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.

Outer Banks, North Carolina

Hurricane Dorian took its best shot at the Outer Banks.  However, the area was recovering well by the time we arrived at our campsite on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Julia and I have been enjoying some quality time together:  eating, drinking, and taking lots of long walks on the beach.

Actually, Julia is training for an upcoming mini-triathlon with running, biking, and paddlling, so she is doing a bit of running on the beach each morning.  The highlight of the eating and drinking has been a local place called Fish Head’s, which offers lots of quality craft beer and 20 cent boiled shrimp.  The beach and surf views from the tables are free.

We’ve eaten redfish, flounder, triggerfish, plankfish, and red snapper.  The latter two we picked up at local seafood markets and prepared on our cast iron skillet.  We start every morning with a long walk on the beach and end every day the same way.

Life is good, and we are thankful.