Tennis with Rick Ostlund at Pine Island Racquet Club

I hit some tennis today with Rick Ostlund, the wonderful pro at Pine Island Racquet and Fitness in north Duck. It's a great place to get some tennis in when you are down here, especially if you don't know any local tennis players. The club is open year-round.

The club is associated with the Sanderling, but anyone can play there.  In the summertime, Rick runs lots of drop-in clinics for intermediate players, beginners and kids. I bring my nieces every summer. The kids clinics are super fun and Rick is a great teacher.

The club is about 3 miles north of the Sanderling on the sound side of the road, across from the Hampton Inn. There is a full gym there too, but the tennis is the draw for me. There are three indoor courts -- a godsend in the summer, and a couple of Har-Tru clay courts outdoors (I have never played on those.) Prices are very reasonable, especially for the clinics. In the summer, there is usually early morning Cardio Tennis a couple of times a week as well. 

Spring cleaning!

It's the first visit of the new year to the Outer Banks, and what a gorgeous day to arrive. 75 degrees this afternoon and sun all up and down the beach.

I am here to spring clean the house this week and get it ready for the rental season. I talked to a yard guy today about keeping the grass under control for me, and he said he's got 15 guys working every day getting houses and commercial property ready. No matter what, it seems, folks are going to take a vacation this year, and plenty of them are going to head to the Outer Banks.

I wonder what the restaurants are doing to strategize about serving families in this nasty economy. A bunch of folks down here I talked to at the end of the year said that the convential wisdom is that people will still come to the beach, but maybe not go out to eat as much, just cook at the house and chill.

What's interesting to me is that so many of the modestly priced places down here seem to do well no matter what.....