TRAVEL SNAPSHOTS: TOPSAIL ISLAND
I've been posting pretty sporadically on the blog for a while now. Truth is, things have been quite crazy lately. I started a new position at work in February and I had another death in the family. All in all I just really needed to get away and rest, recharge and refocus! Last week we went to Topsail Island which is off the coast of NC. It was the best trip I've had in a long, long time. I've been to many beaches in NC, but never to Topsail. I absolutely loved it! The island was very quiet and somewhat deserted (thanks to it being before season starts, perhaps?) There were several places near our house that weren't scheduled to open until after Easter weekend. Honestly, it made for the perfect getaway. We visited only a few places and spent most of our time resting on the beach or on our dock. I listed a few places below that we frequented during our trip. If you go, be sure to check these places out:
FAT BURGERS SPORTS BAR & GRILL
I'm sure it sounds odd for someone to recommend a sports bar at the beach (where's the seafood rec, Marche?) Trust me here. This sports bar had the best burgers I've EVER HAD. Now, I am not sure if any of you know this but I am a burger lover at heart. I am that friend that always orders a burger and my friends tease me for it. Our first night in Topsail, we asked the locals where we should grab dinner, every single person recommended Fat Burgers. I mean...come on. When locals refer you to a burger joint instead of a seafood joint, you know the burgers have to be good. We ate at this place 5 times while we were in Topsail.
FRACTURED PRUNE:
So this place is a chain with locations in MD and some other states as well and let me tell you, it is GOOD. Generally, I'm not a donut person and I have to actually have a taste for donuts to eat them. I searched for best breakfast places around Topsail and Fractured Prune was the first result that popped up. We were excited to try it out (aka buy a dozen!) The donuts were so good! They're all made to order and you can pick the glaze and toppings you want. We tried out 8 flavors and loved the OC Sand flavor! We even debated stopping to bring a dozen home. Good thing for my diet we didn't!
50 SOUTH SURF SHOP:
Usually when I'm on vacation at the beach, I pretty much lounge around and eat. I was way more active during this trip and I actually loved having an excuse to eat more junk food (ha!) A couple of the days we played tennis at a nearby tennis court. We also stumbled on 50 South Surf Shop in Surf City. We already knew we wanted to rent bikes for a few days but we were surprised at all the other rental options at the shop. Later on in the week we decided to rent paddleboards and the shop delivered them to our house! You can also rent surfboards, kayaks and more at the shop.
MINERVINI'S NEW YORK BAGEL CO:
Close to the end of our trip, we decided to eat somewhere other than Fat Burgers and stopped into Minervini's for breakfast. Out bagels were the perfect start to the day. The huge cinnamon rolls weren't bad either!
And if you are wondering what to pack, check out my picks below: