Weekending in Emerald Isle

We've just returned from our annual beach trip with Bret's family, this year to Emerald Isle, N.C. We spent a few glorious days just sunning and eating and of course, sipping cocktails. Here are some snapshots from our trip!

We kicked off the trip with dinner at Jackie's American Grille, where we enjoyed shrimp tacos, burgers and custom loaded fries. No visit is complete without popping into the beach store next door to buy a pound of taffy.

As we so often do, Bret and I accidentally color-coordinated in our Proud to Be An American colors. 

On Sunday, we headed to Circa 81 for a delicious and fun brunch! They have a Sunday Funday special on pitchers of sangria, so we enjoyed a white sangria custom-made with peach schnapps while grooving to Motown songs.

I had the "Moo Sandwich" with beef, brie and horseradish and they were sweet enough to make me a side of the potatos bravas from their tapas menu. They were so good.

Ashleigh had a starter of she-crab soup, followed by this excellent dish of shrimp and grits.

 Bret had a seafood omelette with home fries and the most adorable slice of watermelon!

And we finished up the good vibes with (clockwise) a caipirinha, an orange basil mojito and a blueberry mojito.

 After brunch, it was time to hit the beach and since it was so windy, I picked up a $5 Cinderella kite. Totally worth it.

We gussied ourselves up for dinner and ventured to the very popular Amos Mosquitos for dinner.

The view from the restaurant was lovely. 

And to keep with their kooky vibe, we enjoyed their china-lined garden beds, visible from the deck.

 We had a round of their fried pickle "lollipops," batter-dipped and juicy.

And I had delicious lump crab cakes on a bed of penne with sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. So good!

 On our last full day, it was a day of beachin' and eatin'. We started with a round of beachin...

 And then headed to Bogue House for some good old-fashioned fried seafood. The fried shrimp platter with mac and cheese and fries and hush puppies nearly killed me.

And we finished off with a Mexican feast and the finale of RuPaul's Drag Race! It was a fabulous trip, and much-needed. Already counting the days until we see where next summer takes us!