised downtown for some Mexican food on Front Street. I know, I know, it’s the beach, but it’s not like you HAVE to eat seafood all the time. Since it was closing in on the golden hour and I’m still trying to hone my newbie camera skills, I made mom walk over to the boardwalk with me for some snapshots, both sunset and otherwise.

Now that my friends and I are all getting old, if we’re staying at my family’s house, we tend to hang out on Beaufort’s Front Street after a long day on the boat, rather than finagling a cab to the Morehead City Waterfront where all of the bigger, more popular bars are located. Instead, we walk (or ride bikes – at your own risk!) to the bars and restaurants here. They are just as fun, if not more so, because we can actually hear each other talk and there’s no stress about having to wander the sidewalks of Morehead as you wait for a cab home at 3 AM.

The Dock House often has bands and if you’re really lucky, you can watch people line dance; the “Wobble” and “Copperhead Road” are favorites. And hey, it’s Jamie Pressly’s favorite spot in the whole world (not sure if that’s relevant… but you guys, she’s from Kinston!!!).

I’ll be sure to talk more about Beaufort’s “nightlife” in a later post, but suffice it to say, there are a couple options for small town fun. For now, just bask in these sunset photos and get prepared to not find any parking next time you travel down Front Street.

Where do you guys go to the beach? Have you been to Beaufort, North Carolina? Do you like the small town vibes?

Linking up with Travel Tuesday.