Harkers Island

Yesterday, Jim and I took a ride to Harkers Island. It's not a tourist type spot at all. Instead, it is a very authentic water town with a strong tradition in boat building, decoy carving as well as hunting, fishing and crabbing.

The furthermost tip of the island is 4 miles across the sound to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. Hopefully, we will get back there before our vacation ends and take the ferry ride to see the lighthouse up close and personal. For this trip, we simply toured the island and visited the National Park Service Visitors Center. We took a mile long nature hike, which is where most of the photos were taken, and toured the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum.

Wind Blown

The wind has been blowing all day today and tonight it is howling. In fact, gusts are around 60 and the cottage is swaying. Quiet day to day. We went to Jacksonville for lunch and then came home to catch up on laundry. I tried photographing the sand dunes but the sand was flying by smacking me in the face and so I only took a couple. But the sunset was unbelievable!

Also

What Mary forgot to mention in her post was that we found a wonderful Italian restaurant in Swansboro. The service was slow but the pizza was terrific. I can not wait to return and try the pasta dishes, everthing looked great! And on a very important note, I visited the Golfin Dolfin driving range, and that I'm playing golf this afternoon. Warm sunny weather, good food and golf...what more can I ask for?

Fresh Start

One of the nice things about an early morning walk is that you get to be the first to put footprints in the sand. I was up very early this morning with hopes of getting nice sunrise photos of the Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier. The sunrise was rather ho-hum but the beach was beautiful.

This does not look like a dolphin to me!

The dolphins were swimming very close to shore today. In fact, I'm sure if it was summer time and the water was full of swimmers, those individuals would be swimming with the dolphins. I tried to take photos of the dolphins but when their fins would poke through the water, I would take aim with the camera and by the time I would find them, they would be under water again. So instead I took pictures of the pelicans flying over the ocean.

It was warm again today but cloudy and we spent the afternoon exploring Beaufort, NC. It is a quiet and quaint town with lots of historic houses and lots of waterfront. Enjoy the photos.

Polar Plunge

Today we took the polar plunge. Okay, it was only our toes but what do you expect from a couple of old farts? Another beautiful day in the 60's. A few clouds but that's okay with us.

By the way, be sure to notice that the last post was from Jim. Blogging doesn't come natural to him and so, dear readers, a few words of encourage will likely motivate him to contribute more often!

Sunny Saturday

Today we were greeted by Carolina blue skys and temps into the low 60's. A morning walk on the beach, feeding the sea gulls, and enjoyed the sunny weather was a great way to start the day. Later, while Mary worked on her photography, I sat on the porch overlooking the ocean and read a book while waiting for the Time Warner cable guy. The cable issue is a whole other story. Anyways I played golf today, and hope tommorrow is just as great of a day as today. Wish you all were here.

Emerald Isle 28, Rochester 30

When we woke up this morning, we were surprised to learn that it was 2 degrees colder at Emerald Isle, NC than in Rochester, NY. The two big differences were that it was snowing in Rochester and it reached 60 degrees by noon in Emerald Isle. Sunday we are suppose to see 70 degrees.

Today, we walked the Cedar Point Tidewater Trail at Croatian National Forest. We were trying to sneak up on a Snowy Egret and almost walked right into two Green Herons perched on the bridge that we didn't see. The birds were so close that I couldn't get them both in the same photo. The park is beautiful and is suppose to be a great spot to catch sunsets.

Did George and Kim Arrive at Emerald Isle Early?

We thought they were here two weeks early when we saw the above license tag in the parking lot but later decided that they must only be the #2 Fan of the Yankees.

Another Beautiful Sunset

Notice that there is no snow in the photo! We do, however, have to put up with a lot of sand!

Today was spent unpacking, grocery shopping and napping.

Vacation 2009 Has Begun

We arrived at Emerald Isle safe and sound this afternoon to enjoy sunny skies and 60 degree temps. Learning that Rochester, NY was being blasted by another snow storm made the 60 degrees all that more enjoyable. It is suppose to cool off tomorrow but there is no snow in the forecast for here.

Happy New Year All! It will be a quiet one here except the pounding surf. For some reason, 8 hours in the car doing absolutely nothing is very exhausting and I doubt either of us will see the new year pour in. Check back often and hopefully there will be a more interesting post.