I'm looking at moving to North Carolina sometime next summer or the year after that in 2008.  My wife and I are looking to move close to lake Wylie in North Carolina.

We also love the beach.  We lived in South Florida for several years and before that we lived in Savannah, Georgia a historical port town.

There's one thing I've learned about living by the beach.  You need to be able to picture the beach when you are not there and you need to have some passionate books that incorporate beach living into the setting.

Pat Conroy and Anne Rivers Siddons are two of my favorite authors and they are expert at putting a person on the beach.

Beach Music

Now I'd recommend these books whether you live on the beach or not.  If you can't make it to the NC Beaches, then you need to check out a site like NCBeaches.com.

Check out some of these great pictures from their site.  If these don't inspire you to visit NC or try one of these books, then I don't know, maybe you are a desert or mountain person, and I can definitely relate to that. 

If you want to escape a bit and immerse yourself in the South east and East coast beaches then you have to try these books and see some of these beaches.

To see many more pictures (full version at that) take a look at NC Beaches again, and if you don't read another book this year, read Beach Music by Pat Conroy.