HOT AND HUMID!

Our new sun shade: I love it.

Kayaking on the Sound

I could stop there with just hot and humid, but there is a lot more to the Outer Banks than just the weather.  The Outer Banks are a long stretch of barrier islands and sand dunes that separate the Atlantic from the coast and the Pamlico Sound.  They are almost 200 miles long.   You can find wild mustangs near Corolla, fishing, crabbing, sailing, kayaking, kite sailing, wind surfing, dolphins, whales, off-roading on beaches and sand dunes, Light Houses, the Wright Brothers Memorial, the North Carolina Aquarium, swimming, hang gliding on famous Jockey Ridge, and Cape Hatteras National park.  We didn’t do all of those activities, but did see quite a lot of the Cape Hatteras area and Ocracoke Island.

We camped at Frisco Woods Camping for RV’s and tents.  It was a nice campground, but so crowded during Labor Day you were squeezed in like sardines.  But, that was probably true of most campgrounds over the Labor Day weekend.

Our first venture was to Ocracoke Island, only accessible by an hour’s ferry ride.  It is a quaint little island that reminds one of Hawaii many years ago.  There is a lighthouse there, first lit in 1854. It is the oldest operating lighthouse in North Carolina and is in the National Register of Historic Places.  Most people on the island get around by golf cart.  We spent the better part of the day there and had lunch at the marina.  (Dogs allowed on the deck)

After a day of hanging around the campground, the next day we drove to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.  It is 210 feet tall and the tallest brick lighthouse in America.  Lennard walked to the top while I waited with the dogs.  The heat that day was about 92 degrees with 90 % humidity.

Next we drove to the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, NC.  It is located near where Wilbur and Orville Wright first flew in a powered, heavier-than-air machine, for a sustained distance.  The focal point of the memorial is a spectacular stone monument. There is also a life size sculpture of the first flight and the famous photograph by John T. Daniels.  It is really something to see.

To end the day we walked across part of the dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head.  Not too far though, as the sand was hot that day for little four footed girls.  It is the largest sand dune on the East Coast.  It is also the most visited park in the North Carolina parks system.  And that is a lot of sand!

We decided to have a crab fest with our neighbors, Billy and Susan from Virginia. Well, the great crab catchers, Lennard and Billy used crab nets for several hours and what did they catch…nothing.  But, the crabs got away with a lot of chicken necks for sure.  Fortunately our other neighbor, Roy, felt sorry for us and brought us 2 crabs so we would have something to eat.

Lennard learning how to crack and eat crab.

The next morning Billy and Susan took us for a ride on the beach in their 4X4.  Did we get stuck? Of course!  What would a day on the beach be without getting stuck?  We did get out quickly, as Billy is an expert on the sand.

We met a lot of nice people here including Billy and Susan, Rob and Kendra, Donna and Rick, and Diane, Steve and Roy.

We are ready for the next part of our journey…a drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Smokey Mountains and our Tiffin Ralley.