Duck and Crabs...

One of our complaints recently has been that we really haven't seen as much of America as we wanted to. That was the point of being here, exploring all those places that you wouldn't ever go to if we lived in London. So a wedding in North Carolina provided the perfect opportunity to visit somewhere small and off the beaten track called Duck. It had all the traits of a seaside town, sun, beach, wooden houses and an abundance of seafood. Activities included traditional good clean family fun including mini golf and go carting. I have to say that this is not somewhere I would have chosen to go to but I fully enjoyed my experience there.

Now let's talk about the people of Duck, I couldn't get enough of their sense of humor. As we approached the town we had to do our best to ignore the names of the food establishments that included  signs saying "we've got nice legs" for crabs, "try my nuts" which is the actual name of the nut company. The amazing sign declaring "I got my crabs from Dirty Dick's Crab House" and where we ended up "I got your crabs". Hipster Dufus was obsessed with fresh seafood and insisted on getting a bucket of boiled seafood. Nothing else would do except maybe the delicious Duck Doughnuts, I had a beignet style powdered sugar and of course rufus went for the calorific maple and bacon (which had real bits of chopped and fried bacon sprinkled on top, check out the photo below).

I also played my first ever game of mini golf and came away with an impressive two holes in one and yes that is a photo of my first hole in one below. Hello! I am a geek! Finally I wouldn't be a super geek if I din't manage to find a museum or two to visit…. I am a little embarrassed, actually I'm NOT. I love it, I even started the hashtag #museumoffthebeatentrack so that I could track my adventures. Don't hate me.

Back to the Island

Antigua, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya to Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama. Actually they say Aruba but we went to Antigua. So here are the digital batch from this amazing holiday. Hipster Dufus and I are city people I'm sure you've heard me say many times. We love exploring new places and being able to see landmarks, history, artifacts etc. We've actually only taken 3 beach holidays together and of those only this one included not a single element of exploration. I took one book and a sketch pad. Our daily activities included deciding where to relax. The beach? The bar? The Hammock? The bed with a view? Ooh the choices, it's so hard! Five glorious days of crazy hard choices.

We also did happen to go because it was Hipster Dufus's birthday. We celebrated by, uuh, mmm, choosing which location to relax in. Followed by a massage. And then finished the day with dinner at a cliff side restaurant with cocktails at sunset. And that really sums up Antigua, at least the way we did it. Relaxed, quiet, laid back. Just wonderful.

An ode to Nina

Birds flying high, you know how I feel, this is the opening line of Nina Simone's 'Feeling Good', and perfectly summed up my feeling today. Hipster Dufus has a friend/colleague who is a trained pilot and offered to take us to the beautiful Block Island which is part of the U.S state of Rhode Island. This obviously fitting in with Hipster Dufus's need to always get out of the city meant that we jumped at the opportunity. The island itself was your typical quaint, gorgeous, seaside town. Ice cream shops, fudge shops and lots's of nautical related souvenir stores. Nothing particularly new but a perfect escape from the intensity of the city.

The real experience was the flight. I've never been in a little plane and was really scared. But the journey was smooth and Hipster Dufus' friend was an excellent, reassuring pilot. In a little plane the sensation of flying is heightened, if only because you can look out of a window on both sides. On the way back I got to fly in the front! THAT WAS AMAZING. I got to control the plane a little, moving left and right, and trying to maintain the plane level (there were obviously two steering sticks and he was always ready to steer the plane in the right direction). The best part was the view upfront, being able to look directly ahead really felt like you were flying. At one point we punched through some clouds with clear views on the other side. It was incredible. It literally felt like you were flying.

This is the best part of being here, it's the opportunity to have all of these different experiences, exploring new places as well as the people that you meet. As we pulled back into New York greeted with the view of the skyline it really hit us all. This city is amazing, I just feel so blessed to be here. And yeah, I'm feeling really good.