The Beach – 2016 – In Photos – Part 2

After arriving at the beach, the girls couldn’t get enough time in the sand.

We checked out surfers that were having more luck than we anticipated in the waves right outside our door: 160524 252

We dug for buried treasure after finding a map in a bottle:

160524 302160524 314160524 318160524 322160524 333160524 346Gold! 
160524 361

A midday trip to the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk, with a picnic lunch: 160524 374 160524 381

DCIM100GOPROGOPR9813.

Back at the beach in the afternoon, my dad and his wife visited and we were tasked with burying the girls in the sand.  I am told that when I first visited this beach, I wanted nothing to do with being buried in the sand until Natasha went first; then I wanted to be buried too.  The same held true for Lula and Mae:  Lula was eager, Mae apprehensive, but after Mae confirmed Lula’s approval (see the grin below), she couldn’t resist:
160524 421 160524 428 160524 430 160524 432

Evening on the beach, as the sun set behind the house: 160524 496

Shell hunting in pajamas: 160524 501 160524 503 160524 506 160524 513

An evening drone flight over the beach: 
DCIM100MEDIADJI_0089.JPG DCIM100MEDIADJI_0096.JPG DCIM100MEDIADJI_0108.JPG

The next day, we started out early, to get a jump on the long lines for the ferry to Ocracoke Island.  It turns out we didn’t have to wait too terribly long and fortunately, the weather was perfect, so the wait wasn’t an issue.  

160525 028 Pink Bear accompanied us to the island: 160525 043

Kind of cool to see our present location on the iPhone map as over the water: 160525 064

DCIM100GOPROGOPR9826.

The rumors of abundant seashells on Ocracoke Island proved true: 160525 019

We may have been a little overcautious with the sunscreen on Mae, but better safe than sorry. 160525 080

Standing on a beach on a sunny, 80-degree day with no other people as far as the eye can see in either direction was pretty incredible.  160525 130

160525 020 160525 138The little specs on the beach are us; the blue car parked on the side of the road is ours.  
DCIM100MEDIADJI_0023.JPG

An overhead view, looking south from our location.  DCIM100MEDIADJI_0034.JPG DCIM100MEDIADJI_0056.JPG DCIM100MEDIADJI_0087.JPG

We drove south a bit after leaving the beach while briefly considering trekking up the Ocracoke Island lighthouse, but by the time we got there, both girls were completely conked out.  After an exhausting day at the beach, we didn’t have it in us to wake them.  I hustled in for our National Parks Passport cancellation and we made tracks back north.

The wait for the ferry was again relatively brief, as compared to peak times of the day.  We are about 12 or 13 cars back in this line: DCIM100MEDIADJI_0107.JPG DCIM100MEDIADJI_0119.JPG

Back at the beach the next morning, we were greeted by another unexpected sight: dolphins just off the coast! 160528 007 160528 020

And lots of flocks of birds, streaming north: 160528 033 160528 046

Before leaving the beach cottage, we discovered an old pirate flag on the porch that had to be flown before we could depart: 160528 060 160528 085

After leaving the beach, we drove west through North Carolina.  As great as the beach was, some trees (and their shade!) were welcome sights.  Umstead State Park was our midday stop, on the way to Asheville.
160528 095 160528 104

Comments are closed.