Life's a Trip: Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Outer Banks, NC

Our next stop was in Nags Head, North Carolina. I can't believe that we had never been to the Outer Banks before! I guess when you grow up in Florida and have beaches all around, it doesn't make much sense to drive to NC to go to the beach...

Well, we were missing out! The shore there is beautiful and totally different from Florida beaches. I love them all :)!

Anyway, we only had a day and a half to spend there before we had to be back on the road heading to Florida. There was so much we wanted to see and do, but we had to narrow it down to just a few.

First on the list was a visit to Cape Hatteras National Seashore. We were up bright and early the first morning, we didn't want to waste a minute of our day! We timed it just about right, we arrived at the visitor center about 10 minutes before they opened. That gave us just enough time to check out the lighthouse that sits nearby...

This lighthouse is the first of three that are on the Nat'l Seashore and it sits on an island named Bodie Island. We learned in the VC that the pronunciation is "Body", like a person's body, and it used to be spelled that way. The spelling has been changed to "Bodie", but the pronunciation is still body. Very interesting...the Outer Banks and their treacherous waters are known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" because of all the shipwrecks, I wonder if the name of the island is related to that sad fact...

The kids picked up their Jr. Ranger books at the Bodie Lighthouse and were able work on them as we drove towards our next stop. It worked out perfectly, there wasn't really anything to see along the drive (the tall dunes blocked out the view of the water) and having the books to work on gave them something fun to do. They had pretty much finished the books by the time we arrived at the second lighthouse and vc...the Cape Hatteras Light.

We walked the short path to the lighthouse and then on to the museum. It was a small museum, but very interesting. As we were looking around, the kids had some really good conversations with the Ranger and he filled them in with some great details that you just can't get from an exhibit. When we were done, the same Ranger went over the kids books with them and awarded them their badges. Fun :)!

We wanted one more look at the lighthouse before leaving, so the kids all took off running across the open field when we left the museum. I took this picture....

...just seconds before Ty (with help from a brother, ahem) fell and planted himself smack dab in the middle of a patch of sand spurs. Ouch :(! Poor guy, both of his hands and his knees (through his jeans!) were full of the stickers. I pulled them out as quickly as I could and he handled it like a champ, but man...I know it hurt!!!

After a stop by the restrooms to wash Tyler's hands, we were on our way to see the third and final lighthouse. This one is on an island only accessible by ferry...we have ridden on a ferry before, but it was more like a water taxi that you just ride. We had never been on one that you drive your vehicle onto (and yes, I was NERVOUS)! It turned out to be super easy...there were half a dozen guys directing cars from the minute we pulled into the lot until I had my car situated onboard the boat, ready to go. Phew!

still smiling...even with hands and knees full of prickles

"traffic" :)

And just where did the boat take us?....OCRACOKE ISLAND!!!! I have wanted to go to this island for many, many years...ever since I saw a documentary about the Gullah people. Simply beautiful...