Finally! After two years away from a true spring break and our beloved Topsail campground, we made our triumphant return! This is truly one of our favorite places to visit and it was oh so nice to be back.
Upon arrival, we found all of the usual benefits of this campground (quiet, peace, bike trails, shuttle service, location, wildlife) but we were also pleased to see that they have added an awesome coffee shop called Kith and Kin. It is pretty great and so cool to have at a campground. This may have been Kelly's favorite trip ever since we had our new addition with us. She could not have been happier taking her puppy to the coffee shop/brewery and having her "behaved brewery dog" with her!
For this trip, we were scheduled to be there Saturday thru Wednesday but Kelly and I were always keeping one eye on staying longer if possible. At first we figured we would come on home and have some of the break at the house, but then we realized it wouldn’t be much of a break while surrounded by to-do lists. Then, we saw that there was a prediction for some very severe weather in Bham. That led us to make the decision to stay three extra nights and instead leave on Saturday, a full week at the beach. As much of a celebration as that was for us, it was subdued because the severe weather turned out to be true and caused lots of damage in our community. We felt lucky to not be in town and not have any damage, but we also know this was a tough week for a lot of people.
As for the trip, it was kind of like two separate ones. Early in the week it was cool and picturesque. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the water so calm, blue, and perfect. It truly looked more like the Caribbean. Our particular campsite was very familiar to us because we stay on this loop each year. The kids rode their bikes and went to the playground a lot. Kelly found a dog park for Stella and we had many trips to Kith and Kin. Unfortunately the pool was closed b/c of Covid but it was pretty chilly anyway.
The second part of the trip saw us change sites and stay in a more secluded location. It too was a great spot but we were plagued by rain and clouds for this second leg of the trip. We still had a blast but it wasn’t postcard weather like earlier. This was our first trip where ALL of us were riding a bike happily on the trails. Between that and Stella, Kelly was in heaven.
We got in our usual trip to Seaside, rode bikes, played beach games (led by Carter), went to Fudpuckers with the Akins who were also beach tripping, played some street tennis, and of course took care of Stella on her first camping trip! ***Unfortunate part of the trip.... Stella went after a hotdog... but it was on a fish hook. This was quite traumatic for ALL of us! Donald held her, Kelly tried so hard to get it out but of course it wouldn't budge. We prayed for extra help and a nice man came to our rescue. He helped instruct us to push the anchor all the way through her tongue (THIS WAS AWFUL) so he could then pull it out. Miraculously there was zero blood and she wasn't affected at all. The rest of us can't say the same!
Topsail is always a blast and we look forward to next Spring Break! Pretty pumped that we got to experience sunsets in the mountains and at the beach in the same month! Salt Lake City to Santa Rosa Beach!
