We are staying at a campground within walking distance to the beach
and a few miles south of Nags Head, North Carolina. I would be content
to spend the day walking, reading, and napping. However, Julia enjoys
exploring the surrounding area. On one of our days here, we ventured
south.
Wildlife Refuge
Our first stop was at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. When
we pulled in, the frog in the header photo was perched on the driver’s
side mirror of the vehicle next to us. We browsed through the Visitors’
Center. Then wen hiked the trails leading out into the Sound between
the Outer Banks and the mainikland.
We continued south and took a quick tour of the Cape Point
campground. This is a large National Park Service facility with dry
camping and permitted generator use. Not as popular, there were only a
couple of tents and trailers on a weekday. It’s set up in a large
grassy field and not within easy walking distance to anything. I was
glad we didn’t make reservations here. If the weather was cooler and
the mosquitoes more forgiving, it would probably have worked as a base
to explore the southern part of the Outer Banks.
Lighthouses
My feeling is that when you’ve seen one lighthouse, you’ve pretty
much seen them all, but Julia feels differently. We purchased tickets
to climb the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which is the tallest brick
lighthouse in the Americas and the second tallest brick lighthouse in
the world. Climbing to the top was equal to climbing a twelve story
building. Yes, we climbed it. I didn’t take pictures, because if you’ve
seen one lighthouse….
One interesting thing about the lighthouse is that it needed to be
moved a few years ago. The Outer Banks is basically shifting sands,
constantly moving to the west. Over a couple of hundred years, the
lighthouse was in danger of being swallowed up by the Atlantic Ocean.
They simply jacked it up, put it on rails and moved west to higher
ground. Cost: about $12 million.
Seafood and Beer
With all of that sightseeing, I was ready for nourishment. We stopped at Pop’s for some delicious seafood and beer.
Julia, who has worked in the eye care world for over 30 years, immediately found an IPA to her liking: Hoptical Illusion.
Jockey Ridge State Park
On another day, we headed just north of Nag’s Head to Jockey’s Ridge
State Park. The terrain here provided a sharp contrast to the area near
our campground where the dunes are grass-covered. At the state park,
dunes are tall, mostly bare, and stretch for miles.
Lots of sand in our shoes and socks, but we had a great time.
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