Back from the beach

Well we've made it back to reality.
After a week of 75 degree temperatures, great seafood, relaxing on the beach, and visiting our favorite Outer Banks haunts, we are stuck back in our lovely small town America with low 40 degree temps, rain, and allergies that won't quit...
Oh well.

Above is Cape Hatteras lighthouse on the beautiful, natural beach in Buxton, NC.
It is the tallest lighthouse in America at 193 feet. Built in 1870, it stands watch over the dangerous Diamond Shoals off Cape Point where the warm Gulf Stream and the cold Atlantic current converge and make the waters there some of the most dangerous in the world. Hence the area has the dubious reputation as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

The Light was moved from its precarious location at water's edge in 1999 to a safer location inland a bit (moved over 2900 feet, a bit at a time as you can well imagine) - it was in certian danger of being lost forever to the ocean's wrath. Thank goodness it has been preserved - it is a national treasure, as all of our many lighthouses are here in the US.

Cape Hatteras is a National Seashore on the eastern most point of the Outer Banks - a series of barrier islands that jut out off the coast of North Carolina like a comma. Here's a picture of what it looks like from space.




Looks kinda like a tampon string, eh?

We love it there. We mostly stay in the small towns of Avon or Buxton, so I'd say we are just about in the middle of the "string", and are probably the furthest out to sea.

Here's the bridge we cross to get there:



Herbert Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet, Outer Banks, NC


The first time we crossed it we were thunderstruck at how long it is, and how rather scary it was. But now we're old hands at it, and try to pretend it isn't one of the most-desperately-in-need-of-being-replaced- bridges in America.
The year we towed the Harley down with us, we rode across it - it's pretty windy on a bike, but the views are outstanding.

Speaking of scary, below is a photo from the edge of the top of Cape Hatteras Light. Obviously if you have a heart condition, climbing it is out of the question.
My hubby took this picture, as although I have traversed to the top of the lighthouse, I am not brave enough to go near the edge, touch the railing, or do anything but shimmy along the side of the massive brick structure. Way too high!
Way too windy! Way too 'have-an-accident-in-my-shorts'!
That is Buxton village that you can see.




And finally, here's Sammy the seagull.
Seagulls just like this Laughing Gull (seriously) abound all over the islands.
Of course.

But I, for one, kinda think they are cool. A messy, scavaging, noisy, prolific, cool seabird. He is pretty though, right?
They love to eat bread & crackers (duh) and so we always feed them from the cottage decks and listen to them squawk and annoy the hell out of the neighbors. See, even on vacation we are nasty.



I'll have some more pictures later - don't want to bombard. Also more on the general annoyances of taking a 12 hour road trip in America these days. Wait for it....

Till then... check out this new website.
We first saw these shirts down at the beach and thought they were hysterical.

I'm a big fan of the "life is good" merchandise - so when we saw these we were howling with laughter.
Thought this one was appropriate for today's post:





http://www.lifeiscrap.com/


check them out!