Anniversary Getaway

 Andrew and I decided to do a small getaway for our anniversary this year. We rented a cute little place on Topsail Island for two nights. It was the perfect little trip for the two of us and we loved having time together.

First up,

a stop at Sandy Creek Park in Durham for some birding.

Look at the gorgeous wildflowers in bloom.

It was a FANTASTIC morning for birding!

We saw 22 species of birds, including some new lifers

for both of us. Our favorite unexpected sighting 

was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron. So cool!

Red-headed woodpeckers are one of our favorites.

It's so hard to get good pics of birds.

This is a downy woodpecker.

See that little silhouette in the tree?

I think this little guy was the North Rough-Winged Swallow.

Others that I don't have pics of:

Osprey

Red-shouldered Hawk

Great Crested Flycatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

We also saw a cute deer in the woods.

Then we made it to the beach!

We stayed at Loggerhead Inn.

It's a super cute remodeled little motel

within easy walking distance to the beach.

However, it is TINY!

I almost felt like I was on a cruise, with a

cozy little stateroom. It was worth it, though,

because we were mostly on the go.

We love the beach!

And we had beautiful weather on

both of our beach days.

We don't usually have seaweed on our beaches,

so this was unusual to see.

Pretty empty beach on a Thursday afternoon in June.

Always birding

Saw a cool jellyfish on the sand, too.

Relaxing

So peaceful.

The restaurant I picked was also

within walking distance of our 

hotel. Perfect!

The next day, we headed back to the beach

and spent the whole day there.

Got some boogie boarding in.

Chilling

Back for some sunset pics before dinner.

So happy together!

Our restaurant had a bit of a wait,

so we decided to see if we could see any

birds in the area.

We had fun tracking down this barn swallow.

Another yummy dinner!

And then we headed back down for a nighttime beach walk.

On Saturday morning, we checked out of our teeny room

and started the drive home.

Stopped for more birding at Shiner Park in Lillington, NC.

We saw some beauties there, including the Common Yellowthroat,

Indigo Bunting, and Summer Tanager.

(I can't tell which one is pictured above...)

I think this one's a bluebird...

They had lots of wild blackberries around.

I love foraging!

And one last stop for yummy ice cream

at Creative Creamery in Siler City.

Happy 26th Anniversary to us!