Bonnie and Bill do the Outer Banks

Day 1 - We Arrive

Spring Break! Bill planned a nice getaway for us at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I've never been there and thought it would be nice and relaxing.

We left on Monday morning. It took several hours to drive and when we arrived we were pooped out. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant - very disappointing food, but a really great kitchen staff.

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk. This is the view off of our little balcony. That's the Kitty Hawk pier off to the left.

Sunrise out our window. We actually slept with the sliding door open so we could hear the ocean. It was absolutely lovely.

This painting was on the wall of our room right next to the bed. We joked about it, - "So the hotel buys all these landscape paintings.... But we're a hotel at the outer banks! So they hire a local painter to add a lighthouse at some random place in each of these paintings." Random lighthouse placement for sure in this picture. 

Day 2 - We go up to Currituck

View from the room. I have a million pictures of the sky from our balcony. If you're thinking I've posted too many sky picture, then just thank your lucky stars that I only posted these few!

HOLD THE PHONE!!! Look!! It's the painting!! What what? The lighthouse IS poking up behind the trees.The only thing randomly added in the painting were the horses!! Huh.

I so did not expect lighthouses to be as inland as this, much less amongst a bunch of trees in what is apparently someone's yard.

Lighthouse Photo Number 1 - Currituck

Here we have inserted ourselves into the painting on our hotel room wall. Oddly, the lighthouse isn't in this one. It's either back there behind the trees or it's hidden behind Bill and me.

There was a really nice little park and walking area around and nearby the Currituck lighthouse. In retrospect, having visited several lighthouses, I can tell you that this is the one with the most to do around it. There's a little town as well as this park area. This is a view from the house/museum on the grounds.

This house was built by some bigwigs in the late 1800's I think. Anyway, we thought we'd walk around in the house but a ticket and guided tour were required. The little gentleman that told us this was so cheerful and great! He said there was already a tour going through but we could come back in an hour or so and he really couldn't wait to see us later. We agreed that the house was too small for a one hour tour, wondered what we'd do for that hour, and speculated that just spending an hour with that interesting little guy would make it worthwhile.
We did not, however, go back for the tour :( 

Bill does his peeping tom maneuver at an empty boathouse.

Nice view of the lighthouse from across the park. See the bus? There were 3 buses everywhere we went. Middle schoolers, apparently, also like to go to the Outer Banks for spring break. We had middle school tour groups at the hotel, at Currituck, at Bodie Island, at Wright Brothers memorial... Mostly, aside from just making a crowd, they did not disturb our tranquility at all. And they were useful when we wanted a picture of both of us :)

I left Bill at the top of the lighthouse. This is the view of the stairs from the top. I got a little dizzy on the way down.

This is the reason I left Bill at the top of the lighthouse. I wanted to snap this picture. See him up there? Hi Bill!

Here I've zoomed in on him. I'm the king of the world!!

And just one more of Bill up top.

Now this long bridge led from the park area out to a marshy area. The walk was very "nature". There were signs telling us to watch for everything from frogs to cottonmouths.

At the end of the bridge looking back.

Having no middle schoolers nearby, I was forced to set the timer on the camera and run join Bill before it snapped. I'm pointing at the lighthouse. Bill is pointing at me.

I wanted to walk on the beach. Bill did not. He took this picture from our balcony. See where I was trying to write my name in the sand? Bill said it was obscured by the fence (which it is) so I quit halfway through.

We also go to Bodie Island

Lighthouse picture number 2 - Bodie Island. This one was really nice, but it was not open for climbing. There was a small shop on the grounds, but nothing like the area around Curriuck. We didn't stay here very long as there was nothing to do except admire the lighthouse from the outside.

These pictures of the lighthouses while looking up appeal to me for some reason.

 We also ride out to Rodanthe

This is the road to Rodanthe. Eerie. Deserted. Sandy.

Day 3 - We go to the Wright Brothers Memorial

The museum was really interesting. They had a full scale replica of the actual plane in there. For all I know, it was the actual plane. We wandered around inside for a while.

This is an image of the place these guys lived. Sheesh. Talk about roughing it! 

I do my flying imitation on the field at Kitty Hawk with the WB Memorial behind me.

This is inside. I don't think this was actually at the WB area but for some reason uploaded in this spot. Bill is being held up by a bronze statue of a man in a canoe holding a shotgun. Curiouser and curiouser...

This picture speaks for itself, I guess. 

These little signs were spaced throughout the memorial area. There were little prickly pear cacti all over the ground. I plucked one baby cactus and brought him home in a sand filled OBX shot glass. Fingers crossed that he lives.

Here we pose with statues by the plane. Why didn't I photograph the plane??? I DON'T KNOW!

Bill, again accosted by statues. These statues just did not take to him. 

 We also go to Manteo 

Here, Bill is reading the signs inside the Manteo Light Station. Not a lighthouse at all but a house, over the water, with a light on top. Unimpressive but I imagine it served its purpose.

Really?

Full Moon Brewery in Manteo. The glass says "Get Mooned". And we did.
Snicker snicker.

While presentation was not a strong point here, the food was tasty. The thing in back is a crab dip with what appeared to be deep fried pita points. In from, calamari with marinara. Behind the marinara is a really tasty Asian dip of some sort that we both preferred to the marinara. The beer? A local IPA.

Back at the hotel. This courtyard was lovely. A fountain and a pool and some very comfortable looking chairs with tables. It was really too cool to hang around out here but I bet it's nice in spring or summer.

Here's the hotel (our branch of the hotel) from the beach. Bill's on the porch. We were on the third floor, but the bottom floor is hidden by the dunes in this picture.

Ahhhh........ The beach.....

This is for you, Kathryn....  Beach noise....

The Outer Banks area is very sandy. There's these piles of sand all by the road. And from the beach, you can see more piles of sand and also sandbags. It looks very different from any beach I've ever seen, frankly. The area looks as though it was hit by a hurricane just last week and all the sand has been plowed up onto the roadside.

On one of my walks on the beach, I went up under the pier and took some photos. I might change these to black and white, the have them printed and frame them. Yep. I really like these pier pics.

I like this close up of rocks. too. I don't know why.

This is a closer look at the pier you can see from our patio (and under which I took the preceding photos)

Here's the Hilton from the pier. Our room was in the left wing.

The waves from the pier. Lovely.

Day 4 - We go on horse tour

First, we had to eat at Bob's Grill. Just the motto made us want to go three. It's funny because it's true in the industry. "Eat and get the hell out!" The food wasn't bad, either, but it's hard to screw up breakfast.

Next we took a "wild horse" tour. This guy took us in an SUV up the beach to the Virginia line. Horses live here. In the olden days when ships would attempt to enter the coastal NC area, they would often run aground. The horses acted as ballast on board so they were thrown overboard. From there, some swam to shore and started colonies. They are now protected. by a non-profit that gives tours to raise money to care for them.
Mind you, there are other, strictly "For profit" groups that also give the tours. Don't go with them. Go with the people who are trying to help. 

The area where the horses live is a weird one. It is accessible only by 4 wheel drive and the road to it is actually a beach. There are no paved roads out here. Just sand and houses. The horses roam at will.

Our first horse sighting!

They let us get out at a few places, but you are not allowed to approach the horses. Here I am in front of one.

We saw many horses, but I won't bore you with pictures of all of them.
You're welcome :)

The Coast Guard outpost was just there in the sandy neighborhood. I found that odd. How do you suppose they draw for this assignment?

After the horse tour, we ate at "I Got Your Crabs". It was listed on TripAdvisor as the number one rated place to eat at the OBX. It was divine! I don't mind paper plates. The ambience was McDonald's-esque. The food? To die for. I wish we had come here earlier so we could have eaten here again. Alas, it was Thursday when we made it here and we were leaving the next day. Hands down the best food we ate the whole time we were there. This is their crab cake with remoulade.

These are the hushpuppies, which probably look fairly standard. But wait! The little cup in the middle contains some mixture of brown sugar and butter which was absolutely delicious with the pups. 

Their cole slaw tasted strongly of apples. In a very good way.

We devoured most of the crab legs before I thought to take a picture. They were delicious, as well. We also had fish and she crab soup and various other selections. Everything was great.

Don't be a snob. Eat here.

After all that food, we took a stroll by the ocean. Heavy sigh.... Beautiful night, beautiful moon. So peaceful.

Day 5 - We go to Hatteras

Lighthouse photo number 3 - Hatteras. By far the largest lighthouse we saw, but again, not open for climbing.

Lighthouse through the trees. NOT the way I imagined lighthouses at all. I figured they'd be on a rocky seashore. Not.

We take the ferry to Ocracoke Island

Mine! Mine! Mine! These gulls fought over the top spot for the whole ride.

Passenger lounge? I beg to differ. Where's the bar?

Bill is snapping pictures with his iPad.

Passing the other ferry going from Ocracoke to Hatteras.

Bill is pensive. Pondering the water.

Seagulls followed the ferry. Due in part, no doubt, to the Goldfish crackers I was feeding them.

Lighthouse Photo number 4 - Ocracoke

Staring up at Ocracoke lighthouse.

This one was in a pretty unpopulated area and no middle schoolers appeared to take our picture. Furthermore, we had to approach it on the little boardwalk and couldn't get in a position to photograph it and us any better.

So, once again, I set the timer and I set the camera on the railing, ran to join Bill, and snapped this picture.

After visiting the small white lighthouse, we had an hour or so to kill so naturally we decided to have a bite to eat. We ate on the water's edge at S McNally's.

The atmosphere was pleasant, if a wee bit chilly. The service was nice and I enjoyed all the little signs they had hanging up. "You'll get nothing and like it!" The fish was quite literally fresh off the pier and cooked immediately. 

We take the ferry to Cedar Island

Bill and his baby wait in line for the ferry.

As soon as cars started to board, this little duck or whatever started quacking and flapping and getting in traffic. He was like a little cop!

Some signs aren't necessary. Tell me... how the hell are you gonna be a pedestrian at this point if the ferry isn't there? Huh? Are you gonna just walk on water?

Driving aboard the ferry.

And we so "So long" to Ocracoke. 

Bill is photographing again.

The afternoon sun was lovely over the water. We bade farewell to the Outer Banks, made an unfortunate decision to stay at the Hampton Inn in Kinston, then headed on home.

It was a lovely trip. Outer Banks was great. Thanks Bill!