Spring Is In the Air

While the water is still in the fifties, the air has made it to the seventies. I think we might just have made it through winter. With some nice days this week, and a really nice weekend on tap, winter is quickly becoming a distant memory. I believe spring is going to break out all over the Carolinas and Virginia this next week. I even got a report of some daffodils along one of my favorite mountain trout streams. I find this a tough time of year. We are tantalizingly close to the time we can really start enjoying the beaches and waters of the Crystal Coast. Yet we are not there when it comes to the water, and a trip out in a kayak will quickly convince almost anyone that the water needs to warm up a little more before we can have some serious fun.

Last year this same week, the weather turned very nice, and it was once again time for beach walks. It looks like we are going to catch up with last year and have some nice weather to balance all the cold we had this winter. It is does not always work out that way.

Whenever we get to the middle of March, I am always reminded of the March 1993 "storm of the century" which certainly proved that this is a tricky time of year even in the Carolinas. That year my wife and I were coming back from a spring trip to Alberta. We got as far as Toronto when the storm hit.

At the time we were living in Roanoke, Va. I know the coast also got a lot of snow, but we got over three feet of snow in the mountains. When we finally got to the airport, I was glad that my years in Canada had taught me to always have a snow shovel in the car until May.

While long range weather is notoriously risky, the forecast for the next two weeks only has one day when the high temperature is going to slip out of the sixties and seventies here on the Crystal Coast. Based on that, I think we can rule out snow. It looks like we will be headed into Easter weekend, April 3-4, with some outstanding weather. I think I will be sleeping with my windows open that week before Easter.

It really is getting to be that time of year that we live for on the Crystal Coast. I am looking forward to hearing fishing jumping in the water behind our home. It is also a great time of year to go visit some of the area attractions before they busy with the summer traffic. Among my favorite places to go in the spring are the Core Sound Museum and the Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores.

If you are thinking about visiting the Crystal Coast this year, now is the time to make plans. It is a great weekend to come for a visit and scope out the area. This Saturday is the annual Swansboro Oyster Roast. It is a great charity event, and it one of the places that you can end up elbow to elbow with almost anyone while you are shucking your oysters. How much nicer can it get than all you can eat steamed oysters? Of course there is plenty of other food, but the oysters are it for me.

It is a good thing that the Oyster Roast coincides with good weather. You can take a walk on the beach to build up your appetite and then you can take another for some exercise to help work off all that great seafood cooked up by the folks in Swansboro. It is one of the events that makes this area such a great place to live and visit.

Things look a whole lot better on this side of winter.