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The alarm woke us at 7 a.m. We enjoyed a liesurely breakfast of leftover breakfast food: muffins, cereal, orange juice, and coffee. We showered early and then listened to music while relaxing in the room. We took one last walk on the beach. The sun was out and the water looked turquoise against the white sand. It was quite warm. If we weren't leaving, it would have been a perfect day to relax in the ocean.
At 11 o'clock, we checked out and drove to Havensight. We had some leftover food we hadn’t consumed, so we stopped into The Pirate's Chest to give the leftovers to Marty. We got a chance to say hi to Sean on the phone. It was too bad that we hadn't gotten a chance to see him or Carol in person this year. We said our goodbyes to Marty until next Thanksgiving. Our visits always fly by far too quickly. Then we walked over to the Delly Deck, a restaurant popular with the locals, for lunch. We got their very tasty special of the day: meat loaf with mashed potatoes and garlic carrots, with Fantas to drink. It was delicious and quite filling, the kind of comfort food that we used to enjoy at a diner near our house. It was hearty, homemade, and inexpensive. It's no surprise that so many locals dine here. After we were done eating, we drove to the airport. Of course we needed to retrun the rental car with a full gas tank, so we stopped at a gas station along the way. Renting a car is always a lot of money, and the expensive gas combined with the few miles you actually drive make it far from a bargain. But the reality is that we like to have the freedom a car allows us. And Craig always selflessly offers to drive (no one wants me driving on the opposite side of the road, that's for sure!) Walking is really not an option (it's dangerous to walk along the winding mountain roads and places are far apart), and cabs can be expensive and need to be coordinated. The benefits outweigh the cost for us. We arrived at the airport at a little past 1 o'clock. The low tire pressure light (which was still on even after Craig changed to the spare) prevented us from seeing how many miles we had driven. When we returned the key to the Hertz desk, they apologized for the inconvenience of the flat tire by offering us a credit for a future rental. Alright - looks like we'll be using Hertz again next year! We checked in for our flight at a kiosk, went through customs and security, and then went to the gate. We had about 2 1/2 hours before our flight, so there was plenty of time to kill. We wandered around in the gift shop. Sometimes we like to get johnny cakes from the food court, but we were still stuffed from lunch. The flight boarded at 2:45, and took off on time at 3:30. Craig and I sat together and Steve and Mom were in the row behind us. I typed up notes on the netbook on the flight. We landed 45 minutes early at 5:45 p.m. in Charlotte. By now we were hungry and could use some dinner. I got spicy fries and a sausage buscuit at Bojangles. Craig got a chicken sandwich. We went to the gate and scored a power outlet where I could charge my netbook while we waited to board our connection. We boarded at 7:30, and had to wait on the plane for a few minutes while ten of our scheduled passenegers disembarked from the plane next door aqnd hurriedly boarded our plane. We took off at 8:20. We landed shortly after 10 o'clock and we were home by 11 o'clock. Not too bad, considering we had to go to work the next day. |
 Secret Harbour Beach  Secret Harbour Beach  Steph leaving Secret Harbour  |
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