A lighthouse and a VERY near disaster - Nov. 11th continued & Nov. 12th

On our way back from ferry we made one last stop for the day at the -



That's Cape Hatteras Light Station in case you can't make it out.  It's one of three lighthouses on the cape. The most interesting fact about this 'little' lighthouse, to us anyway, is that it was actually physically moved from one location to the another, a total of 2900 feet!  It was a mass operation, quite literally, but in 1999 they successfully moved it to its new safer location farther away from the ocean.  In the little museum, housed in the former keepers quarters I believe, we got to watch the news footage of it and it really was quite impressive!

Inside the visitor center we got up close and personal with an Osprey, obviously a stuffed one at this point, but it used to be alive.  We'd seen Ospreys fly high above us plenty of times, particularly in the Tetons, but this was the first time we could really take a good close look at one.  It has a wing span of five feet!



As for the lighthouse itself, it was pretty cool as well.  We couldn't climb up since it was closed for the season but we could go inside and take a look.  It was, well, an inside of a lighthouse.  Having climbed up one in Maine we were ok with not climbing up this one since at 200 feet it's a strenuous climb up 248 iron spiral stairs!



In the aforementioned little museum (seen below) we learned all about the roll the area and these lighthouses played during the Civil War as well as both world wars.  There are many many shipwrecks off these coasts thanks to major storms, shifting sands (both submerged and otherwise) AND German submarines (the U-boats) that sank many ships.  Some shipwrecks are actually buried by the beach and when sands shift, which they do quite frequently here, they are uncovered for a brief moment in time until sands shift again....Pretty neat.

Cape Hatteras is a National seashore and does have its own Jr. Ranger program but for the first time during our trip we had to pass it up.  Unlike other locations (such as Boston and Minuteman National Historic Site) they would not give us the booklets and badges to be completed and handed out later.  Some national parks are more serious and strict than others apparently.....oh well.  We just didn't have the time to complete the work then and there since it was getting late and tomorrow we had to hit the road to make it to FL by the 14th.  It was my grandfather's 99th birthday and getting to FL late was just not an option.

The other thing we learned at the Cape's visitor center was that a high tide was a-comin'.  Apparently, if we wanted to get off the Outer Banks (OB) tomorrow we had better start early...there's no telling when the roads will become impassible due to shifting sands and rising water.  Most roads would be ok we were told, there was just one area we needed to worry about in particular.  FYI, along the narrower sections of the OB roads one can routinely see snow plows parked.  Pretty odd.  They don't plow snow of course it's sand they're busy with!  Like I mentioned before, sands here shift very very frequently and the roads constantly need to be cleared.

Bottom line with all this was that we headed back home and got ourselves and the RV all set to leave first thing in the morning so we could get the h*** out of Dodge!

And so began our attempt to leave the Outer Banks.....

This was the first 'puddle' we met with once we hit the road.  We had been on the road for a grand total of 10 minutes.....

OK, not so bad, cars seem to be going through easily.  No danger to us or the RV here.  We kept going.....

Though it's not clear from the picture, things were starting to get a little more precarious....traveling in the middle of the road was the safest option for all.  The water was coming up through the sand very quickly....

Things began to get a little murkier.....

We stopped in the middle of the road so S could get out and assess the situation.

He stopped a driver coming from the opposite direction and inquired about the road conditions up ahead.

Yes, we were blocking traffic.  No, we had no other choice.  Going into this kind of situation without some information is not a good idea.  We had to make a decision a regarding whether to proceed or to turn around and go back.  Not that turning around and going back at this point was going to be easy, or even possible. There were a few problems with turning around:  1. The road is narrow and given we're close to 60 feet long we can't just turn on a dime.  2.  There were now several RVs and many cars behind us.  We couldn't just back up and find a place to turn around.  The other RVs btw were also trying to make some serious choices regarding the situation.  3.  We needed to be in FL in 2 days and I wasn't ready to give it up quite yet.

After consulting half the traffic, including several of the RVers, we decided to proceed.  Even though the road was beginning to look like this....

As we drove through, it only got worse....

Notice how close that water is to the bottom of the RV.....

It's a river.  An absolute river!

But, once we got through it we passed the location the rangers back at the visitors center warned us about so we were pretty happy.

Then, we saw this:

Apparently there was another spot we were supposed to worry about...The whole thing was very reminiscent of 'Lost'....The island wasn't going to let us go......

That poor fellow up there was not getting his car out in one piece.

Uh oh! BIG time UH OH!!  Not only was there GUSHING water to contend with, but now cars were getting stuck in the newly shifted sand ON the road!

And this is part of why:

The rising tide had actually taken out part of the dune that separates the road from the ocean!  Not only was the water rising through the sand now but it was gushing freely onto the road directly from the ocean, bringing all the sand along with it!

Soooooooooo NOT good.

S being the quick thinker that he is didn't stop to ponder this time.  He gunned it and plowed through at high speed without hesitation.  It's a good thing the camera was around my neck cause he didn't even have a chance to warn us!  My upper body was halfway hanging out the window taking picture after picture and I went flying, thankfully into the car and into my seat with the camera fully attached.  So, unfortunately no pictures of the actual parting of the Red Sea, but we did come out fully intact on the other side!  What was the greatest danger here?  Not being dragged out to sea of course, but getting stuck in the wet sand was going to be an extremely serious problem, especially with rising waters.  Water and cars, let alone RVs, don't mix.  Salt water is even worse.  To say the least.

It could have been really really REALLY bad.  But, it wasn't.  The water did not make it to the RV floor, let alone the truck's.  Yes, it did splash.  A lot.  But that's why we did this -

just as soon as we got onto the mainland about 20 minutes later.  I use 'we' quite loosely obviously.

Thankfully NC has nice travel/visitor centers fully equipped with RV services such as dumping and fresh water stations.

Once the RV and truck got a thorough wash down we were finally able to really hit the road!  We were officially on our way to Florida and we would be making it on time for Grampa's 99th birthday!

Hallelujah!

Colonial Williamsburg, November 7th, 2010 continued.....

Yes, I'm going backwards now just to add to your confusion!  I can't believe it, but I seem to have skipped this part of our day back on November 7th and jumped ahead straight to the Wright Brothers in NC.  I had it all set to publish at the time but I guess I forgot to do it!  Apologies apologies.....So here it is:

Jamestown wasn't the only thing we did on the 7th.  We managed to fill the day to capacity since, like I said before, and I'm starting to sound like a broken record, we were on a tight schedule....

Once we wrapped up Jamestown, Virginia colony's first capital, we took the short yet pretty drive over to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia's second capital.  The official move took place in 1699 for a couple of reasons. First of all, a fire destroyed the Jamestown Statehouse for the third time.  Second, Williamsburg was a much more pleasant location to live in apparently, primarily due to its distance from the brackish water that brought along with it plenty of mosquitoes and disease.

In case you don't know, and this was news to me, one can wander around Colonial Williamsburg without paying a dime!  You can wander the streets, gaze at the buildings, talk to the characters, and generally just feel the vibe.  If you want to go into the buildings, well, that'll cost you a pretty penny.  Especially if you're 5 people...



Given the lateish hour and our desire to basically see it, soak it in a bit and get out, we did not hand over that big chunk of change.

Wandering the streets was perfect!  What first caught our eye was the local grocer, if you will, with his own little, or not so little, vegetable garden.  We were absolutely drooling at this sight...isn't it beautiful?!



We managed to pet the horses and chat with their driver (driver?)



Try on some period headwear,



Lead the bad guys to jail (and enjoy that gorgeous tree!),



And take the obligatory pictures.....





Then we chatted up some British soldiers.



All in about an hour and a half.  It was plenty and everyone was satisfied.

Then, just because we hadn't done enough that day, we decided to take this in:



From here,



A free ferry ride across the James River!  Why on earth not?!



Of course we had to take the ferry back again, which no one objected to.  We also scored a great view of historic Jamestowne from the ferry.  It gave us an entirely different perspective on it both visually and historically.



I'm happy to report that the ferry ride was indeed our final activity of the day.  Tomorrow we'd be crossing into

Wright Brothers, here we come!

Back to North Carolina and its outer banks..... Nov. 11th, 2010

Going back to North Carolina now....I know I keep going back and forth between past and present, but that's just the way it goes.  It's important to me to make sure I get it all in on the blog even if it was ages ago, that way it's all on record.  Sorry 'bout any confusion.

North Carolina didn't only include the Wright Brothers. No, no, it involved some other sightseeing adventures as well and an almost disastrous RVing experience to boot!  But you'll have to wait for the next entry to get those details....

Since all public campgrounds on the outer banks were closed by the time we got there in November, our only option was a RV park.  OK, so at least it had beach access.  That usually means the beach is an easy couple minute stroll from the park.  Great!  We were looking forward to utilizing that beach as we were so wiped out from sightseeing each and every day for the past 2 weeks.

So, as soon as we got settled in our site we headed for the water.  As you can tell it wasn't exactly swimming weather but we wanted to play nonetheless and Labra of course would enjoy the water no matter what the temperature was.



So over the small ridge we go fully expecting to meet the water on the other side.  Unfortunately, this is what we saw,



A sheer 20 foot drop to the actual beach.  Oops!  It seems the last hurricane took out the direct access in this location....funny, no one mentioned that on the phone when we made the reservation....

But, us being us, determined and unrelenting that is, we found a way to get down there.  You try telling 3 kids and dog, sorry guys, no water for you today.  Oh, and tomorrow too.



Our calm approach quickly turned into wild get all wet and frozen kind of play....



Though not everyone desired to get soaking wet and freeze their cookies off,



Don't think he didn't get wet, he did.  Just not as entirely as the other two.  They just can't resist water, just like the dog.....

By the end of all that play a nice warm shower and some bundling up in front of not one, but two, heaters were a must.  Good thing we had electricity.



As the weather wasn't conducive to being beach bums, we had to find some indoor activities to keep us amused.  We looked up various museums on the Outer Banks and settled on the Aquarium for starters.  It was a cute little place, with an emphasis on little.  Little as it was though, the kids enjoyed it.

One of the highlights was watching the shark tank being cleaned by divers and actually interacting with one through the glass.  He came over and showed the kids a shark tooth he came across.  They were absolutely delighted!



Being a small aquarium with very few visitors during our visit the kids got to choose which short film they were interested in watching in the little theater and got the touch tank all to themselves.



We finished off the visit by strolling along the grounds of the aquarium and taking in the beautiful sunset on the water,



Oh, and by riding sea turtles...



The next day some new adventures beckoned though we started with a quick makeshift game of soccer,



We had read about a cool Graveyard Museum down on one of the southern islands and we decided to head there.  Graveyard as in shipwrecks and such of course.  Very cool!  What began though as great excitement quickly transformed into great disappointment when we got there and found the museum closed.  For no apparent reason too!  No sign no nothing when it was supposed to be open according to their website and all the signage.  Many boo hoos later we decided to make the best of it and ride the free ferry further down the outer banks AND go see the ponies.  Yes, the fabled outer banks wild horses.  I'll go into what they are in a bit but first, the ferry!

This was our second free just for fun ferry ride on this trip.  Talk about a different and exciting activity for the kids, they loved it!  I must admit it is pretty cool just hanging out on a boat in your car.  A little boring at times, but it's nice not to have to move at all sometimes :-).



Friends were also made on that ferry ride, friends that Analyzer still keeps in touch with today.  These girls, though local, were also taking the ferry for sheer entertainment so I guess we're not that strange after all...

All the kids enjoyed catching the view from the deck, running up and down



from the deck to the little indoor waiting area upstairs where they hung out as well.



Watching the gulls and pelicans follow the ferry closely was a cool thing to watch.



Actually, they were really following the nearby fishing boat.  The fishermen throw some of their catch into the water to get the flying predetors away from them for a little while.



And finally, the ponies.  Formally known as The Ocracoke Ponies.  Ocracoke is the island these ponies are found on, one of the most southern islands of the outer banks.  I have to say, the experience was a little disappointing.  Basically what you see is this -



Not much in the way of ponies except those far off in the distance.....not to mention they're not exactly running free....

These Banker Ponies are descendants of the Spanish Mustangs that somehow ended up here on the Islands on their own, i.e., without their Spanish conquistador humans.  How?  Well, that's where myth and legend take over.  Could they have been shipwrecked?  Like most animals brought over they swam ashore, did they just swim off on their own?  No one knows for sure.  But what we do know is that they're here and we all love a good mystery.  Today, these horses are kept in various locations on the islands for their own protection. Though penned up they are still considered wild in the sense that they are not 'used' by humans.  Even when they did have a working relationship with the natives they roamed free to care for themselves. Today they also wear no shoes and continue to demonstrate some of their genetic wild instincts such as gathering together in a group for safety and socialization.  OK, not sure if I'm totally convinced about how wild they actually are, but it's a decent argument.  I think and hope that the horses one may be able to see up at the northern end of the outer banks, the Corolla herd, are more impressive.  It seems they really do run free along the beaches.  Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to check those out.

After a very quick and slightly disappointing visit to the horses, we headed back to the ferry and to our next stop, the Cape Hatteras light house.  The tallest traditional light house in the world!