The Outer Banks

We spent last week in the Outer Banks of NC with my parents. Some days we just hung out at the pool (which, thankfully, was heated) or the ocean (not heated - haha) and other days we took off to see the sights. It was the perfect combination of relaxing and sightseeing.

One of our excursions was to the Wright Brothers Museum and Monument in Kitty Hawk. I had high hopes that the Clark brothers would be inspired by the famous Wright brothers. Two "wrongs" don't make a "right," but two Wrights once made an airplane! As you can see, Roper was completely enthralled bored out of his mind.






We spent a few hours one afternoon touring the Elizabethan Gardens, located adjacent to the Lost Colony, the site of the first English settlement on American soil.












A 19th-century statue of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in America. Virginia was part of the Lost Colony, so certainly there is no accuracy in the statue's portrayal of her. The cararra marble statue lay underwater off the coast of Spain for 2 years, was salvaged from a fire in Massachusetts, and upon its arrival in NC in the 1920s, was "considered so racy that for decades she was tossed back and forth like a hot potato all across the state." I won't post a close up since I like to keep my blog content G-rated.


We stayed in Kitty Hawk, which is at the northern end of the Outer Banks. The southernmost island is Okracoke, which is accessible only by water or air. One day we drove down to Hatteras, which is as far south as you can go on land, then loaded up on the ferry for Okracoke.




Can you say undeveloped? The beach looks strange without any houses, doesn't it?




If you have 4-wheel-drive, you just park right at the edge of the water.












We met some baby ducks on our way into the town of Okracoke. Isn't it sweet how they obediently follow along behind their Mama? Why don't my children follow me around like that?


A very proud group of fisherman were on the ferry with us back to Hatteras. They caught two of these tremendous cobia. I don't make it a habit of posting pictures of people without their permission. Some people don't like their mugs on the world wide web for all to see. Hopefully this fella won't mind since he's holding a big catch!


The sunset on the ferry ride back was breathtaking. Photos can't do it justice.


Other pictures from the week...






So...are yall starting to wonder if I was really on the trip? I'm about to prove it. One day we headed over to Jockey's Ridge State Park in Kill Devil Hills, which is basically a state park with one gi-normous sand dune. It's big. 100 feet tall, to be exact. It's the tallest sand dune on the east coast. Scientists estimate that it contains 30 million tons of sand. It would take about 6 million dump trucks full of sand to make a dune this size. It's necessary to explain all of that because its hard to grasp the size of this thing from the pictures. Anyway...I decided it would be fun to roll down the sand dune. And...it was fun! I ended up covered in sand from head to toe! I just have to reiterate that although you can't tell in the pictures, it was a really steep drop!










Roper was less-than-impressed with his mother's craziness.


I also ran down the sand dune with Mason.


Coming back up was the hard part...


...except for Mason.


Our only group shot from the trip.


The last-but-not-least highlight...on the way back home on Sunday, my Daddy announced that he had a special detour in store for us. Now, with my Daddy, you can almost be certain that a detour will involve some tidbit of Confederate history. Possibly an obscure cemetery where Robert E. Lee's third cousin once removed rests in peace. Don't get me wrong, I always enjoy Daddy's rich-in-history detours...but this detour was even more special.




In case you can't tell, we had an absolutely wonderful time. If you've never had the chance to spend time in the Outer Banks, I highly recommend making the trip! Beauty + History + Beach = Great Vacation!