I didn't take hundred of photos like I am prone to do, but I did take quite a few more than I shared with you this past week. So let me pull out some leftovers that you might enjoy and officially wrap up OBX 2021. Thanks for joining us this week through Postcards From The Road!
We are safely back home after our week-long adventure with The Cousins on the Outer Banks. Up before the sun, we pulled out of the campground and headed north on Highway 12 this morning. When Miss Anne made the lefthand turn onto Highway 64, we settled in for the long ride home. Once we hit the four lane past the Alligator River, we scooted around Rob and Trisha, gave them a wave, and enjoyed the next seven hours . . . breakfast on the road, sharing driving duties, listening to the radio, and enjoying the sunshine. There were periods of quiet where our thoughts drifted back to a fabulous week. I didn't take hundred of photos like I am prone to do, but I did take quite a few more than I shared with you this past week. So let me pull out some leftovers that you might enjoy and officially wrap up OBX 2021. Thanks for joining us this week through Postcards From The Road! What a grand day to be on Hatteras Island! The sun was out, the dreary clouds were gone, and the wind was blowing less today. We packed for the beach and Rob's Taxi Service picked us up a little after 9. We picked our spot on the beach, backed the truck in, and pulled out all our gear for three hours of seashell hunting, people watching, and reading. The beach was packed today, but you would think we had the place all to ourselves from these photos. The wind started to pick up around lunch time, so we packed up and headed back to the campground. Bec made us some bologna sandwiches and they hit the spot while we watched a bit of the soap, lol. We read most of the afternoon until it was time to grab some fresh seafood for supper at our favorite Buxton Seafood. Rob fired up the Blackstone and we cooked tuna, shrimp, crab cakes, and smashed potatoes. The Ritchie Restaurant holds its own with the big boys down here! Our after-supper plans included a ride up to the Scotch Bonnet Marina to check out their fudge, stickers, and caps. We scored on all three! Then we headed back up to the Cape Hatteras Light to get on the ramp to drive the inner road and beach. To our delight, we spotted lots of deer grazing very close to the road in the campground. We got lots of photos because they simply were not fazed by us. On the beach we came across a long line of horses and riders out for an evening beach ride. Before calling it a night, we treated ourselves to ice cream at Happy Belly. There's no sunset to share with you this evening because a little line of showers is coming through.
Thanks so much for stopping by to pick up your Thursday OBX Postcard. Tomorrow I predict will be a close repeat of today. Nite nite from Hatteras Sands! Good evening Postcard friends! A quick apology for not having a Card for you last evening, but my IBS flared up and I pretty much spent all of Tuesday in bed. No worries though, everything is back to digestive normal today. We still had rain moving through off and on all last night, so we woke to clouds, wind, and flooded roads thanks to the final tropical storm bands. Becky and I came up with a plan for our day and by 10:00 we were on the road to Buxton. First stop was Cape Hatteras Light Station. Bernie and the notorious RBG got their photo taken in front of the light, we updated our Passport stamp, and got to see the names of all the light keepers carved in the huge granite stones that were the base of the lighthouse before it was moved to its present location. We were able to snag a table on the porch and while that sounded like a good idea at the time, it didn't take long to realize how windy it would be. Plus, we were sitting right under the speaker and heard some very loud Sirius XM classic rock and we were right on Highway 12 with all its traffic. But our food came quickly, the price was definitely right, and Becky's shrimp and my clam strips were a hit! Next on the agenda was one of our favorite places to shop . . . Buxton Village Books. Bec found a James Patterson half-priced paperback and I picked up several bookmarks to use in my art journal.
Riding on the beach is one of my most favorite activities. There are nesting areas for turtles in several places and the beach is closed. so we just get on the inner road through the dunes and are able to travel all the way to the lighthouse from Frisco. Rob and Trisha had surf and turf for supper while Becky and I enjoyed Pop's part 2. Sunset over our canal was another pretty one. Thanks so much for dropping by this evening to pick up your Wednesday OBX Postcard. Nite nite from the coast . . . I'll see ya tomorrow. We had storms from TS Claudette rumble through the campground at dawn and our morning was very blustery and cloudy. We knew there would be no trip to the beach for us today, but we covered our OBX bases by doing everything else we enjoy down here. Texts back and forth between the cousins soon laid out a plan of hitting the shops down at the ferry. We always see great stuff there . . . stickers, flip flops, t-shirts, Yetis, etc. I came away with a couple t-shirts as well as two stickers for a future art journal page. Next, we headed up to Buxton for gas, groceries, and possible lunch at Buxton Munch. Rob filled up the truck, we found everything we needed at Conner's Supermarket, but struck out at the Munch because they were only doing takeout. Back at The Lemon Drop, Becky and I made salad plates and watched Y&R. Since the clouds moved out, we decided to sit on our porch and read. The sun eventually got too hot, so I headed inside to read, but that quickly turned into a delicious nap! We knew we wanted to cook some fresh seafood for supper, so we headed out to our favorite markets, but not until we went back up to Buxton did we find anything that suited us all. Rob cranked up the Blackstone and prepared a seafood feast of red snapper, crab cakes, scallops, shrimp, and tuna! Eating outside at the picnic table proved to be quite the challenge with the wind, but everything was delicious. And to top it off, we had key lime pie for dessert. A pretty sunset from our porch rounded out our day. It would have been nice to spend time on the beach, but we are easily entertained and no trouble filling up our day. Fingers crossed, we will have toes in the sand tomorrow. Nite nite from the coast!
Today's trip to the Outer Banks was one for the record books! The driving-in-horrible-weather-conditions record book. We knew we would be caught in the tropical storm rains coming up from the Gulf, but we didn't have any idea we would be driving in torrential rain hour after hour! We watched cars hydroplaning, cars sending up walls of water ten feet in the air, cars creeping along at 30 mph with flashers going, cars tempting fate and speeding past us. It was quite unnerving! This trip would normally take us a little over 7 hours, but today, it stretched into the eight and a half hour mark! Rob and Trisha left at five this morning to avoid the bad weather and that plan worked perfectly for them. We didn't leave until 8:00 because we couldn't check into our cabin before 4:00. That's what got us in trouble. But to make a long weather story short, we arrived safely, got checked into our cabin, unpacked the truck, and caught our breath. Rob threw some burgers on his new electric Blackstone grill and we all sat outside beside the canal, enjoying supper together. Thanks for all your well wishes today as we were traveling and reporting our predicament on Facebook. And thanks for dropping by to pick up your Postcard this evening. Nite nite from the Outer Banks!
It's Holler Time once again! Murphy's Oliver #357 (Mollie) was retrieved from storage by Dennis & his big blue tractor back in early April. Since then, our site #86 has been cleaned up, Gigi the Golf Cart is back in her "house", the deck is shipshape, the Blue Ridge Rally has come and gone, Miss Anne is parked next door, and it's camping season in the Holler number 4! When April rolls around, I think to myself, "I have 7 whole months of heaven in my Blue Ridge to enjoy", but the time flies by. My plan is to spend as many days and nights here as possible this season. Today, I'll bundle up Gracie and Phoebe and head for the hills. Last week I left Gracie at home and apparently she cried so much, she was hoarse. Taking her out of her 6th Street security scares her because she is blind in one eye and very close to losing her vision totally in the other eye. So she'll need some babying to get in and out of Mollie and on and off the deck this week. Phoebe continues to be an anxious, nervous traveler, so I'm hoping that Gracie will be a calming influence on her today. Now getting them both to sleep in the other twin bed and not with me will be another hurdle all together, lol. Each season I take stock of what needs to stay in the Holler and what needs to come home. I think of it as ever-shifting camping decor. My BRR Peeps also gift me with raccoon happies and other things to make life in site #86 just plain fun. Next door in site #84 is the lovely Miss Anne, Rob and Trisha's trailer. It's so cool to have them next door within shouting, visiting, and dining distance. Rob has a new outdoor arrangement this summer for cooking and eating and we have a new path that links our campsites together. Thanks so much for dropping by for an impromptu Postcard from The Holler where life is laidback and lovely.
We have some fine Blue Ridge photographers here with us this week and they are capturing the very best of the High Country. Props to Kerry Hutton, Dave Ahrens, D'Nise Hefner, Mark Stoffan, and Judi George for these fabulous snapshots! Enjoy.
I'm going to start out with the last photo I took today, because our day was as glorious as this sunset over the Holler. It was the kind of morning that I love. The morning when I can sleep as long as I want to (8:15 today), ease into my day with coffee accompanied by something special for breakfast (a croissant with blueberry jam from Elaine and Bill), and blissful peace and quiet. After I accomplished all of that, it was time to scoot up the hill and say goodbye to Geo and Liz who were pulling out today. We tried our best to get Liz to stay though, lol. I scooted around the campground going left and right across the road to get in quick visits with friends before we all struck out for our day. Lilly showed me her new onesie and Baby Coco stood still long enough for me to capture her photo too. We've got some pretty special pups in our Blue Ridge Family. A little before 11, the first wave of Blue Ridgers headed out to West Jefferson for lunch at the Havana Cafe. A second wave that included me and Becky, headed in the same direction about an hour later. Dave recommended this place to us, so we were eager to try it. Boy oh boy was it good! I'm looking forward to eating there some more over the summer. After lunch we found ice cream and antique shops as we strolled around West Jefferson . . . a pretty sweet combination. Back in the Holler we began looking forward to our G & T Happy Hour @ The Bluebird. Translation: our 5:00 happy hour featuring gin and tonic at Katie's T@B where we chose from 9 different bottles of gin, a wide variety of tonic water, fruit and sprigs of rosemary, and nibbles. It was supper for most of us, lol. With Geo and Liz's departure, we moved our campfire from their house down the hill to Deb's house. And that's how our day ended. Now it's clear to see why our day was a glorious as the sunset.
Thanks for stopping by to pick up your Thursday Postcard. Please come back tomorrow evening so I can tell you all about our trip down the New River. Nite nite from the Holler, where we "have so much fun it should be illegal". I could go on and on about what a beautiful day it was in the High Country, but instead, I want to share some slideshows with you from the VA Creeper Trail. 15 Blue Ridge Peeps (and some extra tag-a-longs) traveled to Bicycle Junction in Damascus, VA. Becky and I decided we wanted to take a little road trip, but not bike. So we acted as the official photographers and support staff for our buddies. Check in and bicycle rental was a breeze and at 10:30 sharp, the van left for Whitetop. I was able to round up almost everyone for an official Whitetop photo before they headed down the 17-mile trail. Becky, Miriam, and I scooted down the road to Green Cove Station where we sat and waited for the peddlers to arrive. After the last person passed us, we hopped in the car to head to Damascus. While on SR 600, we came upon the Green Cove Collective where we stopped for a candy bar and drink. It was the coolest store right on the trail and it's too bad that everyone rode right past it. We made our way back down to Damascus and made a quick stop at the Damascus Outfitters before meeting everyone back at the bike shop. Our plans were to have lunch at the Wicked Chicken across the highway, but sadly they were closed. Becky and I headed on back to the campground, snacking on some trail mix to tide us over to supper.
What a glorious day to ride the Creeper Trail, travel through the mountains of NC and VA, and be with our friends. Nite nite from the Holler! |
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