8/28 - 31 - Tim and Gay, Adam and Trista, and......Earl

Together at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.



At around 10:30 or 11pm, we called Adam's Uncle Tim to let him know where we were and he estimated our arrival to his house in North Carolina sometime around 5 in the morning. We didn't want to put anyone out at that hour so, although Adam's family insisted it was alright, we pulled into a rest stop to sleep until the early morning.

We got to Tim's at 11am and he and Adam's Aunt Gay couldn't have been more hospitable. They fed us a huge breakfast right away and allowed us to recuperate by sleeping all afternoon and showering. Adam reminisced with his Aunt and Uncle. They also talked a lot about the rest of Adam's relatives and swapped updates with each other. They fed us three times while we were there and by the time we left, Trista felt that they were some of the nicest people she'd ever met, which was encouraging.


On the Okracoke Ferry. We barely made it on.

We left Tim and Gay's after a 24 hour stay for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the outer banks of North Carolina. From the southern tip at Cedar Island, which connects to the mainland, we paid the toll to ride the two hour ferry ride to Ocracoke Island. Ocracoke is only about 14 miles long and you have to take another half hour ferry ride to Cape Hatteras from there. But while on Ocracoke we both HAD to indulge in some homemade ice-cream from a mom and pop stand; these NC coast-liners LOVE their ice-cream - it's everywhere. Adam had a scoop each of butter pecan and peach, and Trista had chocolate and strawberry. All were AMAZING!!!


Homemade ice-cream that was to die for.


Aboard the Okcracoke Ferry.

As we drove our car onto the ferry from Ocracoke to Hatteras Adam realized he left the video camera on the ferry from the inner banks. We contacted them and fortunately they had recovered it and held it for us, but that little slip up cost us about two extra hours and three unnecessary ferry rides back and forth. By the time we landed on Hatteras the final time it was getting dark and we didn't get to enjoy the island.


Before Adam misplaced the camera.


Trista at sunset - after a day of riding ferries.

Hurricane Earl was also sweeping in behind us so we weren't sure if we should camp on the island, but we were finally assured that we had plenty of time before we would be in danger, so we camped at the Frisco Campground for the night. We woke up so hot, sweaty, and bug-bitten (Adam counted nine bites on himself), that we packed up three hours before check out. Plus we had limited time to enjoy the island and beat the hurricane.


Adam cooling off after packing up camp.

Cape Hatteras is a very well known and touristy ocean-side destination. It is a very narrow strip of land separated from the mainland and as you travel its length the ocean appears on both sides, not far from the road, and for long stretches. The environment is quite different from the California beaches we're both used to. Another very impressive thing about Hatteras were the amount of gigantic beach homes that towered four stories up with wooden wrap around decks out of every opening on them. Also every house was on stilts - another major difference from SoCal beaches.

The North Carolina coastline contains seven magnificent lighthouses, including the pride of the state: The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Standing 210 feet high, it is the tallest lighthouse in the United States. It had to be moved some 1,000 feet inland several years back due to erosion of the shoreline. This made headlines, of course. We did not climb the 248 steps to the top (equal to a 12-story building) because we didn't feel like spending the $14 to exercise - but we got a real good look at it from the ground. Before we visited the lighthouse and its original site on the beach we grabbed some lunch at the Diamond Shoal Grill where we shared a cup of incredible clam chowder.

Attempting to beat the evacuation traffic, we took a quick side trip to see the site of "The Lost Colony" at Roanoke Island. This was the site of the very first recorded English settlement in the New World. It is considered "lost" because the entire colony mysteriously perished. This was twenty years before the Jamestown and Plymouth settlements of Virginia gave birth to the English-speaking United States. There was a really neat theatre there where they perform a fictional/non-fictional account of the site's history. The stage reminded us of the Ramona Bowl in Hemet, CA. The set was a permanent structure built of wood and mud and the performers walked on grass, dirt, and stone, and from the production photos we saw they wore extremely elaborate costumes.

Needless to say, we left before Earl came and are perfectly safe. Off to Adam's Uncle Sonny's house now in Maryland.


"What's the happiest day of your life?"


Trista and the Atlantic Ocean. The famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse stands behind her in the distance.