North Carolina July 2005: Beach & Roanoke Island

Part 1 : The Beach & Roanoke Island
Part 2 : Kitty Hawk, NC Aquarium, & Points West
Part 3 : Washington

I made the map myself, using a base from the USGS. It's not much but it gives you an idea of how far we went and the basic route.

July 16

We loaded the car and left home at around 11 AM on Saturday. It took us longer than expected to get out of town, what with snack-buying, cash-procuring, and nose-wiping to get done. (Charlotte had come down with a runny nose the day before -- what timing!)

We had a pretty uneventful drive, the first day. Charlotte had a dose of baby Dimetapp, so she slept most of the way. We stopped for the night in Perryville, MD. Much to my disappointment, the outlet mall our motel overlooked was not open when we left the next morning. (Chris was pleased!)

Driving down to northern MD, Charlotte chats with Grandma

July 17

Another driving day -- not much to remark on. We had some funny moments trying to find a mall with a bookstore along I-95. Doesn't sound so hard, does it? At one point we turned around in the parking lot of an abandoned mall in Landover. Only the Sears was open. It was a sad sight and what the Rhode Island mall could have been if Wal-Mart hadn't shown up.

We ended up stopping in Springfield, VA to get the new Harry Potter book on CD. That kept us entertained for almost the entire vacation!

We arrived on the Outer Banks late Sunday afternoon, after a sometimes frustrating driving day. We got stuck in traffic around Williamsburg VA, and then had to outrun a huge thunderstorm in Norfolk.

Our hotel was right on the beach, and it was so nice to be able to walk right out the door to go swimming. We walked on the beach Sunday evening in the moonlight, it was lovely and still hot.

July 18

Our seventh wedding anniversary, how better to spend it than on the beach?

Charlotte adores the beach

Running in the waves

Building a sand fort with Daddy

Feeding Goldfish to the gulls

We drove down to Hatteras Island in the afternoon. It was a lovely drive through the sand dunes. After lunch at an Australian restaurant, (where Chris was disappointed they were out of kangaroo burgers-- heh!) we bought a kite at one of the omnipresent Kitty Hawk Kites shops. Charlotte has always enjoyed watching them and we thought it would be nice to have one of our own.

"Helping" fly the kite

Daddy, kite and Charlotte

After kite flying, we drove down to Buxton to visit the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It's the lighthouse you usually see on postcards, ornamental plates, etc. It was moved a few years ago to escape coastal erosion. We discovered that Charlotte would not be allowed inside, so Chris did the climb by himself, and baby and I took a stroll around the grounds, counting grasshoppers.

The stairs inside the lighthouse, looking down

Don't know what this is, I'll have to ask Chris!

View from the top

Other side

Me and Charlotte on the lawn (Can you spot us?)

Greatly zoomed-in!

Mama and baby in front of the lighthouse

View of the light from the old site (you can see the path they dragged it down)

July 19

We were so happy that our friends Carly and Shannon were able to visit us on our vacation. They live close enough to make it a day trip! Carly was such an amazing hostess on the famous Baltimore trip. I hoped to be able to at least show her and Shannon a good time. If only it hadn't been so hot. The girls were kind of wilting!

Charlotte swinging over some fresh mulch. Mulch is her favorite thing to play with. Gardeners beware!

Charlotte and Shannon hanging out together. I wish I'd gotten some better pictures, but the necessity of sun hats & constant hydration by sippy cups made it hard!

After lunch at the playground, we spent the rest of the afternoon at our hotel's pool. Charlotte and Shannon were amusing themselves going through our bags and pushing patio furniture around, almost more fun than swimming.

July 20

In the morning, we introduced Charlotte to the wonders of mini-golf at "Jurassic Putt." What a hoot. It would fit right in next to Pirate's Cove in Bar Harbor. (Except without sound effects -- rats-- some dinosaur roaring would have been funny!)

Charlotte is not such a golfer, but she did sort of get the idea of hitting the ball with the club.

Rawr!

Contemplating her next shot

Hugging the dinosaur bye-bye (she does the same thing with our car!)

The Elizabethan Gardens were one of my favorite stops on our vacation. They were gorgeous and Charlotte loved it. She is a big fan of anything green, flowering, or crawly. Again.... if only it hadn't been so muggy. Chris and Charlotte were both very sticky. I do better in the humidity than they do, but not by much.

(We know, we were asking for it by going south in July. Turns out that the weather was almost identical in Boston, so we would've been hot either way!)