Originally written 7/9/07

April saw the wedding of one of my best friends from high school, Josh, and Jenn of NYC. They held their wedding at a nice resort home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Outer Banks is an island, almost like a sand bar, in the Atlantic Ocean. We (me, J, Tim and Mandy) flew into Norfolk, Virginia which has a really, really nice airport. Driving out of the airport in our rental car was like driving through a forest preserve. The drive to the Outer Banks was a little longer than we expected, but it was nice and green, and the bridge crossing the ocean may have been the longest bridge any of us had driven. It sparked plenty of conversation about the sturdiness of the bridge, what would happen to it in the event of a storm or hurricane, and other uplifting topics.

We stayed at two different run down motels. Lots of dirt and corrosion, but that's bound to happen being right on the ocean. We all took a quick nap and got ourselves dolled up for the wedding. A large party bus picked everyone up along the strip and drove us about 45 minutes to Corrolla, where the wedding was held. It was a lovely outdoor service with lots of personal touches, including Graham on the guitar. Unfortunately, being the end of April, it was still quite chilly. It didn't dampen the spirits, though. The reception was held in the resort house, and most of the food was prepared by friends and family of the bride and groom. It was a mix and mingle reception, no formal dinner. Later on, the floor was cleared, and a raucous dance party ensued. At the end of the night, the party bus returned for us and everyone quickly fell asleep for the night drive back to motels.

The four of us took off early the next morning and hit the chilly beach. We saw dolphins! Live dolphins in the wild, not in the Shedd!

We stopped at a breakfast spot and talked ocean living and, oddly enough, Chicago's Greektown with a local. He rents beach houses and runs the breakfast place. We all sighed with jealousy and took off to drive through something that looked like a car wash but in which you could buy beverages. A way more fun concept in theory than in reality. We drove on to Norfolk where we bummed around before our flight out.