Vacation is a time for renewal. It’s time to let most of your worries and responsibilities take a backseat while you kick your feet up and relax. For me, the most relaxing vacations are the ones at the beach. I love laying on a towel in the sand while listening to the waves crash, while that slight ocean breeze blows my hair back. Ocean Isle Beach was a family vacation to remember, and I wanted to highlight some of my favorite parts of my trip.
I want to start off by describing the area. Ocean Isle Beach is a beautiful beach town, with access to both the ocean and the bay. While there were many towering, extravagant houses all very crowded together, the overall atmosphere was peaceful and quiet and the streets were never very busy. You could definitely tell that this was a family-oriented vacation spot. The entire area boasted southern hospitality in its truest form, and there were quite a few aspects of entertainment that the town had to offer that I found very unique. For one, there is a homemade ice cream shop known as the Ocean Isle Creamery (I tried the dreamsicle flavor, and it was absolutely delicious). Second, there is free outdoor entertainment such as free outdoor movies on Wednesdays and free outdoor concerts on Fridays at the Museum of the Coastal Carolinas. While I wasn’t able to attend these events, I appreciated that they were offered. There is also a pier that you can walk onto and fish off of, right in an area with restaurants, ice cream, and beach-product rentals.
After arriving Saturday afternoon, we had six days to do whatever we wished. Of those six days, I spent four of them on the beach, one shopping, and one by the pool. My days were pretty routine as far as vacation goes, but extremely relaxing. Every day I woke up around nine in the morning without an alarm, took my time getting ready, ate breakfast, and then got ready to hit the sand. I was normally on the beach from about eleven in the morning to around four in the afternoon, and would take breaks around one in the afternoon to go into the house to get out of the sun, get re-hydrated, and eat some lunch. I spent most of my time on the beach tanning (or burning), and occasionally jumping waves and looking for shells with my friend Katie.
Before tanning. 
After tanning .
On our shopping day, we drove forty five minutes south towards Myrtle beach to a shopping complex called Broadway at the Beach. There, we perused a wide variety of both small businesses and chain stores, and even found a few hidden gems. Katie and I came across Coastal Carolina Winery, and I highly recommend it for my sweet wine lovers out there. Katie bought a bottle of strawberry wine, and I bought a bottle of blackberry. Both were some of the best wines I have ever tried, and next time I’m in the area I am definitely stocking up.
Also while at Broadway at the Beach, I purchased a body scrub and body butter from a small, all-natural bath product company called Splash. I tried their products in the store, and loved the scents and the way my skin felt after using the products. I also really enjoyed the fact that everything they were selling is made in the store, and I’m all about supporting small businesses!
Around lunch time Katie and I met up with the rest of my family for some food and drinks at Señor Frogs. I got a Sex on the Beach in a souvenir yard glass, and it really hit the spot on this super hot day of walking around outside. The restaurant itself had a super fun atmosphere, and we even got these fun balloon hats from a very talented lady who made them right in front of us!
One night we decided that while dinner was cooking, we were going to go for a nice walk on the beach. This is my favorite part of being at the beach. Walking barefoot in the sand along the water at sunset just can’t be beat. There’s nothing quite like it. We even found a jelly fish along the shore, and took in the breeze while we searched for shells that the tide had left behind.
Katie with our cannonball jellyfish friend. 
Just me reeling in a crab trap.
The Ocean Isle area is also a great place to clam and crab on the bay side! We went to the dock a few times to see what we could get as far as blue crabs, and even though we didn’t have a ton of luck with that we still had a lot of fun! We were, however, much luckier with clamming, bringing in dozens of clams after every trip. Go out at low tide and see what you can catch!
We also had our one night of extra adventure on this trip, where I went zip-lining for the first time! It was completely new to me and very exhilarating, and the guides at Swamp Park were extremely knowledgeable and very personable. They had a great sense of humor, and I don’t think that our experience would have been nearly as good without them. We did a total of three zip-lines, and then visited some gators in their nature park and played corn hole. I would highly recommend Swamp Park to anyone looking for a little excitement on their relaxing vacation, and next time I visit the area I definitely want to try out the more advanced 10-zip-line course!
Aside from my family, I also have some products that I want to give shoutouts to for making this vacation a success. One would be my Cetaphil Daily Moisturizer with SPF. I would not have saved my face from getting burnt without it, considering I got burnt just about everywhere else. Second would be just about everything Yeti has to offer. Their coolers kept all of our drinks and food cold not just all day, but sometimes for multiple days at a time. We also brought our Yeti ramblers to the beach with us, and our ice water stayed cold for the entire day outside in ninety-five degree weather every single day.