Fort Caswell: Carolina Beach Day

Every Memorial Day since I moved down to NC, I have gone on the Single's Retreat to Fort Caswell. And every year I have had a GREAT time... this year proved no different. :-)


As you know from this post, I spent that Friday night camping at Carolina Beach with the girls. It was such a great time! Well... except for the drunk army men who came over and asked us, "Could we get warm by your fire?" Yea, I am not kidding.


Or the 2 am LOUD music from the people on the other side of us.


We learned that next time we camp on the beach, not to do it on a holiday weekend. They party goers are a little intense.


But, did you know that we had quite the adventure trying to get down to Carolina Beach?

First, we wanted to leave at 7:30 to make sure we got there at a good time (beach spots are at a premium). Well, needless to say we were a little late. Luckily the guys who were driving down with us (and then spending the night at Caswell Beach) were gracious (and running a little late themselves).


THEN, on the way down a nice old man waves us down and says "your car is smoking." Uh-oh.

We pull off the road, and here is the proof:

It looks like we are leaking oil (and that was after a 30 minute stop where the boys are crawling under the car and talking to Amanda's dad). Yikes!


Well, we finally get to the beach. You can drive on the beach... and that is the whole reason we drive Amanda's car. It "has" 4 wheel drive... or so we thought. It never engaged and we get stuck in the sand about 100 feet onto the beach. Again... YIKES!


This time, so young men in their HUGE trucks (one a Toyota truck with a camo Lexus sticker on the back...) pull us out. Again, the guys with us are so gracious. They never once complain. They never once make fun of us. They help us at each step. They exude patience. They drive us to our campsite so we don't have to carry all of our stuff out on foot. AND then they set up the tent for us. Yea- they win. Single ladies, these are guys you date. ;-)


And, no... I didn't get a picture of the truck getting pulled out.


Needless to say, that first day was quite the day. We did enjoy spending the afternoon on the beach and then spending the night on the beach. We ate at Big Daddy's... talk about some GOOD seafood. I was happy -- definitely forgot about all of it.


Jenn Lowther saved us later that night. She had Matt's truck with her and became our 4 wheel drive girl (she did an awesome job)! So, we didn't have to carry all of our stuff back out. It was great! :-) I would do it again... but maybe with a little less stress.


Tomorrow, I'll talk about the actual retreat. It was fun weekend!