And That's a Wrap

Our last couple days were full of wind, wind, and more wind.  It is so windy there that apparently  they have bulldozers moving the sand from the road back to the dunes all the time.  These islands are constantly trying to move west.

Since it wasn't really beach weather (50's and sand stinging any uncovered body parts isn't all that fun), we went to see more light houses.  Thursday, we drove down to Cape Hatteras, which was a pretty drive and it was fun to see the south part of the island.

The kids were their normal silly selves, although the older two did take a break from the silliness long enough to read about how they moved this lighthouse 2,900 feet in 1999 to resituate it away from the encroaching ocean.  Pretty amazing that they were able to do it without it falling over.

The lighthouse didn't open until the next day, so we didn't get to climb this one.

From the beach near the original location.

On the way home, we stopped in Avon and the Risky Business seafood market.  We had gone out one night for local seafood, but wanted to try cooking some of it ourselves.  Soft-shell crab, shrimp, shark, and the house crab cakes. It was all good, but the crab cakes were absolutely amazing. We bought way too much and the kids didn't help us out all that much, but it was fun to feast on things that had just been caught that day. I'd want to live near the coast just for all the good seafood, even if I didn't love the ocean. 

Friday we stayed more local, with another trip to another lighthouse.  The Bodie Island Lighthouse opened for tours that day, but they had a height requirement that Peanut didn't make (wish the Currituck one had the same rule!), so it was Daddy-o's turn to take the kids up.

From the top.  It was almost too windy to allow people out on the balcony, but they squeaked by, and braved the gusts to enjoy the view.

Later that day, we went to Jockey's Ridge, the tallest dunes on the east coast.

The wind in action--the ridges it made were pretty, and impressive considering how many people we saw at this place each time we drove by.  You'd think it would be solid footprints, but there was enough wind to cover them up.

On top of the tallest dune.  You can see the sound in the background.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a bug walking into the wind.

He loved it up there.

He didn't.  I guess when you are less than 3 feet tall, you get a lot more sand in your face.

Daddy-o got some air on the way down.  The sand is so soft and deep that it's fun to run, jump, and tumble down the hills.

Bean, the flying squirrel.  Both kids went up and down this hill several times.

After the tumbling down.

Lots of good climbing trees on the OBX. 

 

  We got pizza for dinner, got the kids to bed, and Daddy-o and I enjoyed an hour of peace in the hot tub without anyone trying to swim over us.  It may have been the most relaxing hour of the entire trip, with a couple movie nights and my solo walks with the dog on the beach as close seconds.  All the other stuff was fun, but I'm not sure any time the kids are involved it could be called relaxing.

 

And that was our trip.  Saturday morning, it was time to pack up and make the 6 hour drive home.  Following tradition, it rained pretty hard on the drive home.  I think it has rained every single time we've come home from the beach.  We get lucky and don't get too much of it while we're actually at the beach, but it really does drive home the fact that the vacation is over when we leave.  Back to phone calls, church obligations, school stuff, house repairs, and decisions to make.  I'm already looking forward to the next trip.

Where Dreams Come True

Wednesday was a day of making dreams come true.  First up, Duck Donuts.  Donuts are kind of a favorite in our house anyway, but this donut place gets rave reviews all around and Daddy-o had been talking about it the whole week (and we'd actually tried to stop by on Monday, but they close at 1 p.m. and we missed it by 1 minute).

They actually make the donuts to order, right there in front of you.  You pick frostings/glazes and toppings and they make them fresh.

And they have some unusual flavor choices, like lemon (tied with the cinnamon and sugar for my favorite) and peanut butter (with chocolate sprinkles--Daddy-o's win for the morning).  They were pretty tasty, although I still think that the apple cider donuts from Skytop Orchard are the best donuts ever.  But these were very good.

Then, it was on to Roanoke Island.  I think that I was in 5th grade when I heard the story of Sir Walter Raleigh and the lost colony and was so enthralled that I ended up naming my dog after him a few years later.  Going to Roanoke has been a dream of mine for a long, long time.

 

First stop was the Roanoke Island Festival Park where they have a museum and some outdoor recreations of a native American village, and English colonist village, and the Queen Elizabeth II ship the colonists came over on.

We got to try scraping out a log with shells to make a canoe,

and watched a blacksmith make a nail (first woman I've ever seen do the blacksmith thing at one of these places--she was really funny).

 

The kids got to live the dream of being arrested and put in the stocks.

I think they enjoyed it a little too much.

Sacked out on the ship.   Seriously, this kid barely napped the whole week and wasn't making up for it at night.  I wouldn't have been surprised if he had fallen asleep for real.

Under the sails

I love ships.

Manning the guns.  These kids were all over this ship, and Bean was even about to try climbing the mast until someone working there told her that was only okay for expendable teens.

Such a fun boat.  And then we'd had enough of being outside in the cold wind.

Luckily, there is a fun hands-on museum to explore a little more of the Lost Colony and NC coastal history.  There were lots of exhibits that the kids could be a part of and touch, so Daddy-o and I even got to read a few things.

Smaller ship replica.

After the museum, we headed to Fort Raleigh, where the actual Lost Colony lived.  While the fort itself was underwhelming (see that rim of dirt behind us--that's the earthen fort, and it's not even the original but a replica of what it would have been like, only it's eroded over the years and isn't as tall as they would have made it.), it was pretty fun to walk around in the woods there and imagine what it would have been like to be left on the island, just hoping someone would make it back with supplies in time for you.

One of the downfalls of going places off season is that we do miss out on the some of the activities.  In the summer, there is a play performed here to tell the story of the Lost Colony.  We may have to brave the crowds and high prices one year to come back.

Our Home Away From Home

When we started planning this trip to the OBX, I had the thought, "It'd be really fun to take the dog with us for once."  Even when we've been camping, she's missed out because it's either been on the west coast, or we didn't have room in the car to take her.  So I looked into rental houses (which there are thousands of!) and a place that allowed dogs, was close enough to the water to make for easy walking back and forth, and not crazy expensive.  It wasn't anything fancy, but it worked for us.

 

View from the deck towards the ocean--just one layer of houses between us and the beach.  We could actually see a little patch of water from the top deck, but it was pretty windy most of the week so we didn't really spend a lot of time up there.

Climbing the stairs to the beach.  Notice all that sand that had blown over the dunes. . .

This is what the other side of the staircase looked like.  I assume that someone comes in and cleans it all up before the summer crowd comes.  It makes it a little easier to believe that these islands really do move west each year.

Tuesday ended up being a lot warmer and less rainy than forecasted, so we enjoyed another afternoon at the beach in the wind.

View to Jennette's Pier to the north of us.

And the Nag's Head Fishing Pier to the south.

They ran from the waves for awhile, and then ended up getting completely soaked and switched tactics to playing in the water.

Molly didn't ever warm up to the water, but she had fun laying around in the sand, walking the beach, and finding new things to smell.

Total contentment.

Digging a hole to hide from the wind.

Run, Bug, run!

I don't know if it was because it was cooler outside than Sunday, or if the currents really had shifted, but the water felt a lot warmer this day and was bearable.  More like San Diego in the spring.

Getting caught by the waves.  In my older and wiser age, I've become a total wimp.  I was fine getting my feet wet, but I don't love the cold water like I did as a kid.

While we were down there, a huge flock of birds flew south just out from where the waves were breaking.  Seriously, the line of birds went on for over 5 minutes.  It was amazing to watch.