North Carolina Lighthouse Trip Recap

Monday, June 7, 2021

(Just a word of caution.  You need to get something cold to drink and sit back and relax.  This is a long post!  Enjoy!)

We left the house a few minutes after 7 a.m.  The weather was a cloudy 72 degrees, but that changed pretty quickly, temperature wise.  We had clouds most of the day which gave a reprieve from the sun beating down on us constantly, but we still got sunburned.

Our goal was not to climb the lighthouses.  I just wanted pictures of them up close and personal!  Our main reason for the trip was the trip itself.....a new place to take the bike.....and the ride.

Tying down the waterproof luggage.

Ready to go!

Cloudy beginnings

Still cloud-covered at 10.

Love to see our flag waving in the breeze!

We tried to make several stops along the way.  Our bum and bones get stiff sitting for long periods straddling the bike.  Our plan was to see the Currituck and Bodie lighthouses today.  And, of course, we try to stay away from the major interstates due to the beating we take following other vehicles, and especially semi-trucks and their turbulence!  Mark added the restrictions to the GPS of "no highways" and "no tolls."  There is also another option to avoid, "no ferry."  We knew we were going to have to take a ferry to one or another of the lower lighthouses, so we left that alone.

We traveled 518 miles our first day.  The GPS took us up into the bottom portion of Virginia and then back down into North Carolina when we got closer to the coast.  Here is the map of our travels.  The blue line going across the top is the route to the lighthouses.  The red line going back into North Carolina is where we spent the nights at the Road Trip Motel in Plymouth, NC.  Appropriately named, don't you think?

I think if you click on the image you will be taken to a screen with a larger view of the map.

And now for the pictures along the way and of the lighthouses we visited today.

We crossed the Albemarle Chesapeake Canal around 1:25

Currituck Sound

Water, water everywhere!

Someone said, "That's the skinniest lighthouse I've ever seen!"

Lovely shade!

There it is!  We have arrived on the property of Currituck Beach Lighthouse at 2:45.

From Currituck, we back-tracked and headed to the Bodie Island Lighthouse.  (Did you know it is pronounced like body?)

Getting ready to cross the Roanoke Sound

Roanoke Sound

Bodie Island Lighthouse

We arrived at the lighthouse at 5:15.

National Park workers

By the time we got to the motel, we were beat!  We walked a couple of doors from the motel to the Golden Skillet restaurant.  I got chicken and I believe Mark got seafood, or maybe catfish.

The paneling in our room was dark.  And there weren't any flowers!  The beds were plenty comfortable, but not home.  The amenities were sparse, but we were only there to sleep.  We were in bed EARLY and slept about 12 hours!

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

We got up, got ready and left the motel by 9:30.  We stopped for gas and got breakfast at McDonald's before heading down the road and back to the coast.  The motel was an hour or more away.  It was the cheapest and closest place and sort of centrally located to the lighthouses.   And at $49 a night, we got our money's worth, even though it would have been nicer to have been closer to the coast!  At least US 64 is a straight shot!

Breakfast at Mickey D's

More clouds.  I cannot tolerate the heat, so I am always grateful for the clouds while on the bike!

You can see our sunburns from yesterday.  Mark's sunburn stopped at his gloves!

Here's the map of our travels for the day.

We traveled 297 miles.  We passed the Bodie Island Lighthouse again since it is at the entrance to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the "nation's tallest and most recognizable lighthouse, and is commonly referred to as "America's Lighthouse.""

From Hatteras, we took a free ferry to Ocracoke Island to visit the Ocracoke Lighthouse.  The white-washed lighthouse is the nation's second-oldest still-active facility.  "The village is steeped in history, only accessible by water or air and was once a safe haven for the infamous pirate Blackbeard."

Pictures from the day's trip.

Not sure if this is Scuppernong River or Alligator River along US 64

It is hard to see but there are turtles resting on that log in the center of the picture.

Another turtle.  I'm not sure if there is a name associated with the water running along US 64, which is kind of swampy in some areas.

Getting ready to cross Croatan Sound to Roanoke Island.

Do you see the seagull?

Water, water everywhere!

Crossing the Roanoke Sound to get to NC HWY 12.

Entering Nags Head on NC HWY 12.

Bodie Island Lighthouse in the distance.

Crossing the Oregon Inlet

Pea Island sand dunes.

Getting closer!

Wind surfing.....looks like it would be fun!

First view of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Wildlife on Lighthouse Road

A sight to behold!

We arrived at 12:30.  Felt good to be able to walk around for a bit.

This amphitheater seating is dedicated to the lighthouse keepers.

We couldn't have climbed the 248 steps if we wanted to!

The trip to the Ocracoke Ferry didn't take very long at all.  And we didn't have a very long wait, either!  It was a one hour trip which began just after 1:30.  We passed three other ferries in the water.  They run every 15 minutes.

It was fun watching the seagulls dive into the water behind the ferry as the rutters churned up the water and fish!

We were loaded onto the ferry last and squeezed into a small spot behind the cars.

This was a busy sandbar!

A closer view.

Here's a video of all of the activity and noise!

Not sure what this structure is or was!

We got more sunburn on the ferry ride!  Especially Mark's head that is usually covered.

First ferry we passed.  Look at that camper on there!

The seagulls got pretty close, hovering right above us.

Jet skiers

This was a boat at a good distance from us that I zoomed in on.

Pelicans are hard to capture pictures of for me.  I love when they are flying in groups of 3 or more.  They look so pre-historic to me!

Second ferry we passed.

Third ferry we passed.

We had an audience as we pulled into dock.

Seagull bath time!

We arrived at the Ocracoke Lighthouse at 3:00.

There was only 15 minute parking at this lighthouse.  I guess they figure that is all the time you need to get pictures and see what you can see.  Here's some history of the Ocracoke lighthouse.

We caught the 3:30 ferry back to Cape Hatteras.  We hadn't eaten since breakfast and we were starving!  So, we stopped at the first place that interested us.  Quarter Deck Classic Seafood Restaurant it was!

We got there at 4:45 and they opened for dinner at 5:00.  By the time we got back to the motel it was after 8 p.m.  It was early to bed again!

Originally, we thought we could do all 7 lighthouses in 2 days, but it was just too much.  I don't know how you did them all in one day, Jeanne!  WHEW!!

I'll finish out our Tuesday with a couple of sunset pictures from the drive back to the motel.

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

First things first.....my second child, Michael, turned 40 on this day!  He was very jaundiced when he was born, so the hospital insisted he stay there when I was sent home!  That was the hardest week of my life!  It was AWFUL leaving my newborn in the hospital!  Sure, we went back and forth everyday, but I've always wondered if this broke the normal bonding process between he and I.  He was the only child that didn't run to mommy when he was hurt or sad.  He didn't want to sit on my lap.  I used to think he didn't like me, but I really wonder if the extended hospital stay broke that mother/baby bonding process.  Now, that is not to say he doesn't love me.  I know he loves me.  He is just different when it comes to showing affection.  But, you can believe I put up a fuss when it came time to go home with Elisabeth even though she was jaundiced.  I said I wasn't leaving without her.  Fortunately, she was able to come home as long as I promised to put these special sunglasses on her and give her some sun in just her diaper and her sunglasses!  Nathanael was a different story.  He was jaundiced enough that he couldn't go home, so I stayed in the hospital until he could!  Jessica was a bit jaundiced, too, but there was never any talk of her not being able to go home.

I had phone problems while we were gone.  I couldn't get it to charge, so I had to turn it off for awhile.  But, I was able to use a little bit of charge to send Michael happy birthday wishes!

We drove 565 miles today, and that includes the trip home after the lighthouses we visited (322 to the lighthouses and 243 from the lighthouses to home).  We left the hotel at 10, stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and began the trip to Cape Lookout Lighthouse on Harker's Island around 10:20 with an ETA of 1:10 with straight travel through.  The car ferry to the lighthouse was closed because the lighthouse is being repaired due to constructural problems.

From there, we followed the coast down to the Oak Island Lighthouse on Caswell Beach.  From Caswell Beach, we looked across to Bald Head Island to see Old Baldy Lighthouse.  The ferry to go across to the island was quite expensive, so I was satisfied to zoom in and get a picture.  It was getting late and we had decided to travel on home from here.

Here's is the map from the hotel down to the lighthouses on the agenda for the day.

We took a 15 minute ferry ride across the Neuse River at Minnesott Beach.

More water churning up the fish for the seagulls.

Videos of the seagulls.

Fighter jets (?) flying over the ferry, slightly higher than the seagulls, however.

Our welcoming committee!

Cape Lookout Lighthouse

We reached Harker's Island ferry at 1:15.  However, the car ferry was not running.

It was so windy that we had a hard time holding still enough for this zoomed-in shot.

While we ate crackers under a picnic shelter, this seagull tried to get close and personal, until.....

At 1:45 we were headed to Oak Island and Old Baldy Lighthouses.  On our way through Morehead City, we stopped at DQ for a late lunch at 3:00.

We passed a lot of logging trucks and lots of them had small logs like these, not large logs.

Our first look at Oak Island Lighthouse.

It was 6:45 by the time we got to the lighthouse.  We left at 7:15 to head for home.

We took this boardwalk over to the beach to get some pictures of Old Baldy Lighthouse.

And, as much as we hated the thought, it was time to head for home!  By the time we got to 74, we were watching thunderstorm clouds roll across our path!

We started seeing lightning, so we found a place to pull off and we put on our rain jackets.  Fortunately, thank the Lord, it did the hard raining before we reached that spot in the road!  Thank You, Lord!  We weren't in any rain that was very hard!

We arrived home at 11:42 p.m.  Our total miles for the trip ..... 1,380.2 miles.  Half of the time we were gone was spent on the bike!  I think we will rest our bums for a time!

Thank You, Lord, for the safe travels and good trip!

In other news around home.....

We took the bike to get the dirt and salt water washed off of it.

The garden did well while we were gone.  The cucumber plant really grew, as did the baby butternut squash.  We have little peppers on the plants and the husky cherry tomatoes are the size, basically, of a regular tomato and have started turning color.  And, I have been able to pick some snap peas twice.  Mark and I sampled them raw.  They are pretty pea-pickin' good!  😉

First picking

Second picking

And, I found out that one of the girls I work with on the scrap-booking site, O'Scraps, lives in a town near me.  So we met for lunch on Monday and quickly became friends!  

And, last but not least, here are a few scrapbook pages I have done of our bike trip.  I have lots more to make!  I had about 2,000 pictures to go through when we got home because I use the camera on a mode that does a burst of 5 pictures at a time.  I weeded the pictures down to 416, so that is just over 20% of what I began with!

And, here's a few more I've done this week.

OK, that is it for me today!  Believe it or not, this is the only thing I worked on today!  WHEW!  I'm glad that's over with!  Hope you enjoyed the bike trip with us through the pictures!

Until next time!