Thursday, November 10, 2005
North Carolina Coasting
Questions and Conversations:
Perhaps all you travelers know that talking with people is the best way to learn about a place. Especially at places like Plimoth and Jamestown and Williamsburg where there are no informational signs—you need to ask questions to learn. At the Wright Bro’s Historic Site I had a long talk with the Ranger about why Kitty Hawk and not Kill Devil Hills and got a history/ geography of Outer Banks communities. At the life saving station at Chicamacomigo I had a long talk with the historian about preservation of historic buildings and got to see into a house not yet open to the public. At the Hatteras Lighthouse we talked with the Ranger about the attitude that driving on beaches is a Right of all fishermen. (So they’ve needed the Guard to protect endangered turtles and plovers on “closed” beaches). I even learned a bit about fishing from a guy on the boardwalk. So Kirsten, I apologize for teasing you about all your conversation with waiters and museum guards.
Ferrying (11/9)
Getting off the Outer Banks involved a bit of driving and a lot of waiting and riding ferries. The 40 minute ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands is FREE. We aimed for the 10, just missed the 10:30 and caught the 11. Luckily we made the 1:00 to the mainland—for which we had reservations. This ferry cost us (with the trailer) $30: No extra for extra passengers. (With the new ferry rates it will cost almost this much to get to Guemes). It was a 2 ½ hour ocean cruise. The ferry was open so sitting in my comfortable trailer I had beautiful ocean views. Can you believe there were 2 other Washington couples on this boat? We are everywhere.
Beaufort (11/10)
We weren’t sure what we were doing today. I had read good things about Beaufort but we didn’t have a good impression driving through yesterday. Turns out it is a wonderful little town with nearly 100 historic houses—from mid 1700’s through 1800’s. Did I mention that we decided to visit the town despite some morning rain. Did the walking tour, had lunch (Kit had a soft crab sandwich—did you know you are supposed to eat the shell too?), and went on a tour of some of the historic houses that are part of a museum complex. We didn’t have time to see the maritime museum and also learned about lots of other things to see in this area. The usual problem with RVing is that our RV park is quite a long ways from town so a lot of driving is involved. The other problem is that Veteran’s Day Weekend is coming up and spots near the beach are hard to come by so we have to figure out where to go from here.
Perhaps all you travelers know that talking with people is the best way to learn about a place. Especially at places like Plimoth and Jamestown and Williamsburg where there are no informational signs—you need to ask questions to learn. At the Wright Bro’s Historic Site I had a long talk with the Ranger about why Kitty Hawk and not Kill Devil Hills and got a history/ geography of Outer Banks communities. At the life saving station at Chicamacomigo I had a long talk with the historian about preservation of historic buildings and got to see into a house not yet open to the public. At the Hatteras Lighthouse we talked with the Ranger about the attitude that driving on beaches is a Right of all fishermen. (So they’ve needed the Guard to protect endangered turtles and plovers on “closed” beaches). I even learned a bit about fishing from a guy on the boardwalk. So Kirsten, I apologize for teasing you about all your conversation with waiters and museum guards.
Ferrying (11/9)
Getting off the Outer Banks involved a bit of driving and a lot of waiting and riding ferries. The 40 minute ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands is FREE. We aimed for the 10, just missed the 10:30 and caught the 11. Luckily we made the 1:00 to the mainland—for which we had reservations. This ferry cost us (with the trailer) $30: No extra for extra passengers. (With the new ferry rates it will cost almost this much to get to Guemes). It was a 2 ½ hour ocean cruise. The ferry was open so sitting in my comfortable trailer I had beautiful ocean views. Can you believe there were 2 other Washington couples on this boat? We are everywhere.
Beaufort (11/10)
We weren’t sure what we were doing today. I had read good things about Beaufort but we didn’t have a good impression driving through yesterday. Turns out it is a wonderful little town with nearly 100 historic houses—from mid 1700’s through 1800’s. Did I mention that we decided to visit the town despite some morning rain. Did the walking tour, had lunch (Kit had a soft crab sandwich—did you know you are supposed to eat the shell too?), and went on a tour of some of the historic houses that are part of a museum complex. We didn’t have time to see the maritime museum and also learned about lots of other things to see in this area. The usual problem with RVing is that our RV park is quite a long ways from town so a lot of driving is involved. The other problem is that Veteran’s Day Weekend is coming up and spots near the beach are hard to come by so we have to figure out where to go from here.
# posted by Carol Harma @ 5:21 PM 
