Two Stops Under #15 Carpet Shock Writ Large

---

"Electrifying!"
North Topsail Beach, NC - July 2009 (Click to Embiggen)

Two Stops Under Thursdays on Why? What Have You Heard?

---

Stumble This!

Window Views #32: "Quick! Call Ripley's!"

---

"This is next year's snow in advance I bet"
Raleigh, NC - March 2009 (Click to embiggen)

---

Stumble This!

Sky Watch Friday #66: You Better Run

---

"You Better Hide"
North Topsail Beach, NC - July 2009 (Click to embiggen)

---

Stumble This!

Sky Watch Friday #54: Natural Sunroof

---

"Premium Option"
North Topsail Beach, NC - July 2009 (Click to embiggen)

 This image and others available for sale at my RedBubble Site!

---

Stumble This!

Sky Watch Friday #45: Arrival Of The Mothership??

---

"Nah. It's Just Lightning."
North Topsail Beach, NC - July 2009 (Click to embiggen)

---

Stumble This!

My World Tuesday #41: Holes in the Sky Over North Topsail Beach

---

"Natural Skylight"
North Topsail Beach, NC - July 2009 (Click to embiggen)

 This image and others available for sale at my RedBubble Site!

---

Believe it or not, I have just returned from what I'm pretty sure was my first trip to Topsail Island, NC. I say "believe it or not" because Topsail is probably the only beach in the state I've never explored. It sits almost exactly halfway between the most convenient (Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach) and my oldest favorite (Atlantic Beach/Emerald Isle) and I suppose that's the reason I'd never made the trip there. I always got hung up at one end or the other, and just never made it to the middle. But despite the additional miles up Highway 17, the drive is still quicker than Atlantic Beach, and the area mush more accommodating than Wilmington (at least for now). "Progress" hasn't caught up here as quickly as it has in other coastal areas of the state, though all the signs are there that it's making its way here too. Hopefully the planners will be able to avoid the overbuilding that's so common at other beaches. After all, there's only so much humanity this little sandbar can support.

Like all of the beaches (ocean beaches at least) in the state, Topsail Beach is on a barrier island -- this one separated from the mainland by the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The Intracoastal is a story all in itself, as is the history of the island. But since I'm a newcomer to "TI" I don't know so much of the history there. But in its recent history (meaning "last Friday") it was hit by a mighty thunderstorm, some of which you see pictured here. I shot this from the first of several public beach access points along New River Inlet Road, when this "hole in the sky" opened right above this cluster of houses. I actually got to see this happen twice in the space of a few minutes -- once on either side of me. I wondered at the time what kind of weather phenomenon I was witnessing, then decided I was better off not knowing.

---

Stumble This!