April 19 – 20, 2016
This is the path we took to the Outer Banks and back to our RV Resort. John and Charlotte Sharpe made this one of their suggested locations to visit. If you click on the map, it will move and you can enlarge the map. This is our first attempt at adding a map. Let us know what you think. Thanks.
What a trip we had. We left Little Washington at 8:00 AM and arrived in Nags Head at 10:15 AM. We drove north to Kitty Hawk to the Outer Banks Visitor Center.
Had to cross a lot of bridges over the Alligator River, Croatan Sound and the Pamlico Sound.
From Kitty Hawk, we went south to Kill Devil Hills to the Wright Brothers National Memorial.
The first powered flight was December 17, 1903 with Orville Wright. He went 120 feet and airborne for 12 seconds. There were 4 flights that day and the brothers took turns. Wilbur flew the farthest at 852 feet and stayed in the air 59 seconds.
The brothers owned a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio and were very successful. Wilbur was the older brother and died in 1912. Orville lived until 1948.
Orville is pictured here holding his hat in 1928 as the first monument was placed to celebrate the global importance of the birth of flight. The woman on the right in the photo is Amelia Earhart. 
From Kill Devil Hills, we headed south to Nags Head Pier.
Lunch at Capt.Andy’s Oceanfront Bar & Grill at the Pier House Restaurant. Not our favorite, but the view was fantastic.
This guy was loving the ocean.
This is how they carry their fishing poles in North Carolina.
Then we drove south to Bodie Island Lighthouse. It is 165 feet tall. It was completed in 1872 and had a signal distance of 19 nautical miles. The first one, built in 1847 began to lean within the first 2 years and by 1859 had to be abandoned. The second one was built in 1859, but the Confederate troops blew it up during the Civil War in 1861 so that the Union troops could not use it. 
This current lighthouse was built north of the Oregon Inlet on 15 acres. 
This shows the keeper’s quarters duplex.
This lighthouse was built just like the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, but painted differently. We did not go as far north as Currituck.
Now we cross the Oregon Inlet. This is the channel that connects the Pamlico Sound to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the northern most ocean access on the Outer Banks
The sand dunes were so high you could not see the ocean on the drive south on Hwy 12. This is all part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Notice Buxton on the map? Remember that, it will come up later. Now we are on our way to Hatteras.
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was completed in 1870. It is 198 feet tall and is the world’s second tallest brick lighthouse and the tallest in North America. The signal distance is 19 nautical miles. In 1999, it was relocated 2,900 feet to rescue it from erosion.
It is more impressive in person. It is very beautiful.
The building on the left is the Double Keeper’s Quarters and the building on the right was for the main keeper and his family.
By now it is 4:00 PM and we are as far south as we can go by car. So we found a nice place to spend the night.
The Breakwater Inn. The woman who checked us in suggested we get some fresh seafood from Risky Business next door.
The Breakwater Restaurant is not open yet for the season, but below it, on the marina side, it a fresh seafood market. So we headed to Risky Business Seafood Market and purchased some fresh shrimp, which she steamed for us.
We sat on our little balcony and enjoyed our shrimp.
Our view from our balcony.
Notice the dark cloud on the horizon? Well, that is actually a forest fire. If you go back up to the top of this blog and look at the Google Map. Find Stumpy Point, that is where the wild fire is located. It has burned 500 acres so far and it is still not out.
The birds follow the boats. We think the boats stir up the fish and birds can get to them easily.
It is just too pretty not to share. We sat there until it was too dark to see anything.
Wednesday April 20, 2016
Off to Ocracoke, NC The only way to get there is by boat. Pam Turner suggested this island.
We took the ferry. It was free from Hatteras to Ocracoke. 60 minutes.
This ferry runs every hour between Hatteras and Ocracoke.
Here we are getting off the ferry. It is 13 miles from this ferry port to the Village of Ocracoke.
Welcome to Ocracoke. Looking at this on the map, we probably would not have come if Pam Turner had not told us to go. It is a beautiful island.
The Ocracoke Island Lighthouse was built in 1823. It is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse in North Carolina. It is only 65 feet tall and has a signal distance of 14 nautical miles.
just a cool tree.
Cool house next door.
Now it is off to lunch.
Ocracoke Oyster Company. They advertised baked oysters.
These dogs belong to a couple inside on the deck. They are here on their sailboat and they bring the 3 dogs with them. Even our waiter was impressed.
Our waiter lives on the island of Ocracoke. We asked him “How do you get groceries, etc.” He said, you have to take the ferry to Hatteras and drive to Buxton, where they have a WalMart and other large stores. He also said he is an Amazon Prime member and can have his toilet paper and other supplies shipped to him on the island. Remember earlier, I asked you to remember Buxton? Well, go back up to the map and see how far it is for this young man to go to the grocery store. Talk about planning. You would have to be very disciplined to live on an island.
I had the Oysters Rockefeller. Very good, but Apalachicola still has them beat in my book.
The village harbor. The village wraps around this harbor.
Nice house.
You can see the lighthouse across the bay.
As I said earlier, there are only 3 ways on to the Island of Ocracoke by car. The ferry from Hatteras, Swan Quarter and Cedar Island. The ferry from Hatteras is 60 minutes or less. The other two ferries cost money and you need a reservation. We had a reservation for the 1:30 ferry to Swan Quarter. Cost $15.00
Our ferry has just arrived.
And look what we saw coming off the ferry.
He has a lot more guts than we do. Not sure we would do that.
Our ferry to Swan Quarter was not as crowded as the ferry from Hatteras. This ferry takes 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Leaving Ocracoke, NC.
The birds followed this boat too.
Arriving at Swan Quarter in the middle of nowhere.
This was a great trip. There was so much more to see. We will have to plan another trip so we can go to Roanoke Island, see The Lost Colony Outdoor Drama and go to Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum and eat more seafood.
This is where we ended up.
This is where they wanted to put us. Notice the distance between the large tree and the electrical post. Our 5th wheel probably would have fit, but there would have been no room for any of the slides. 
Our view of one of the lakes on the property. Not bad.
Crossing the bridge into the town of New Bern. Beautiful homes on the waterfront. This is the Neuse River. Stretching 248 miles, the Neuse River is the longest river in North Carolina; at its mouth, it is the widest river in America at 6 miles across.
Since we came on a Saturday, we made it for the Farmer’s Market.
Cliff’s new friend, the alpaca. The animal laughed.
The farmer’s market was more about the arts than produce, but it was fun to walk around. Kind of felt like we were in Chicago, everyone had a dog and/or a baby. 
Just sites around the historical downtown.
New Bern was named in honor of the founders home, Bern, Switzerland. When Bern, Switzerland was founded, it was named by a group of hunters. They named the city for the first animal they came upon on their hunting expedition. It was a bear. Bern is the old Germanic word for Bear, and the bear became the symbol of the city. It has been adopted by New Bern, as well. There are bears everywhere. This just happens to be the only one that I took a picture of.
Christ Episcopal Church founded in 1715. It is the third-oldest church in North Carolina. This is the location of the second church. The second church was built in 1821 and then rebuilt in 1871-1885.
This is the location of the first church completed in 1751.
New Bern is also the birthplace of Pepsi.
This is the only building that survived the fire, the Stable Office.
William Tryon and his family were moved to New York in 1771 and Josiah Martin was appointed royal governor for the British colony. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Josiah Martin fled in 1775 dressed as a woman.
After the Revolution, it remained the capitol and the site of the state legislature’s first meetings. Only men were allowed. President George Washington attended a ball here on his Southern Tour in 1792 and danced with 70 women. The capitol moved to Raleigh in 1794.
All the fireplace mantels came from England.
Beautiful mahogany staircase. Amazing.
Beautiful gardens. This was a wonderful tour and well worth a visit.
The North Carolina History Center has a wonderful museum of the history of this state. We could have spent hours in there. Very well put together.
Lunch at The Chelsea. The service was really bad, but the food was excellent. Cliff had the specialty Shrimp and Grits and I had the BBQ Shrimp and Grits. 
As you can tell, there was hardly anyone in the restaurant. It was almost 4:00 pm. We could hardly get waited on. Service was terrible. Hopefully, she was just having a bad day. The food was so good, it was a shame to ruin it with bad service.
View of the waterfront
Multiple bridges
We went to the museum, $5.00 each and then to see the track. Not sure I would recommend this. We can mark it off our list though.
Lunch at Takis Family Diner. I had a chicken salad sandwich that was very good. You could tell it was homemade. Cliff had the flounder, collard greens, cole slaw and field peas. It was also good. It was a popular place for lunch. A lot of pick up trucks in the parking lot.
The birthplace of 
Beautiful azaleas and wonderful people.
As we were walking around looking lost, a very nice store owner asked if we were looking for anything in particular. So we started a conversation about the prettiest town in dixie. And we met the owner of a store that is now closed. A beautiful store of Art, Antiques and home accessories. She and her husband moved here from Virginia. They purchased an historic home and opened this store. She was an art teacher for 31 years and has beautiful style in decorating. Of course, I loved the store and wanted to buy many things. Tanya was so gracious and informative. If you are even in Cheraw, please go by her store at 215 Market St. She suggested we have lunch at The River’s Edge.
Since we already had lunch, we went in for coffee and desert. This restaurant is owned by Mennonites. We wished we had waited for lunch. Even though we enjoyed our lunch in Darlington, this might have been better.
Coconut cream pie and chocolate brownie with ice cream
Of course, they were fantastic. Our waitress was Holly and had moved here from New Mexico and has been married for one year. She was the precious.
Before we left, a gentleman came over and said, “pardon me for ease-dropping, but how far is it from Nashville to Jackson?”. Random? So we told him. He and a friend were out for a motorcycle ride from Rockingham, NC. Then as I stepped out to the sidewalk, 2 couples were standing there and asked “Did I hear you say you went to Darlington? Why would you go to Darlington?” I said we went for the racetrack. “Well, we are from Darlington and just wondering why anyone would go there.” They were very nice and we talked for at least 15 minutes. They suggested we take Hwy.9 back to Dillon. The 2 men were raised in Clio, SC and we would go right through it.
1919, brick Neo-classical
c.1850 A Greek Revival cottage that has been moved back from its original site near the street.
c.1837
prior to 1856. The earliest records are dated 1856, but the site had at least 2 owners prior to that date. 
c.1823 The Lafayette House was built by Dr. William Ellerbe, and was the site of a public reception for Gen. Lafayette on his visit in 1825. Dr. Archibald Malloy remodeled the house after his marriage to Henrietta Coit in 1843.
And this is the house Tanya and her husband purchased when they moved to Cheraw. I would bet the inside is as pretty as her store.
Our drive back to Dillon on Hwy.9.
Another wonderful day discovering new and unusual places in this beautiful country.
This is a replica of the first USS North Carolina 1824 -1867. There was also a Confederate Ironclad North Carolina 1863-1864. An Armored Cruiser North Carolina was built and put into commission 1908-1921.
This was given by the State of North Carolina to the Armored Cruiser North Carolina. The tradition of cities and states expressing civic pride by giving presentation silver began in the late 1880’s.
This silver service was placed on the USS North Carolina Battleship BB55 until it was removed before it went to war in December 1941.
We went aboard. The USS North Carolina BB55 began construction in 1937. The North Carolina was the first American battleship to be built in 16 years. Commissioned on April 9, 1941, she was established to be the protector of aircraft carriers. She defended the carrier Enterprise against air attacks during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in 1942.
They have a plane.
One of the mess halls
How we live now and reminded us of the houseboat.
I have no comments on this photo.
We were allowed down all 4 levels.
Each ship has its own flag. The blue and white checkered flag on top means this is the USS North Carolina.
This is the wheel house. It is not normally open to the public, but there was a class of students coming aboard and most of the volunteers were there to help. Lucky day for us.
View from the wheel house and not a very safe place to be during a battle.
The bow. These are the chains for the anchors. Wow!
All the decks are teak.
The Kill Board
And the battle ribbons. By war’s end, she lost only ten men in action and had 67 wounded. She was decommissioned June 27, 1947 and placed in the Inactive Reserve Fleet in New Jersey. When the US Navy announced its intentions to scrap the ship in 1960, the citizens mounted a campaign to bring the battleship to North Carolina. The ship opened to the public in October 1961.
Cliff had Fish and Chips and it was very good. I had Shrimp and Scallop Ceviche and it was awesome. Beautiful day and wonderful lunch.
This is the back of the house.
This is the front that faces the water. It was built by a man who also started a shipyard just below this house.
A very unique draw bridge. The whole thing goes up instead of splitting the bridge in half and raising each half.
We did not get much information about these houses, but we thought they were pretty.
This is the 
The 
This is the First Baptist Church. Apparently, it is not very historic, but we thought it was beautiful.
The 
Kenen Fountain 1921
The 
Our 5th wheel is the second one on the left with the main slide only 1/3 of the way out.
Fort King George was the first fort built by the English on Georgia soil in 1721. This area was still part of South Carolina when they built the Fort.
St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church was built by former slaves. Made of Tabby (a type of concrete made by burning oyster shells to create lime, then mixing it with water, sand, ash and broken oyster shells) and restored after suffering severe damage during the hurricane of 1898. This church still has an active congregation.
The streets in this small town have these beautiful trees.
The Federal troops tried twice to burn this church. A hurricane destroyed it in 1881 and the current structure was built in 1883.
This church was built in 1949 by Agnes Harper. She was a rural grocer at the time and had limited funds. She said it was the thought that mattered, not the scope. She built a 10 x 15 foot building in the woods. She wrote the deed in the name of Jesus Christ and she invited everyone, even the critics, to worship.
Mrs. Harpet installed stained-glass windows from England and the pews had a fold-away knee rest.
During our stop, renovations were going on. Per the brochure, it has had its share of vandalism. As you can see, it just sits in the woods, off the beaten path.
Saturday was the parade and we walked through the vendor booths and had some shrimp from one of the food vendors. Antique cars began the parade.
The National Guard and some recruits.
Miss Blessing of the Fleet Queen, is the one in the back. Wimberly Stregles.
The high school band
The Shriners
Tiny Miss Blessing of the Fleet
In Georgia, they don’t ride Bulls, they ride Bull Dogs.
This little girl was having a ball. She just kept getting back on.
This guy was just waiting in the truck.
Vernon Square with all the artist around the fountain.
The downtown waterfront.
On Sunday, we were back for the Blessing. Cliff tried Ox tail. Amazing good. The glob on the top left is Mac-n-Cheese. The most cheese I have ever seen. and a side of rice.
The boats are all decorated and ready for the Blessing.
The Knights of Columbus escort the priests to the bridge.
A little blurry, but they are in the middle. Look for the Knights of Columbus hats.
The boats come in one at a time and come right up to the bridge and stop. The priest says a blessing over the boat and crew and the boat moves back and another arrives. The Master of Ceremony announces each boat by name, who the captain is and what year the boat was built.
It seems to be a party on every boat.
Miss Blessing of the Fleet was on the front of this big Shrimper.
The first thing we did when we got to St. Simons Island was to hop aboard the Saint Simons Colonial Island Tours with Captain Rod. 
The markers sit at the base of the St. Simons Lighthouse. The first Lighthouse was completed in 1810. The original lighthouse was destroyed by Confederate troops during the Civil War to prevent Union troops from using it to navigate the coast.
During the plantation period, there were 10-14 plantations on the Island (1790s – 1861).
The Avenue of the Oaks were planted in 1826 to provide an entrance to Retreat Plantation.
The pier at St. Simons Island at Pier Village.
The island is full of these beautiful trees.
High tide.
very small, you sit wherever you can find a place. Cliff had the beef brisket, amazing and I had the Friday special, Prime Rib sandwich. One of the best sandwiches I have had. Love this place. They yell out your name when your food is ready and you just raise your hand and they bring it over.
by crossing the Sidney Lanier Bridge
We were too late to get a tour of the island, the 3:00 tour was sold out. So we just grabbed a brochure and made the best of it.
They still play croquet on the front lawn in all white. There were 2 weddings planned for that evening.
This is considered the first condo built. The Vanderbilts and Rockefellers needed more room and privacy from the Club so they built this condo. Named Sans Souci.
Then they built “Cottages”
Good seafood. The cole slaw was the best I have had in a long time. The food was very good and nice service.
The tour is 90 minutes and well worth the time. So much history. 
The Grace United Methodist Church was built by Henry Flagler, founder of Standard Oil. Flagler did a lot in St. Augustine.
This is the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Augustine, 1793-1797, the oldest church in Florida. We will come back and take a tour of this church.
There is so much history here. Very cool place.
There is a pirate ship tour and drama.
Castillo de San Marcos – the oldest masonry fort in the continental US. Construction began in 1672. Amazing!!
The chapel in the fort.
View from the top.
View looking down into the fort.
End of our tour and we are back at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! This tree was built into an RV. It was very cool inside. We could not take any photos, because it was too dark. Something to see.
Next to the truck where we parked was this sign and statue. This was created from chrome car bumpers from 1950 and 1960 vehicles for the Denver Broncos’ 1987 Super Bowl appearance. They did not win. Oh well!
Our last day of shuffleboard was Friday also. It was a smaller crowd, but we had a great time.
That is Judy Cote looking at the camera and Kenny walking towards the camera.
Had to say good-bye to Henry DiCaterino. He taught me a lot about shuffleboard. We are going to miss him. His daughter is scheduled to have twins this summer, so he and Carolyn will be very busy.
Also had to say good-bye to our new friends Mary and Jim. Very tough Shuffleboard players. See you next season.
He is from Illinois. See you next season!! This picture is from the Super Bowl party.
We made it to Ocala without any issues. God was watching out for us today, and we both know it. There were severe thunderstorm watches for our area, with heavy winds and hard rains. We somehow drove through a pocket of rain, but missed all of the bad stuff.
I have a little nook to sit back and read. It is kind of cool.
Teresa, Wanda and I learned to line dance. These were our next door neighbors this winter.
We have cook outs together.
Learned how to cook new things. Invited Roger to eat too.
Our neighbors loved jello shots.
They even made some with Fire Ball, apple juice and orange jello. My favorite.
This is Rosco. I said “Rosco, look this way”, as soon as I did, he wiped his face and stared right at me.
We all have 5th wheels and black trucks. All the trucks are a different brand though.
View from the front.
Mr. & Mrs. Crane with a new baby.
We even stole each others electricity. Funny story: We were comparing electric bills for the month of February. Our bill was 57.00, but Justin and Wanda’s bill was about 125.00. We could not figure out why theirs was so high. So Cliff and I came home one night from playing cards and found Justin’s extension cord plugged into our camper. They were all outside and laughing their A__ off.
And today they left. Heading back to Michigan. We hope to see them in May and we are all planning on coming back here for the winter again next year.
They let you hold baby alligators. 
This is our crew. Front row: Cliff, me, Sandy (Wanda’s sister), Wanda, Justin. Back Row: Alan (Teresa’s brother who lived in Pulaski, TN at one time), Butch, MaryBell (Teresa’s stepfather and her mother who live 7 miles from Blueberry Hill), Teresa and Larry. The young lady taking the picture kept saying to lean it, so Cliff did.
Withlacoochee River.
This is Big Bubba behind 2 fences.
Then it was lunch at Pudgee’s just outside Floral City. My manicurist recommended this place. She claims they have the best hamburger in Central Florida.
Some of our group of 10 were a little nervous at first, but we talked them into it. And Marie was right. The hamburgers were off the chain.
They also claim to have good hot dogs too.
