Seascape Timeshare Week

SEASCAPE TIMESHARE WEEK

    We enjoyed a very pleasant week at the Outer Banks the end of August, and I wanted to share a bit of our adventures with you.  This is one of my favorite pictures, because this ice cream was soooo delicious!!  I highly recommend a new ice cream store called Holy Cow.  The owner is from Poland and is very nice.  There's a store in Nags Head and another in Duck.  All their ice cream is homemade, which makes it extra special.  My favorite is pistachio in a waffle cone -- I'd love to have one right now!!

    The first evening, we walked a block to the ocean from our condo and as we walked back, we saw an amazing, beautiful sunset that painted a whole sky full of clouds with different colors of pink, purple, red and gold.  I never cease to be impressed with God's sunset handiwork!

    While we strolled along Jeannette's long pier, we saw a woman catch what we thought was a small flying fish.  It's the first time I've seen one of these unique species and I was surprised to see they have something that looks like little feet, as well as wings.  But, upon research, I found that it is a Northern Sea Robin and it doesn't fly (so, why is it called a "robin?").  The large wing-like gills help it to "walk" along the ocean floor. It's still a really unusual looking little guy!

    

We always enjoy visiting Bodie Island Lighthouse and walking along the boardwalk to the marsh area behind it.  The small museum also has a few interesting items to look at, plus the air conditioning inside is helpful on a humid day!  Built in 1872, it stands guard near the Roanoke Sound.

    We spent an interesting hour at the Wright Brothers Memorial, reading all about them (I'm usually with grandkids with no time to read), hearing a park ranger talk about the plane as he stood next to a replica, and walking the route taken by the first flight.  I've been to the Memorial dozens of times, but this is the first time I've walked to the furthest point of the flight (marker above).  While it only took Wilbur 59 seconds to fly there, it took us 3.45 minutes to walk there.  Anyway, it's quite impressive that Wilbur and Orville did their thing right there in Kitty Hawk in 1903 -- and look how far aviation has progressed in only 117 years!

    We visited an Arboretum called Dune Garden in Kitty Hawk, just the other side of the Wright Brothers Memorial.  We'd never even heard of it and were pleased to discover something new to us (thanks, Holly!).  There are lovely, educational gardens and then a nice path through the woods that leads to a large pond.  It's a peaceful, pleasant place to wander.

    

    We love walking along the mile-long boardwalk in Duck, seeing interesting things along the way and ending with a magnificent sunset, which displays varying colors as it makes it way to the edge of the earth and then sinks below the horizon.  I never tire of seeing the Master's incomparable paintings.  Here are two of the wonderful views we saw as the sun made its journey downward:

And a little later...

We were blessed to have our daughter Holly and grands Declan & Noelle join us for a couple of nights.  We enjoyed a BIG breakfast together at Henry's on Saturday morning.

    I can't end this glimpse of our week without including a picture of one of the three shrimp dinners we enjoyed (:  This one is my favorite place for fried shrimp - Frog Island in Barco, it's on the way to OBX.  It's not fancy, but their prices are very good and their food is wonderful!  And yes, a week at the beach is not so much about the sand and sea for us, but more about the food!  Truth is, when it comes to OBX, it's all good!!!