None one who lives at the beach is surprised when they hear that some sand has moved.  It happens on the beach.  Even some roads here get sand covered.  We plow sand here at the beach like folks plow snow up North.

Still the story of the Point at Emerald Isle is an amazing story even to those of us accustomed to sand moving.

In late October, 2007, a little over a year after we moved here to the Southern Outer Banks, I decided that I would get a beach driving permit.  It did not take long to get one from the folks in Emerald Isle. Right after we got it we headed down Coast Guard Road to the Point area which as a wintertime beach access for vehicles.

We were surprised with what we saw, but first I will give you some background information on the Point.

I have a little direct history myself with the Point.  I first visited it in the summer of 1969 as a college student.  My Uncle Austin and I drove down Bogue Banks from Morehead City.  Most of our drive was along the beaches since there were no roads on the Western end of the Point.
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It is March here on the Crystal Coast and the winds that herald the changing of the seasons have arrived.  While wind on North Carolina's coast is not uncommon, the wind is rarely as persistent as the wind that we used to endure on Nova Scotia's coast.

However, even the spring winds here in North Carolina do not give up easily.

Predicting the winds is about as easy as predicting the weather.  For over twenty years we had a home on a mountainside in Roanoke, Virginia and we got some serious wind there.  A gust of wind hit the front of our home late one night and a window got blown into the room of our youngest daughter. It certainly shocked her and made sleeping in her room during roaring winds a little bit of a challenge for a while.
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As we work our way through the last parts of winter, sometimes blue sky can become a scarce commodity.  You might find it reflected in the water  early in the morning and then clouds make it disappear by the time you finish a walk around the neighborhood.

The cold weather and lack of blue sky can easily send me off to dreams about summer, warm water, and beautiful puffy white clouds in the skies.  There are times when a brush with winter means that the skies are blue and sunny and I can deal with the cold much more easily then.
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I love to walk.  That explains why I live in a great place for walking.  Being able to walk out our door and go for a nice easy walk was one of the reasons that we chose Carteret County as a place to live.  We used to live on a mountain.  Walking was something you really had to want to do.  It helped to have a big dog that needed to be walked a lot.

Now that we live near the coast, walking has become a passion with me.  I try to go on a couple of walks every day.  However, I am a sunshine or fair weather walker.  I do not mind cold as long as the sun is shining which it does a lot here along the Southern Outer Banks.  However, mix in some clouds and fog and I would rather stay in the house and work.
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Weather is always a surprise.  One month can be fantastic one year and not so nice the next year.  Sometimes a month becomes consistently nice until you forget what it can really be like.

November 2012 is not exactly what I have come to expect from  a month whose weather was so good a year ago that I worried that I was in a dream.  It was great weather and we enjoyed very nice conditions well into December.

This year has been different.  First we got brushed by Hurricane Sandy which seemed to usher in some much colder weather.  Now we seem to be growing a Nor'easter each week.

Fortunately they haven't been too bad for the local area since we have only seen the Nor'easters in their early stages.  I am pretty sure those areas on the receiving end of the fully developed systems wish that we would stop incubating them.
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It took a little while for the changes this fall on the Crystal Coast to register with me.  For the first time in several years, my wife and I took a break and went to visit some friends in Canada.  We, or at least I, got to feel morning temperatures as low as 20 degrees Fahrenheit.  I pretty sure my wife observed the cold temperatures from the warmth of a comfortable farmhouse.

We managed to slide down the East coast just after Hurricane Sandy left North Carolina.  Now that I have had some time to check out my favorite spots including the Point over on Emerald Isle and the White Oak River both by kayak and skiff, I am pretty certain this fall is not working out like the previous three falls.  read more »

We usually pay more attention to the weather when it doesn't meet our needs.  I always complain more about the weather in August.  It is not usually a month that wins a lot of favor with those who like to go on long walks.

Often August is too hot, and humidity is a close partner with the heat.  When you add in a tropical storm like Isaac that took up residence on the east coast for a few weeks,  it is easy to start rooting for September to show up.

However, it you are a long term resident of the South, you know well that September can have its moments when it comes to heat and humidity.  Unfortunately the first week of September 2012 was one of those hot, humid weeks that make us wish for the first of the season Canadian cold front.

The humidity was no surprise since we got well over three inches of rain during the first week in September 2012.  Three inches of rain is usually welcome, but August had already given us eleven inches of rain.
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