Google Tag Manager icon Outer Banks: Excursions Skip to main content

Featured

Not really SAD, but

A lot of people are affected with Seasonal Affective Disorder in Wisconsin.  We have many, many days without sun during the winter months.  This year, we've had a string of days with heavy fog and unseasonably warm temperatures in the 30's and 40's.   Personally, I can't claim that I've ever really felt the effects of SAD, but this year, knowing that we are likely moving west later next year, I've been very impatient and annoyed with Wisconsin weather.   Sun trying to fight through the clouds It hasn't helped that my daily routine involves looking at the weather in Fort Collins and Tucson.  Their weather has been spectacularly sunny and more pleasant this time of year.   So, I haven't been blogging much because not much is going on. I've substituted indoor pickleball for hiking. The trails have been muddy and not much fun. For Christmas, we had my mother, Julia's brother and Allie here.  I went and retrieved my mother from Cedar Rapids a...
1 comment
Read more
Labels

Outer Banks: Excursions


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.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts