Planning and Such

For parents with pre-school-age children, or adults without kids at home, the week after Labour Day is the best time to visit the Outer Banks area of North Carolina.

The Outer Banks is a long strip of barrier beach, best known for Kitty Hawk, where Columbus landed in 1776.

Ready to head to the beach!

No, my knowledge of history is bad but not that bad.  Honest.

There's a Wright Memorial and you can trace their first four flights and see the house where they stayed and built their flyers and gliders.  You can see a replica of their first powered flyer, because the real one is in DC.  You can visit their many and varied gift shops, which I'm pretty sure were added after the Wrights were gone.

Others may have heard about the wild horses in Corolla, further north.  Or Roanoke Island, home of the first child to be born to Europeans in the New World and the "lost colony."

I haven't been in many years.  Lying on beaches is not my idea of a holiday.  I've tried it.  I've tried bringing a book or magazine and beach chair or blanket and sitting on the sand under an umbrella.

I can do that for about twenty minutes before I have to get up and walk or visit the nearest town or do SOMETHING.

Charity has never been to the Outer Banks, and when I've gone in the past I couldn't stop and look at shoes and dresses and jewelry At All.  So I thought a little visit might be in order.

Four days over Labour Day seemed good.  Charity has limited vacation days and this way she would only need two.  The Saturday before Labour Day would be pricey in terms of room rental, and busy in terms of traffic, so going down Sunday and returning Wednesday seemed like a plan.

And I wanted to try four days of Meg.

I've never done more than a bit over 24 hours before.  I've always worried about shaving multiple days in a row; most effective for facial hair has been to skip a day but that wouldn't keep me Meg-smooth.

Body hair too starts to spring up a couple of days after a thorough shave.

I didn't know if it would get to be too much after a couple of days.  I might just say "too much work" or "too hot for this" and revert to my boring clothing.

I brought along a sort-of escape hatch.  I brought a t-shirt and pair of (girl) Burmuda-style shorts.

If I decided to ditch Meg, I'd kind of stand out though: I planned to get a mani-pedi on the first day.  I only had open-toed shoes; tan flip-flops would have to work for malemode.  I brought my contacts but only my girl glasses. 

Mostly, "male" would be the absense of Meg: no wig, no makeup, no boobs.

As I wrote last week, before the trip, I ordered a mastectomy swim suit.  One reader suggested using medical adhesive to keep forms in place under the suit; maybe next time (why not?).

I also ordered flip-flops and two swimsuit cover-ups, one a long dress with an open lacy back; one short and kind of mesh.  The long one could easily be worn as a dress; the short one really needed something else underneath.

I packed way too many outfits, both dresses, and skirts and tops.  I brought camis in case a top was unexpectedly too low in front.  I brought wedges and flats and flip-flops.  I brought five or six pair of earrings, and necklaces, and bracelets.  I wore two rings, as Meg often does.  I brought an extra wig in case one did not enjoy the salt and sand much.

For the drive, I wore a dress I hadn't worn in over a year, and my wedges.

It was a five hour trip, and it was fine.

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