The Outer Banks

Brookie and I were very excited when my alarm went off at 3:00 Thursday morning. It was time for the long-awaited field trip to the Outer Banks. Cammie had loved her trip and Brooke was well aware of all the fun things she would get to see and do. Cammie would be missed, but she had a very detailed social calendar to fulfill this weekend while we were gone, so she would be just fine. This is a list of things the kids and parents got to do while we were gone for three days, and man was it exhausting--but lots of fun!

Day 1 - Roanoke Island Festival Park, Wright Brothers Memorial, Jockey's Ridge

Day 2 - Bodie Lighthouse, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Ocracoke Lighthouse and village via the Cape Hatteras Ferry, ferry crossing Ocracoke to Cedar Island

Day 3 - Fort Macon, NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, Inner Seas Expedition

So again, this post is a little long with the pictures, but google some of this stuff and check it out for yourself. I just loved it all and so did Brooke.

Brooke and Savannah - on the road - Thursday morning, 4:45 a.m.

The three above pictures are taken at the Wright Brothers Memorial. Brooke, me, and her buddy, Lucas.

This is taken from the top of the hill at the Wright Brothers Memorial, looking out into the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

The Elizabeth II. The design of this ship closely parallels one of the seven ships that came over when Sir Walter Raleigh sailed over from England to establish a colony in 1587 at Roanoke. It wasn't meant to be....not on the first try or the second. To this day, researchers and historians only have very vague clues as to what could have happened to the colony, thus the name The Lost Colony. This was about twenty years or so before Jamestown was established.

Brooke and Savannah - inside the museum at Roanoke Festival Park.

Jockey's Ridge. This has got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. Winds were whipping in at about 30 miles per hour - nothing compared to what we would experience on Saturday. Anyway, Jockey's Ridge is the largest sand dune on the East Coast.

Looking up Jockey's Ridge. Good workout, I might add, climbing up that thing. Exactly what we needed after sitting so long on a charter bus.

Fun, fun, fun!!

Bodie Lighthouse. It is pronounced like 'body'. I promise. I've always heard it the other way, but Rangers and all the people down there say 'Body Lighthouse.' Doesn't sound right, does it?

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. My favorite. The Ranger did an outstanding presentation for us. Of course, we got to see where it used to be located as well. Amazing history. Over a million bricks used to build this. Largest lighthouse in the United States and largest brick lighthouse in the world. Only Japan has a larger lighthouse and it was just built so they could boast. No history whatsoever.

Ferry ride to Ocracoke, or Okey-Dokey as we sleep deprived adults called it.

Ocracoke Lighthouse and charming little village to go along with it.

Brookie loves aquariums and so Pine Knolls Aquarium was her favorite part of the trip. We got to see the divers go down into the shark tank for a while.

We took no pictures at Fort Macon because it was raining. But here, Brooke is fishing on our Inner Seas Expedition. She didn't pull one in, but she caught one and lost it. It pulled off the bait and the hook. On this little trip, which I dearly loved, we passed Carrot Island where the wild horses roam, but we didn't see any. We saw lots of dolphins. At first, I didn't even know if we'd get to go because the wind was roaring. It seemed dangerous to me, but the captains were just fine with the conditions. I asked one of them about the wind, and he said, "Ah, this is nothing. We've been out in worse than this. It's only 38-40 mph." Alrighty, then. Whatever you say.

Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a picture of the Sea Jewel. Mr. Buffett (Jimmy, that is) invited me on for a drink, but I had things to do and people to see. It would have been perfect timing. After all, it was 5:00 somewhere!!