Everyone has their own definition of perfection. Since I live to take pictures, lighting is important to me.

I'm also not a huge fan of high humidity and hot temperatures. However, I have improved a lot in that regard over the last year.

I can mow my yard in some pretty hot weather without much difficulty.

When you look for perfection on a beach, you have to take into consideration water temperature, how well the sand holds up to your footsteps, the wind, and of course the water temperature.

Crowding is also important. Who wants to walk on a beach where you are stumbling over others all the time?

Of course access to the beach should be considered. If the parking lot is packed, that's not much fun either.

I think we got pretty close to perfect last evening at the Eastern Regional Beach Access on Emerald Isle.

There were only four vehicles in the parking lot including our truck. There might have been six or eight small groups of 2 to 3 people scattered up and down the beach.

The air temperature was in the seventies. The water temperature was 81 degrees Fahrenheit, and the sand for the most part was nice walking. There was even a nice breeze, and of course there was some fantastic light from the sunset.

All in all it was near perfect. There was not an iPod to be seen or heard. There wasn't even a broken beach chair by the trash can.

It doesn't get much better than that unless the Bluefish are running in the surf.

Tags: Beach

Today as we crossed the bridge over to Emerald Isle to enjoy a birthday dinner at Rucker John's, it felt like things are getting back to normal.

We had a great, reasonably priced meal and saw some more locals who are beginning to come out of evening hibernation.

There are actually still a fair number of tourists around, mostly those with very young kids or with no kids at all.

The weather has been beautiful, but the wind has been blowing more today that it was when Gabrielle visited us this past weekend. In fact there is a small craft advisory for the area.

I had hoped to attack some dollar weed in our beds this afternoon, but it was too windy to spray.

Yesterday we had a nice walk on the beach. The waters were still stirred up but beautiful. The water is still really warm.

We are really lucky here on the coast. We have had a reasonable amount of moisture so things are still wonderfully green.

All you have to do is add in a gorgeous sunset and some blue waters for a beautiful picture.

Not far inland close to Kinston, I heard that a forest fire had closed Route 70. That is pretty amazing since just a few miles away in Beaufort, they got over 8 inches of rain Sunday night.

Tags: Beach, Sound, Wind