The Outer Banks

Two days, four lighthouses, and 197 pictures later, we are back from our wonderful weekend in The Outer Banks! We had such a great time we were not ready to come back. I will attempt to organized all the pictures as best I can, but if anyone wants to have a picture to print or put on the computer please let me know and I'd be happy to email it. Also make sure you click on the pics if you want to see them bigger. Will probably make them small since we will have so many. Will try to put the more memorable ones up on their own...maybe. :) We did so much in two days I'm going to try and break it up as much as possible. :) Be ready for a long post!

Saturday started out early as Lorelei now seems to think she should get up at 5:30! I had to get up at this time anyway to get to the big Mothers of Multiples sale. It was not as good as some of the others have been but did get a few things and snagged a Bumbo chair for Mirinda since they go like hot cakes! Then we started heading south at 10 am.

We got to our first lighthouse right around lunch, so put good use to our picnic basket and ate a lunch we had packed. Lorelei enjoyed being able to camp out in the back of the car. Then we headed to see the Currituck light house. This is the only one left unpainted, as they were each supposed to look different so that men at sea could tell where they were. It is 162 ft high and has 214 steps to the top. We had to get the experience, so climbed to the top...this was petrifying for me, as I realized my fear of heights must be getting worse! Not to mention the fact that the stairs had holes in them! I think it was also worse because I was carrying up a 24ish lb baby! We also took up two children so their mom didn't have to go with them. They are with me in the picture at the top. Brad took the pictures as I could only step out enough to let him get out there! This also starts the large amount of pictures with Lorelei holding the camera case! (Didn't use the picture this time, but it will be coming up) This was the only thing that kept her happy for many a picture, so you may as well just consider it a second grandchild and embrace the camera case!




Next we headed down to the Bodie light house. I should go ahead and also mention that Lorelei was AMAZINGLY behaved for this trip. She was content to just watch dvds in the car till her hearts content. This made the trip so much better for all of us. We actually went past the light house on the way there. The brush was hiding it from us, but I think we should have been paying better attention. When we finally found it, we were able to walk around the grounds, but this one was not open for people to climb up. This light house is 156 ft tall and folklore says the island got its name because of the many bodies that were found around it, washed up from shipwrecks (hence the need for the light houses!) There was also a nice little boardwalk leading to an observation deck. We took advantage of a chance to get Lorelei some much needed exercise, but of course she ended up being carried part of the time...upside down to keep her from throwing a fit. :)




Two down, one to go...or so we thought. ;) We headed to Buxton to spend the night before visiting our next lighthouse. We had time to eat some hot cheesy pizza and feed the girl who had mostly just eaten goldfish (her own choice of course) and then headed to the beach. We went around sunset, fully clothed and as usual, ended up soaked. We still had to try a quick dip in the pool though. Brad and Lorelei played for a bit before we called it a night.

In the morning we were again awakened at 5:30 am! Well with all of that time to kill we started thinking...it can't be that far to the next light house can it? :) The lady at the hotel encouraged us to see it if we had time. Brad was overly excited about the trip on the ferry of all things! I should also mention the OCD in me wanted to get the 5th light house on our ornament (we get those each trip we take) but found it on the map and it was WAY too far. :) We settled for getting four of the five, although apparently there are seven NC light houses total. ANYWAY...we enjoyed a trip on a ferry to visit the Ocracoke lighthouse. This was a quaint little island town, which we saw a decent amount of, since finding the little lighthouse was a challenge. On the way back to the ferry we decided to stop at one of the many beaches along the highway. It had some great sand for building sandcastles. We had a nice visit with a couple and their black lab (one guess as to why were were talking to them?...) on the ferry ride back as well. :) Then we had a fun lunch before heading back to Buxton, for the final and most exciting (for me) light house!




Cape Hatteras lighthouse is America's tallest lighthouse at 198 ft high. It is also the worlds tallest brick lighthouse. There are 257 steps to the top. I was very excited to see this one! I have actually seen the shortest lighthouse, which is on the Oregon coast, so I figured I better see the tallest as well. I was also very nervous because the whole reason we were going THIS weekend is because it closes (so people cannot climb it) next weekend until the spring. Well I was nervous because I just got done climbing one yesterday that nearly gave me a heart attack! At first I chickened out and decided not to go, but then gave myself a pep talk (after all 175,000 tourists visit each year to climb it, yes I have facts printed out to tell me this info) and decided I better go up it or would regret it! Lorelei and Brad stayed in the car (way past nap time) while I went up (you are not allowed to carry children up...). It was not even half as scary as the first I went up! Not sure if it's because I wasn't carrying a baby, or there were not holes in the stairs... I made it up no problem and saw some great views. Very glad I did it!





We were finally headed home and planned to stop in Rodanthe for ice cream, just to say we had been there. Well first of all we couldn't find anywhere that had ice cream, and then we saw a sign for a fishing pier. I had been hoping to get some pictures at a pier somewhere along the way, so figured we better go while we had the chance and knew where one was! It turned out to be a GREAT stop. That has probably been our favorite beach we have seen. And of course Lorelei is a beach baby so wanted to get her as much beach time as possible as well. We had a great time and would highly recommend this stop!




After our last beach stop, we officially headed home. We only stopped for supper at McDonald's and then a wonderful little produce stand in Currituck (also highly recommended) before making it home. It was an amazing weekend and we were not ready to get back to real life! We are so thankful we can make a trip like that so close to home.

Again apologize that everything is in movies...will be happy to email or send other pics if you want. Also will be posting on facebook...someday. :)