Weekend Roadtrip #2: Beach book grab bag (it’s educational!)
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program. Chances are, if you don’t already have a beach trip lined up this summer and you plan a road trip now, you’ll probably have to camp out in a tent or in your car, because North Carolina beaches are awesome and everyone wants to go and they make reservations early. But hey, go for it! And if you’re one of those advance planners and already have a beach trip scheduled this summer, allow me to pack a virtual book bag for you before you go.
There are plenty of magazines, newspapers, and websites offering you this summer’s hottest sellers in suspense fiction or chick lit. I’ll leave those suggestions to them. I want to offer a list of books that might actually help you enjoy the place where you are. Here’s my list:
North Carolina Beaches, 3rd edition, by Glenn Morris – The number one beach-by-beach guide to the 320 miles of North Carolina coastline, NC Beaches shows you where to go, how to get there, and what facilities (campgrounds, showers, restrooms, wheelchair access) are at each location. Sprinkled throughout the book are essays on topics such as tides, dunes, birds, pier fishing, and more.
How to Read a North Carolina Beach: Bubble Holes, Barking Sands, and Rippled Runnels, by Orrin H. Pilkey, Tracy Monegan Rice, and William J. Neal – Once you hit the sand, this is the book that will fill a walk on the beach with “Aha!” moments. What makes those tiny little volcanoes of sand that ooze bubbles of water? Where does beach foam come from? That kind of thing.
Sharks, Skates, and Rays of the Carolinas, by Frank J. Schwartz – No, I’m not saying “these are the things that will attack you while you’re there, enjoy your trip.” But if you find a shark’s tooth in the sand, it probably came from one of these local ocean dwellers. Plus, on the day it rains or the day after everyone gets burnt to a crisp and you need an indoor activity, these are some of the creatures you’ll meet at the aquarium.
Now that I’ve gotten started, I realize there are about two dozen books I want to put in this bag. So I’ve broken them up into a handful of loose categories, and I’ll do a series of posts in the next couple of weeks to share them all. Other lists to come: Pirates, Shipwrecks, & Ghosts, Oh My!; the Outer Banks; creative nonfiction; and who knows what else. So drop in next Thursday for the next Beach Book Grab Bag installment!
(pssst! Hey, kids: Try saying this ten times, fast: beach book grab bag, beach book grab bag, beach book grab bag. . . .)