Life Style

When we moved to the Crystal Coast in the fall of 2006, it was something of a life-style change.  For nearly twenty years, I had worked at Apple, traveling almost continually, and after that I did a number of technology related jobs.  I came to the Southern Outer Banks looking for something different.

Part of me was looking for the small town life that nourished me when I was growing up in Lewisville, NC in the fifties and sixties.  That small town way of living was not too different than what we had experienced living on the farm in central New Brunswick in the wilderness of Canada.

Another part of me wanted to find a place where we could have a healthier life style. For over twenty years, we lived on the side of a mountain overlooking Roanoke, Virginia.  While it was a wonderful place to watch sunrises and to raise our children.  As development got more dense, it became not a particularly good place for going for a walk, a bike ride, or sliding your kayak into the water.

As I wanted to be outside more and more, it became harder and harder to do it from our Roanoke location.  Over the years your needs change, and sometimes the easiest way to meet them is to move.

After a few years of looking, we ended up on the western side of Carteret County on the banks of Raymond’s Gut which leads to the White Oak River.

We have a reasonable sized house with a dock.  Our boat lift is just a few yards behind our home.  I can easily slide my kayak into the water from our yard.  My bike rides start right in our garage.  Our particular location has proven to be a dream come true.

We have nine to ten mounts of very good weather each year.  It is possible to be out of doors much of the year.  The ground is flat, the walking is easy, and the boating is so nice that it is hard to believe.

Living here has been good for us.  Both my wife and I have changed the way we eat, and we now get much more exercise than we did when were isolated on our mountain overlooking Roanoke.  It is not unusual for me to walk over three miles on the beaches.

On the pages that follow on this section, I will be talking about everything from kayaking to cooking.

While no place is going to work miracle on anyone, the right place with some life-style changes can make a big difference.  The Crystal Coast of North Carolina is a good place to live if you want to be in a place where enjoying the out of doors is a traditional part of life.