Marlins and Morehead City

I had such a great weekend with some wonderful friends and I can wholeheartedly say that it was exactly what I needed. Anthony, Harrison, Sam, and I were planning all week to go to the beach, but we got the party started a little early because we all ended up going to Miranda Lambert together the night before! Anthony drove his jeep with the top off and it was the perfect night for it. It just makes life feel so free and easy that you can't even start to worry about your hair - even though trying to get the knots out of it later was a little frustrating!

The next morning we all left bright and early and headed down Highway 70. With an obligatory stop at the Neuse Sport Shop, we decided to take the scenic route down Highway 58 and down Emerald Isle towards Atlantic Beach. We let the windows down once we hit Cape Carteret and although traffic was a little slow over the bridge, it was so nice to feel the sun and beach air!

We kept an eye out for beach accesses to park at and ended up in Pine Knoll Shores. It was a quiet little area which was absolutely perfect. We got our stuff all settled, slapped on some sunscreen, grabbed a drink, and immediately jumped in the water. It was a little cold at first and the seas were slightly bigger than what the forecast I had read indicated, but once you got in past the breakers, it was so perfect!

We hung out on the beach for a few hours and the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament's snapchat story said that boats were coming into the weigh station at 3:30, so we packed up and headed to the waterfront. The Big Rock is one of the largest blue marlin tournaments in the world, so we're really lucky to live so close! I had been before to see weigh-ins, but the guys hadn't. Unfortunately, Saturday was only the ladies' tournament, so no billfish could be boated. (The big fish are coming in this week.) They released 37 billfish that day, though, so that looked good for when the big boys go out this week! They brought in gamefish - a lot of dolphin (the fish, not the mammal) and a couple wahoo. There were some really nice fish and Sam and I decided that it's a life goal to fish in the ladies' tournament. They all were wearing their matching PFGs and looked like they were having so much fun!

After walking around Morehead City for a while (and shopping at the Big Rock store, of course), we met up with Mason and headed to Beaufort for dinner. We ate on the waterfront with a great view of the boats in their slips. It was the most perfect night and I was so happy to be with my favorite people.

After dinner, we met up with Matt for a little while and then headed home. Each time I go down to Carteret County, it just reaffirms how much I want to live down there. I adore the mountains, but the ocean truly has my heart.