The Trip Home

We woke up to torrential rain for our trip home.
Now, I want to make sure you understand something.
Not only did we need to load all our supplies into our vehicles,
but we needed to load Brandon as well.
And his chair.
All while keeping them dry.

HA!

That didn't happen.

There are no pictures of this for one simple reason.
I helped hold Brandon's poncho over him while we got him in the van.
It was like I jumped into the pool with all my clothes on.
No way was I going to try to take pictures in that rain.
(BS was the other lucky holder of the poncho. :-)
Being soaking wet in the middle of winter is my faaaavorite thing.

The seat heaters in my car got turned to high.
The regular heater was blasting.
There was a lot of steam in that car, I can tell you.

So, how do we turn an otherwise miserable ride home into some fun?
We ditch the others.

I didn't have to go back to the Home to drop off Brandon,
as there were 7 other people who had to go back there,
so BS & I took the scenic route home.

First thing we did was take the beach road back to the bridge.
It's slower, but there aren't any stoplights, and the road floods regularly during hard rains.
My kind of road.
I love to drive through puddles and watch the water whoooosh up the sides of the car.
It didn't disappoint.










You may have noticed that all these pictures were taken from the driver's side of the car.
But, don't worry Mom.
BS was steering while I took the pictures.


See the right side of the road?
See how close the dunes are to the road?
There used to be houses lining the whole east side of the road.
But the Outer Banks are a moving chain of islands,
slowly migrating westward toward the mainland.
Anything along the shoreline will eventually be eaten by waves.
Many of those houses have already been destroyed.
Now, during storms, the road is not only covered by water, but also by sand.


It's quite a nuisance, really, for those people whose houses are still standing.
(Cue sarcasm.)


Damn ocean, thinking it can do whatever it wants.

As soon as we crossed the bridge to the mainland,
the rain tapered off and eventually stopped.
BS had heard me extoll the fun factor of the Currituck Ferry to Knotts Island,
so he wanted to see if we were in time to catch it back to VA.

By golly, luck was with us again - it was just pulling in.


Even though the rain had stopped, it was very misty on the water.
Lovely.





This channel marker reminded me of Neptune's trident.


And then . . .

And then . . .

What happens when there is mist and the sun is at your back?


There was no color, so I can't call it a rainbow.
Maybe a mist-bow?


I couldn't stop snapping pictures -
From the port side, starboard, upstairs, downstairs.
Wouldn't all fit in one frame, though.


It was ethereal, and it hovered in front of the boat all the way to the dock.






I can't tell you how beautiful it was.
I didn't want to get off the boat.
But, when we did, the sky cleared and it turned into a crystal clear day.
The drive up through Knotts Island was delightful.
(I'm trying real hard here not to use the same adjectives for everything. It's hard.)

(Yes Rosie, I got the car inspected.)

About this time, BS got tired of me taking pictures while I was driving.
He said I was making him nervous.
Imagine!
So we switched places.
Made him feel better.



Only one thing missing from the ferry ride this time.
No hoards of seagulls.
That's okay, there will be other opportunities with a loaf of bread.

Funny thing is, as soon as we left Knotts Island and drove up into Virginia Beach,
it clouded up again and started drizzling.
We got the day's beauty at the perfect time.
Thank you God.

Nature Lovin', Tree Huggin' Day

A couple weeks ago, I meandered down to spend my birthday weekend at my father's place on the Outer Banks. We watched VT win their football game at the Flying Fish Cafe in Kitty Hawk, which, by the way, has very good food. But when the cost of my dinner starts going beyond about $15, my plebeian self starts to get nervous. And there's nothing there under $20, so I was getting twitchity as I looked at the menu. Although, really, num num num.

The next morning, we got up early for a nature hike in the the Kitty Hawk Woods Coastal Reserve.

We had 2 young (20's, 30's?) nature guides who, I swear, should just find a room and procreate as soon as possible. They were both smart, nice, generous, articulate, knowlegeable, funny, and gorgeous. Their children would give me serious hope for the future.

The Reserve is quiet & lovely. . .

. . . so I had more fun with the macro setting on my camera.

Now, see the old dude in the shorts & short-sleeve shirt?

That same old dude did a lot of complaining later on about bug bites, despite the plethora of bug spray that was passed around amongst the hikers. I had on long pants & long sleeves. The guides had on long pants & long sleeves. I had nothing to complain about that evening.

When I drove home later that day, I decided to take a 1 block detour to check the schedule of the Currituck Sound Ferry. It runs between Currituck County in NC & Knotts Island. Click here to see a map with the route marked.

Now, I have been traveling back & forth to the Outer Banks for better than 30 years, and I never went on that ferry. Been on the Hatteras/Ocracoke ferry plenty of times, but the one close to home? Never. It operates all year long, as the residents of Knotts Island are pretty isolated. Did I ever go? Nope. How come we seldom take advantage of the fun stuff right in our backyards?

So I pulled off the main road and - SERENDIPITY!! The ferry was there getting ready to pull out. As I looked over toward it, the ferry guy waved me to come on, so I made a spur-of-the-moment, last minute, never-to-be-regretted decision to take the scenic route home.

Oh my gosh! The sky was blue, the clouds were fluffy, the breeze was cool. Oh my gosh!

The seagulls were their usual hopeful selves, and if I had planned this ahead of time, I would have brought a loaf of bread. Next time I will, because BS wants me to do this again. With him.

Pulled into Knotts Island, and since I was the last one on, I got to be the last one off. The crew kept looking over at me wondering when I was going to get back in my car. But I was going to relish this moment and milk it as long as I could.

They weren't too thrilled with me putting off leaving the boat. Oh come on guys, I have to get a picture of this giant osprey nest . . .

Knotts Island isn't really an island. It is large, bulbous land mass dangling into the Currituck Sound off a slender land bridge arising in Virginia Beach. But I guess it qualifies because someone opened up a ditch at the end of the causeway from edge to edge. So, okay, it's a fake island.

Only the northern tip of Knotts Island is in Virginia; the bulk of it is part of Currituck County, NC. It is rural, isolated, sparsely populated, and beautiful. There are 2 wineries there, and I have been told the wine they produce isn't too shabby. I wouldn't know. I don't like wine as a general rule.

And yes, I took most of these from a moving car . . . while I was driving. I like to live on the edge.

And you know what? No matter where you go, no matter how much fun you had while you were there, no matter how much you may have wanted to stay, there's something about coming home that can't be equaled.

Doesn't matter that the trip home took twice as long because of the detour. I'll do it again.