lighthouse trip

I have posted several photos from our trip, but never really blogged about it. We loved taking the Wardlings to the NC coast. We left bright and early on a Thursday, with Penny as our navigator. GPS, schmi-PS... we have a Penny! We mapped out our route and went old school, with a map. We took side roads, the Route 66, if you will, to get there and loved the trip. We hit the Wright Bro.'s museum in Kitty Hawk. We went on a very hot day and so the walk to the monument was out of the question. The Wardlings were dropping out with heat. We stood @ the bottom of the hill for our photo op. After the Wright Bro's airplanes, we were then off to see the light houses. We started with Bodie. We could go 12 steps into the lighthouse. The Wardlings were thrilled to go inside! As we were pulling into the driveway to Bodie, there were 2 deer in the street that took their time crossing over to get in the brush. That was cool! We ate at a Five Guys burger place that day for lunch and wow...good burgers, but expensive. Word to the wise, if you order fries...get one: the portion size is huge. Then we were off to Hatteras after stopping a bit to run on the beach. Hatteras was awesome. We looked in the gift shop, got some touristy info on the history and bought tickets to go inside the light house. Originally we thought that Jacob would be too small, because there are height restrictions, but after Clyde bought the older 3 Wardlings tickets, he measured Jacob and he was tall enough. Sweet and that made Jacob's day...Penny on the other hand was less than thrilled. She and I waited on the porch of the white house while the rest of the family climbed the 257 steps up to the viewing deck. It was windy and scary @ the top they said, when they got back down.

After Hatteras, we were off to find the next light house...Ocracoke. We had to take a ferry to get to the Ocracoke Island. That was loads of fun. It was a short ferry ride, a mere 40 minutes, but fun enough to get the children out of the car and walking. Once on the Ocracoke Island it took us a bit to find the light house. It was quite literally off the road, on some hidden dirt drive. We couldn't go into Ocracoke Lighthouse, but I think it was my favorite. I loved Ocracoke Island. It had that Stars Hollow feel to it. Small town. Everyone on bikes. No chain, brand name shops or hotel/motels. Very picturesque. Then we were off to catch the last ferry off the island and that is where our perfectly timed, spur of the moment, fly by the seat of our pants plans ended. Apparently the ferry system wasn't running all of it's scheduled ferry runs and, AND, AND you HAVE TO HAVE A RESERVATION. Did not know that. By this time it was 7pm and so we had 3 choices. 1- make a reservation for the following day 2- find a motel/hotel on Ocracoke Island in 30 minutes, because c- we had to catch the last of the evening ferries to get back on Hatteras Island to find a hotel/motel, without a reservation and on a budget for 7 people. We were tired and cranky @ this point. We chose a combo, making a reservation for the ferry, the following day @ 2pm. We gave ourselves 30 minutes to find a place, and they were all booked or too pricey, so we rushed back to get on the ferry to Hatteras, @ 8pm. It was a 40 minute ferry ride, then we stopped @ several places, that recommended places, that recommended places, until we found the great place we stayed in. Clyde got a key to look at the room, we agreed and the kids, who were dressed in their swimsuits were out of the car and in the pool. We hadn't even officially checked in yet. They had to get out of the car.

Yadda yadda, next day...we swam again in the pool, checked out, took a ferry to take a ferry to get off of Ocracoke Island. Then we drove for hours to get to Myrtle Beach to Grammy and Papa's house. We drove past the USS Battleship in Wilmington and generally fell in LOVE with NC. We had driven for nearly 2 days and hadn't left our home state. The terrain was beautiful! We saw swamps, beaches, oceans, crops, drove over bridges, saw the greenery and fell in love with our state.

What a fun way to spend the last few weeks of summer vacation. We got to hang out for several days in Myrtle Beach and even when the weather let us down, we still had a fun time laughing about it...like the day we headed to the ocean, got there after packing all the garb that one must take to the beach and as soon as we found a spot, the sky fell and the rain dropped on us. The next day we made it back to the ocean, played for 2 hours and then the rain fell again. Oh and the sand. We got sand in places that one should NEVER get sand. I love playing the the ocean, but this time it was creepy because things kept hitting our legs and we couldn't see what they were. Some things were the seaweed and other things we didn't know what they were. I got the willies several times. (I just cringed typing about it!) It was a busy coupla few days but well worth it! I highly recommend the coast of NC as a vacation spot!!