Heading Back Up North

First a picture wrap-up from Ocracoke:

Two pair of sandals and a sun just waiting to set

Erin standing by a beach sculpture we came across just as the sun was setting

The sun dropping on our last day in Ocracoke . . .

. . . and breaking camp the next morning

The day had to come. We couldn't put it off any longer. It was time to start heading back up north. So with heavy hearts and about five pounds of seashells, we broke camp and headed up the Outer Banks. First there was a ferry:

And then there were a few more sights before leaving the islands:

The famous "Nights In Rodanthe" house (a movie with Richard Gere and Diane Lane)

Cape Hatteras lighthouse

Another night of camping (and geographical confusion)

Awesome sunset (yaaawn)

. . . and once again packing up Lil' Red

I wish I could devote an entire posting to our visit to Kitty Hawk in the upper Outer Banks. It was much more fascinating than I had thought It'd be. This is, after all, the exact spot (specifically at Kill Devil Hills) where the first powered flight took place, launching the new field of aviation. A true revolution. The Wright Brothers -- Orville and Wilbur -- came here from Dayton, Ohio (where they had a bicycle repair and sales business) because they found the winds and gentle hills to be optimal.

The monument on top of Kill Devil Hill

The marker tells it all -- I'm standing where the world's first plane landed

So that's it. I wish I could write some more here but we're on to other things. There never seems to be enough time on the road to do these postings.

A quick rewind. I never gave proper thanks to my cousin Lynn and her husband Jim for their generosity. We stayed with them in Charlotte for a night in between Atlanta and the Outer Banks. It was also great to see my Aunt Helen as well (and Lynn and Jim's ridiculously cute grandaughter, Berklie).

 

So long and keep on smiling everybody

Ocracoke Images

The Ocracoke Lighthouse (oldest in North Carolina)

Renting bikes is huge here (also golf carts)

Blackbeard was killed in a bay in Ocracoke

We were originally going to stay here for only a night or two, but we've decided to stay just "one more night" (our forth), which is what we tell the Park Ranger every morning when we pay for that night's campsite. It's just been too damn gorgeous to leave. This has thrown our East Coast schedule off a bit (sorry Ed, Joni, Jamie, et. al.), but we've been hankering for some sandy beach hang-time for quite a while. So we should be off tomorrow . . . or will we?

Erin reading on the beach ("State of Wonder" by Ann Patchett) . . .

. . . and Yours Truly walking off into the sunset (okay, it's a sunrise, but how ineloquent is it to "walk off into a sunrise")

I haven't done a video in a while, but this one gives an idea of the size and underpopulation of the beaches here:

 

Greetings from Ocracoke Island

The Outer Banks (that's Ocracoke way down at the bottom)

I've never been to the Outer Banks before and I'm definitely coming back! I've heard of some of the towns (and you probably have too -- Cape Hatteras, Nags Head, Rodanthe, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk), but I doubt I could have found them on a map before this trip. The Outer Banks (or OBX as they call them here) are a 200-mile long narrow strip of barrier islands that run along much of the North Carolina coast and on up to Virginia. They are a fragile finger of land, not much more than a sandbar with vegetation in places, perennially threatened by Hurricanes and known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic due to the hundreds of ships (dating back to the 16th century) that have sunk in their shallow, wind-swept waters. They are so narrow in some spots that you can see the Atlantic Ocean on one side of the road and Pamlico Sound on the other. Since we've only seen Ocracoke Island, I guess I can't comment on what we'll encounter to the north, where I hear it's much more crowded, but down here on the southern most tip, we've been blown away by the wide sandy beaches and the quaint, historical town. After a so-so night of camping on the mainland in Croatan National Forest (our first camping in almost 1-1/2 months -- ouch!), we took the two-and-a-quarter hour ferry from Cedar Island to Ocracoke Island.

Little Red on the Cedar Island ferry

Cedar Island ferry

Once here, we realized that we were onto something very special. Many of the beaches here on Ocracoke are part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, a protected preserve, so they are wide, undeveloped and go on for miles and miles . . .

Erin walking along one of Ocracoke's long, white sand beaches

And on the other side of the rise . . .

Our campsite at Ocracoke National Park ($23 a night, no reservations)

One of the things that we love about this island is that we can watch both:

Sunrises . . .

. . . and sunsets over the water.

BONUS: One little shout-out to a regular blog reader and great horse lover (and horse owner), Mona. Below is what they call a Banker Horse or Ocracoke Pony on this island. They are the wild descendants of a breed of horses that are thought to be survivors of a 16th century Spanish shipwreck, although their provenance is still speculated on to this day. They used to run wild, but now they are taken care of by the National Park Service. For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banker_horse.

Two Ocracoke Ponies