Under the Boardwalk

2020 has kind of sucked. 

And by "kind of", I mean "blows the big one".  And in a big way. Big time. 

Between quarantine and work, I can count on three fingers - other than holidays - how many days I've taken off this year. And one of those was for oral surgery.  My PTO bank is maxed out. I currently cannot accrue more until I take some. 

We had plans for Maine this year, but, well, but they were opening up - potentially - too late for us to know if we could go, should their open date get delayed. And it's almost impossible to not eat out there. This would have been a vacay place where only one unit has a kitchen, and this year, we felt that need - but it wasn't in the cards. 

We batted around other ideas, places, and the idea of doing nothing. And to add stuff to the mixture, 710 has a HUGE project that goes live near the end of this month. So it soon became evident that late July on was a non-starter. So we set sights on September. 

Still, we had issues not just on where, but if we should go at all. We weighed options and opted to repeat our last two years outside of Wilmington, NC.  We like the beach, we liked the place we rented........only to find out they had rented out all of September.  

Whaaaaaaat? 

In a way, we went back to the drawing board. 

After much discussion, we decided to try the same location,  new place. None, I don't think, are as nice as what we had rented, but with as many stipulations as we had on timing and locale, we couldn't be super duper choosey. But I think we will do ok. 

I know what you're saying:  "a beach during time of Covid????"  Trust me, it was a huge discussion. 

The great thing about our schedule and the beach itself is a few fold.  Oddly, during the week, the beach is not very crowded. My first outing and swim is at sunrise when you can almost count all the people out on two hands and feet. Social distancing is not that difficult. 

And most importantly, it's our own place with a full functioning kitchen, so where as now and then we would have gone out to eat, this shan't be the case this time.  On the plus side - it means more wine consumption, as no one will be driving anywhere. That one bottle per evening can be doubled!

We also bought travel insurance - due to, you know, "illness" and well, hurricanes. 

I have major mixed emotions on this. We do need to get away. For me, a staycation would mean me me doing work from home. And I think I'm just as happy watching the surf from a deck as being on the actual beach. 

I think we can make this work without fear of contagions.  .....well, except for the rest areas along the way.   

Only like a month and a week to go. 

Song by: Rickie Lee Jones