The Outer Banks

Atlantic Ocean Sunrise

We stayed in a hotel in Kill Devil Hills, NC.  The hotel was directly on the beach. When we woke up we saw the sun rise from the Atlantic, then the fog came in. Here is a picture from our patio.


The houses built along the ocean are wonderful.  Three to four stories tall, with decks built on the roof, painted lovely pastel colors with lots of gingerbread decorations.  Every house has a plaque with a cute name.

We started our drive down the Outer Banks across a long causeway, through towns called Rodanthe, Waves, Avon, Frisco, Buxton, and Hatteras Inlet.


Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

 There is a free ferry that runs every hour in the winter to the island of Ocracoke.  We got in line 3 times and each time we were the last of the line that did not get on the ferry.  On the 3rd try, we decided maybe we were not supposed to ride it today. By then a heavy rain had started, so we decided to drive back up the Outer Banks and home through Chesapeake, Norfolk and Hampton.  We went through a tunnel that goes under a shipping channel called the "Hampton Roads".  It is the historic name for the five-mile wide, last ten miles or so of the James River before it empties into Chesapeake Bay.

While traveling, we used the GPS and set it so that it would show the whole area, and it shows us traveling out on the Atlantic Ocean.  It was awesome. 

Missing the ferry gave us a chance to check out the lighthouse (between rainstorms) and also a candy company featured on the Food Network called The Scotch Bonnet.  We left with pumpkin pie fudge, fire and ice fudge (mint with a touch of jalapeno) and peanut butter fudge coated dog treats for the four legged kids.