A Spring Vacation

We finally made it to the Outer Banks (OBX). Mike has been wanting to check it out for years. We thought about going over the Thanksgiving break, but I nixed that one because I was concerned about having cold, lousy weather in a place where all there really is to do, is go to the beach.

Laura, Daryl and Amanda joined us down there. We rented a 5 bedroom house in Corolla, which is at the far end of the sandbar. You'd need a 4 WD to get any further. We were oceanside, but not oceanfront, which was alright by me, since the weather was windy and not all that warm. We arrived on Saturday to weather in the mid 50's! The waves on the ocean were 5 and 6 deep, and very loud! It started to warm up by Monday, and luckily we had a couple of days that we could spend on the beach and not freeze. Our warmest day was in the mid 70's, but with the breeze, you always had to be prepared to get a chill. I was able to get a tan, however!

Amanda and I spent a day horseback riding in Frisco, which is 88 miles one way from Corolla. Laura and Emma accompanied us, but dropped us off and went to have an ice-cream. Our ride started out in the woods, and slowly meandered toward and out to the beach. It was neat to see the terrain change, and we even trodded through water that almost made it to the bottom of the stirrups. We took a short trot on the beach, then turned back to head back to the stables. Laura and Emma were going to try and catch up with us on the beach, but we didn't make it down the beach far enough.

On the way back to Corolla, we stopped for lunch in a little surfer shack, dedicated to girl surfers! The ride home seemed to take forever, and I was trying hard to stay awake. There is a strip of road that is just so long and boring; it reminded me of driving in the desert with nothing around but sand dunes. Once we finally made it home, after many last minute stops to pick up things and do some shopping, we were treated to a wonderful dinner of clams, crab legs, lobster tails, steak and chicken. Home sweet home.

We all checked out Jockey Ridge state Park - that was a cool place. The largest sand dune in America, or something like that.

A $400.00 Fish!

Daryl, Mike and Austin went deep sea fishing out of Oregon Inlet. After Daryl got the fish on the line, he let Austin finish reeling it in.

Reeling it in...took only 5 minutes after 2 hours of trolling. The swells were 12-14 feet; medicine didn't help, as they all ended up seasick. They were still green when they got home! Austin declared he would never do deep sea fishing again!

Austin baiting up.

The ocean on a calm day. The first two days we were there the waves were huge and very loud. I was actually glad we weren't right on the ocean.

The beach at Corolla Light.

The walkway to our beach. Our house was to the right of the house in the background.

The whole gang on the beach in Corolla the last day the Kelley's were there.

Currituck Light, located right across the street from where we were staying in Corolla Light.

219 (or so) steps to the top.

A view of the Lightkeeper's house from the lighthouse, but you couldn't go in it...a neat view of the sound above it.

A good view of the sound and the Whalehead Club. They were setting up for the annual Spring Fling that night, thus the tent.

Austin and Emma checking things out.

This is the walkway out to the sound side from the lighthouse grounds.

Currituck Light, OBX

We took a long walk through a marshy area on a raised walkway to peer at the sound side.