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Our Outer Banks Vacation – Manteo and Jeanette’s Pier

[NOTE: I uploaded this blog post late afternoon on October 6 but backdated the published date to September 27, the date of the day’s activities detailed in this post.]

Bob and I slept in this morning, not getting up until 7:15 am.

I came downstairs in my pajamas, made a cup of tea and sat in the living room with Bob, Maggie, Sam and Shawn, Denise, Terry, and Nancy. We chatted about a wide variety of subjects to include shopping for clothes, other hurricanes/tornadoes that we have been present for, photography, Apple phones and Apple TV, travel, musical instruments, and the number of computers, phones, tablets, and Kindles that we each have. Each household has lots of devices!

Today’s breakfast included biscuits, sausage gravy, strawberries, and eggs.

Maria was a Category 1 hurricane as it moved northward in the Atlantic, but it weakened to a tropical storm on Tuesday. I heard that some parts of the Outer Banks were reporting power outages (we didn’t lose our power here in Corolla). According to The Weather Channel, Hurricane Maria had strengthened overnight and had regained its Category 1 status. Maria is still moving away from us, so that is good. There is a tropical storm warning still in effect. It is still quite windy; the ocean is still rough.

While contemplating whether or not it would be sensible to go on a sightseeing venture, given today’s weather, I snapped some pictures inside our beach house.

Remember Wrigley?
I introduced him a couple blog posts ago.
Wrigley is Eric’s English bulldog.

Sandy captured a couple pictures on my camera of me, playing with Wrigley.

Wrigley wanted his belly rubbed.

Wrigley and me

Denise and Wrigley

This is Maggie.
She just came inside from looking at the ocean waves.

Denise and Nic on our sand dune stairs, looking out to sea

the lovely Brenda

Deciding to brave the storm Jim, Sandy, Bob and I left in our car at 11:30 am en route Manteo. Arriving in Manteo an hour later, we found parking at the Roanoke Island Festival Park. We walked across the Cora Mae Daniels Basnight Bridge and along the waterside boardwalk to the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse. The wind was blowing so hard, while we were walking along the boardwalk, had I had wings I could fly. Sandy and I extended our arms and pretended to fly.

If you are not able to view the embedded video, please click here for direct link.

Our flying didn’t last long. I flew into a park bench and crashed to the ground. Other than a scratch on my elbow, I wasn’t hurt.

Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse
This small lighthouse jets out 40 yards into the Roanoke Sound.

Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse

Manteo Weather Tower
We were under a tropical storm warning, so I believe that is what the flag on top is signaling.

At the base of the weather tower is a sign indicating a high water mark.
The water would have almost covered Sandy’s head.

Look out Jim! Sandy appears enamored by this handsome pirate.

Before leaving Manteo, Sandy and I decided that we wanted our pictures taken sitting in a huge Adirondack chair. It wasn’t difficult climbing into the chair; getting out of the chair was a different story!

If you are not able to view the embedded video, please click here for a direct link.

Jim helped Sandy out of the chair; Bob helped me.

We ate lunch at Big Al’s Soda Fountain & Grill. According to its website, Big Al’s was born after the original owner visited the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta. Big Al’s is a fun 50’s theme restaurant, complete with music and memorabilia.

Big Al’s Soda Fountain

Coca-Cola Vending Machine

Coca-Cola Memorabilia

We enjoyed looking at the Coca-Cola memorabilia. The food, ice cream shakes and Sandy’s root beer float were enjoyable as well.

After lunch, at 2:30 pm, we drove to Jeanette’s Pier in Nags Head.

What an experience we had at Jeanette’s Pier. As we walked toward the pier, blowing sand hit us hard. We ended up with sand in our hair, in our mouth, in our ears and in our nose. On the pier big, big waves were crashing into the pier and there was a consistent very strong wind. It took some work to stand upright and walk!

Sandy at Jeanette’s Pier

This is the only pelican that I photographed, while on vacation.

Jim and Sandy at Jeanette’s Pier

Big, big waves crashed into the pier many, many times.

Here is a video of one of the waves crashing into the pier.

If you are not able to view the embedded video, please click here for the direct link to the video.

From Jeanette’s Pier we returned to Flights of Fantasy (our vacation beach house), arriving there around 4:30 pm.

Before the evening meal Sandy, Denise and I enjoyed time in the hot tub. When we came in, dinner was almost ready. It is Mexican night. Food selections include Spanish Rice, Chicken Enchiladas, make-your-own fajitas, and tortilla chips.

I went to bed shortly before 10:00 pm, lulled to sleep by the sound of game playing in the dining room underneath our bedroom.

Jim’s account of the day may be found by clicking here.

Our Outer Banks 2013 Vacation: Day 6

On our last full day at the Outer Banks (Friday, September 20th), Bob and I drove to Buxton to see the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Counting the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, we saw a 5 lighthouses during our week at the Outer Banks.

Have you read the book or seen the movie “Nights in Rodanthe“? If so, you will recognize this inn as the one that had a starring role in the movie.

“Nights in Rodanthe” house

After the movie was filmed, coastal storms, erosion and repetitive ocean over wash caused the inn to become precariously close to falling into the ocean. New owners bought the house and moved it to higher ground in Rodanthe. The new owners restored the inn to appear as it did in the movie. Tourists to the area can rent portions of the Inn at Rodanthe and stay in the specific rooms that were used in the filming.

Throughout our stay at the Outer Banks, I enjoyed watching surfers at South Nags Head beach. I took pictures from the comfort of our ocean-front deck; however, I was too far away to get good pictures. On our last day at the Outer Banks, though, I walked out to the beach and took pictures from there. Finally, I captured some photographs worth sharing.

Surfer at South Nags Head Beach

We drove home from the Outer Banks on Saturday, September 21. We made the trip all in one day. Thus concludes our Outer Banks 2013 Vacation. I hope that you have enjoyed reading about our vacation and seeing all the pictures.

Our Outer Banks 2013 Vacation: Day 5

Bob and I visited two lighthouses on Thursday, September 19th. Before sharing photographs from our visit to the lighthouses, though, I have to share these two sunrise pictures.

Sunrise South Nags Head Beach

What a gorgeous sunrise we had that morning. I had never personally witnessed such a beautiful sunrise!

The first lighthouse we visited was Bodie Island Lighthouse. This lighthouse was located only 2 miles from the beach house at which we were staying. In fact we could see the lighthouse from the south side of our ocean-front deck.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

We hadn’t seen Bodie Island Lighthouse since 2007. Scaffolding covered the lighthouse during our Outer Banks vacation last year. The lighthouse looks brand new.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

A new-to-us boardwalk (the boardwalk was laid in 2009) provides great views of the lighthouse.

Bob and I at overlook at end of boardwalk

Bodie Island Lighthouse and Boardwalk

The second lighthouse that we visited was Currituck Lighthouse. This lighthouse is located north of Nags Head, about an hour’s drive from where we were staying.

Currituck Beach Lighthouse

After “lunch”, which was a peanut buster parfait at Dairy Queen, we stopped at Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head. The park contains the tallest natural sand dune system in the Eastern United States.

A boardwalk is located near the parking lot. Interpretive displays along the boardwalk offer information about the plants and animals in the area.

We walked to the end of the boardwalk, where we found a deck with a bench with a great view of the dunes. From the deck there were steps that led to the sand. Bob climbed the sand dune to Jockey’s Ridge, where he enjoyed a wonderful view of the surrounding area.

Bob walking to Jockey’s Ridge

Bob took this picture of the view from atop Jockey’s Ridge.

Bob took this picture on his way back to the boardwalk.
See the deck in the distance?

I opened this blog post with two gorgeous sunrise pictures. Not to be outdone, the moon put on a spectacular show in the evening!

Full Moon Shining on Ocean Waters

Our Outer Banks 2013 Vacation: Day 1

Our first full day at the Outer Banks was on Sunday, September 15. It was a lazy Sunday spent reading, eating and relaxing with our friends. We did get a little exercise, though. In the afternoon Bob and I went for a walk on South Nags Head beach.

We enjoyed walking close to the water’s edge, allowing the waves to cover our feet. The water felt very refreshing.

There are always fishermen on the beach.

One fisherman proudly held up a puppy drum fish that he had caught.

We saw a young father building a sand tractor.

We walked on the beach as far as the houses nearest to the ocean waters in the second photograph displayed above.

The houses located nearest the ocean waters are condemned. We walked out to these houses last year, during our vacation in the Outer Banks.

Falling Down Beach House

It surprised me that the houses still stand. Compare the picture of this house with the picture of the same house taken last year.

Outer Bank Vacation 2012

Do you see how the house has leaned back so much that it has lost its stilts in the back of the house?

Our Outer Banks 2013 Vacation: Getting There

Our Outer Banks vacation got started at 12:15 pm on Friday, September 13. Bob came home from work at noon. Fifteen minutes later we were on our way to pick up Pam, who accompanied us to the Outer Banks this year. Our friend, Denise, who coordinated the plans for our week stay in the Outer Banks, graduated high school with Pam. Pam and Denise were best friends in high school. They lost touch after high school and found each other recently on Facebook. Bob and I had not met Pam until we picked her up for our drive to the Outer Banks. I had been corresponding with Pam, though, on Facebook.

It was a good travel day. Traffic wasn’t bad. What traffic there was kept moving. The steady conversation among Pam, Bob and I made the 6+-hour drive go by more quickly than otherwise.

We spent the night at the Best Western Fredericksburg in Fredericksburg, Virginia. We arrived at the hotel around 7:15 PM. Bob and I stayed at this hotel last year, on our way to the Outer Banks. It is a very nice hotel, and we had no qualms about staying there again. This year, however, we requested two rooms that were not in “pet alley”. The Best Western Fredericksburg allows pets. Last year we were accommodated in a room in “pet alley”. Although we enjoyed a quiet night’s rest last year, we were awakened the next morning around 5:30 AM by barking dog(s).

We checked into our rooms and ate dinner at Shoney’s Restaurant, which was located on the hotel grounds. We returned to the hotel at 8:30 PM and spent the rest of the evening in our respective rooms.

Neither Bob nor I got much sleep from 2:15 AM and on. Both of us experienced irritable bowels. We thought perhaps it was something that we ate at Shoney’s that didn’t agree with us, although everything tasted good. When we met Pam for breakfast, we learned that she experienced an irritable bowel during the night as well. The common food all three of us ate was Tilapia, so we blame the fish for our distress.

We ate breakfast at the hotel. As always, Best Western’s complimentary breakfasts are good and filling. We checked out of the hotel after breakfast and were on the road en route Nags Head, NC by 8:30 AM. We made one photo stop along the way, in Tappahannock, VA.

Tappahannock, VA
Essex County Courthouse and Civil War Monument

Motorcyclists were gathering for a poker run, when we arrived in Tappahannock.

All proceeds from the poker run would be donated to Special Olympics, according to one motorcyclist to whom I inquired what was going on.

We arrived at A Whale’s Head Inn around 3:30 PM. Denise arrived about an hour after we did. Accompanying Denise were the other five people who would be vacationing with us for the week. Denise’s two adult children and a friend arrived a little later. The three young people spent one night with us.

Bob and I went for a walk on the beach that evening, as the sun was setting.

I loved seeing the moon shining high above South Nags Head Beach!

The sun had almost slipped below the horizon when we returned from our walk on the beach. This photograph of the setting sun was taken through the stilts of our beach house.

Our Outer Banks 2013 Vacation: A Whale’s Head Inn

Bob and I vacationed in the Outer Banks for a week, from September 14 through September 21. We spent time with our friends, went for walks on the beach, toured a garden, saw five lighthouses, and read and relaxed.

Our vacation home for the week was A Whale’s Head Inn, a luxurious and spacious oceanfront beach house.

Our vacation home was spacious for the 8 of us who spent the week together at the beach house! We vacationed in the Outer Banks last year. We stayed at A Whale’s Head Inn last year as well. The following photographs were taken in September 2012.

Our oceanfront king bedroom was located on the upper level. You can see our doorway to the upper level exterior deck at the left side of the house.

View of our beach house from our private boardwalk, which led to South Nags Head Beach

Beautiful, isn’t it?

Stay tuned! I will be sharing photographs from our week-long stay at the Outer Banks in several posts to come.

Our Outer Banks Vacation: The Final Post

I have written that 14 of us vacationed together in the Outer Banks. Here are the 14 of us.

The majority of those with whom we shared the beach house are from Pennsylvania (Warren, Sheffield and Kane). Two couples are from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Ten of those with whom we shared the beach house are related. Bob and I and another couple are friends of those who are related. We had a great time in the Outer Banks and hope to vacation there again next year.