Beaufort, N.C.

This is the apparently sleepy seaside town located right next to Morehead City where we were staying. Unfortunately we didn't go to see this beauty until the second to last day of our trip, but as soon as we stepped out, I was smitten. We parked and got out on Front St. which as its name would suggest, is water front. The street is lined with these charming antebellum homes with historic placards dating their construction, most in the 1700 or early 1800's. All of them were beautifully maintained with manicured gardens and picket fences enclosing their front yards and Southern rocking chair porches. All of the houses looked directly onto the water and the docks.
Like I said, I was smitten.

Window boxes: a certain sign of small-town charm.

I love these signs and their names.

Amazing woodwork and what looks like a reconstructed gas lamp.

The evening boardwalk scene.

I loved these oyster shells used as ground cover. Brilliantly cute recycling!

Just imagine.

Live music, nightly. I loved these two guys doing versions of the Beatles and the like. Love that scene.

Picture-squee.

(These boats were a favorite subject of mine.)

Can you say, 'privilege?'

Some guy building a boat inside the Maritime Museum.

These side-by-side bed and breakfasts were for sale for about 1.7 million each and would nicely fit my mom and my dream of running one. Sigh.

*Sigh.*

This badly-taken photo from my car window shows the city's town hall in what appears to be an old train station.

Look at that green copper roof! Those steps, that porch, that fence, that brick entry...

Where we had my fancy birthday dinner. I love outdoor seating cafe types.

That about says it. It was indeed, a general store. The owner was so cute and talked to me for a while about the town, its residents, relocation etc. It had old wide-plank floors, ice cream and 25 cent candy along with the requisite tourist shirts etc that we obligingly bought.

Another take on that cool house.

I loved this sight of a woman with her dog and small child in their boat off the dock. Idyllic.

That chimney must surely be original to the house! I love it.

Can you imagine having your own boat slip, private with your name on it? So cool.
Apparently Beaufort and this area are called 'the graveyard of the Atlantic' because of the amount of shipwrecks located off the shores. Specifically Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge. It is a scuba diver's haven! They lead all kinds of Pirate and hisotical tours by boat and by foot. There is also a smaller island that is still home to wild ponies, which you can see from a boat tour as well. Perfect!

I'm always obsessed with real estate and frequent the Allen Tate website, so this inspired a new rash of inquiries into small seaside towns. Beaufort specifically, but it is probably out of our reach. Even though statistically it only costs 1% more than Charlotte, there doesn't seem to be an abundance of available houses in our budget, for good reason. I've always wanteed to live in a small town. Liek a real small town, where yuo know everybody and everywhere you shop is locally owned and ran, you smile and talk to everyone on the street, you leave your doors open (theoretically)...Timm has always wanted to live on the water to indulge his hydro-adoration, and I have always loved the water and the peace and tranquility of the shore. The quiet, local, private types, not the crowded noisy smelly and unsightly public beaches. I have done dozens of googling along the lines of 'best nc coastal cities', 'affordable nc beach towns', 'smallest nc beach towns' and the like. Maybe not soon, but I think it's a dream that we could realize. It's not out of the question and one huge perk of Timm's profession is that we can relocate wherever we want. There will always be teaching jobs all over the country offering the chance to relocate and reinvent. Since the inception of my idea for us to move to Charlotte it has just felt right. Since we moved here it has felt right, like home. I really love North Carolina. I have always wanted to find a home and stay there- raise my family in one place that they can always remember and come back to. Because of this I don't want to bounce around, and i feel like Charlotte could definitely be the place where we settle indefinitely. Put another way, I have no intention or plans of leaving anytime soon, if not Charlotte, then North Carolina. I love this state and I look forward to exploring more of what it has to offer- the western region with the Smoky Mountains and Asheville, the numerous beach towns, the south-of Charlotte rural areas ... It feels good to fit.
But I will still continue to search real estate and job listings for other parts of the state, just to keep ou roptions open. Afterall, if we're going to relocate (within the state) we better do it sooner than later so our kids will be rooted.