Outer Banks, NC on Memorial Day
A month or so ago, my wife and I and our two dogs decided spur of the moment to head down to OBX for the Memorial Day weekend. We stayed at the NPS Billy Mitchell campground in Frisco. This necessitated driving down Thursday night, arriving at 1am. Friday we found a coffee shop with a sea breeze and a wireless connection to "work from home". No pictures of anything so mudane, however.
Saturday we decided to head down to Ocracoke Island - early morning seemed best, and we got down there just in time for it to pour down some rain.
Ocracoke Light was built in 1823 (for the third time), its walls are 5 feet thick brick & mortar, and that sits perched atop the tower 75 feet above sea level can be seen for 14 miles.
The sun came out as we were leaving, but only for a few seconds.
While we were in town we stopped to see one of the rare little pieces of British soil:
These are the graves of 4 British soldiers whose patrol ship was sunk by a german U-boat off the coast in WWII. The only other soverign British soil I know of in the U.S. is the Captain Cook memorial in HI, and the embassy in D.C.
The flowers were blooming: this hydrangea is just starting.
some of the flowers were turned into artwork.
... as were other things... RAWR!
And someone (me) needs to shave.
Whatever these flowers were, they were in bloom everywhere!
Our dogs got to sample the water. On the empty stretches we'd let them go one at a time, but kept them close by.
After a quick dinner we noticed the sky lighting up with a gorgeous sunset. But by the time we found a place on the bay side with a veiw, the light was fading.
On day 2 we explored a bit closer to camp - a quick trip down to Frisco Pier:
Frisco Pier is in bad shape. I believe it was closed before most of this damage happened during Hurricane Isabella in '06.
... but it still provides some welcome shade!
We sat on the beach / took walks during the middle of the day, but decided to do better with getting the sunset than we did last night.
The next day we had to be heading back, so we stopped by Bodie Island Light on the way out. They've taken down the scaffolding, but it's still in the middle of a major renovation / stabilization project, just waiting on funds to keep it standing.
Hope you enjoyed our quick getaway to lovely OBX!
Saturday we decided to head down to Ocracoke Island - early morning seemed best, and we got down there just in time for it to pour down some rain.
Ocracoke Light was built in 1823 (for the third time), its walls are 5 feet thick brick & mortar, and that sits perched atop the tower 75 feet above sea level can be seen for 14 miles.
The sun came out as we were leaving, but only for a few seconds.
While we were in town we stopped to see one of the rare little pieces of British soil:
These are the graves of 4 British soldiers whose patrol ship was sunk by a german U-boat off the coast in WWII. The only other soverign British soil I know of in the U.S. is the Captain Cook memorial in HI, and the embassy in D.C.
The flowers were blooming: this hydrangea is just starting.
some of the flowers were turned into artwork.
... as were other things... RAWR!
And someone (me) needs to shave.
Whatever these flowers were, they were in bloom everywhere!
Our dogs got to sample the water. On the empty stretches we'd let them go one at a time, but kept them close by.
After a quick dinner we noticed the sky lighting up with a gorgeous sunset. But by the time we found a place on the bay side with a veiw, the light was fading.
On day 2 we explored a bit closer to camp - a quick trip down to Frisco Pier:
Frisco Pier is in bad shape. I believe it was closed before most of this damage happened during Hurricane Isabella in '06.
... but it still provides some welcome shade!
We sat on the beach / took walks during the middle of the day, but decided to do better with getting the sunset than we did last night.
The next day we had to be heading back, so we stopped by Bodie Island Light on the way out. They've taken down the scaffolding, but it's still in the middle of a major renovation / stabilization project, just waiting on funds to keep it standing.
Hope you enjoyed our quick getaway to lovely OBX!
________________________________________________
Jake
Jake
0
Comments
Sherry
Lots of times we make it a day trip...over on the ferry from Cedar Island early in the morning and back on the six o'clock ferry from Ocracoke. When we stay over night we favor the Pony Island Motel...and eat breakfast at their restaurant...usually packed since the food is pretty good.
I'll post some images of our trip later this year.
Thanks for sharing.
Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.
Ed
Thanks
Location: Huntsville, AL