August 29, 2019 Virginia Beach, VA to Wanchese, NC

We did a lot of packing up last night, so we didn't have much to do this morning and not far to go to our next destination.  Bob wanted to wash the truck before we left (not every campground will let you do that) and I did some needed dusting and cleaning.

We pulled out of the campground around 10:45 for our drive of 97 miles.  We could check in at 11:00, so that would work out well.  It was a cool 73 degrees with no humidity and very refreshing!  Our drive today was on mostly secondary roads.  It was only about 20 miles before we crossed the North Carolina state line.

We crossed over the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal as part of the Intracoastal Waterway.

We've been through here in our boat, so it was cool to see it by land. 

We passed through many small towns–some just a mere dot on the map.  We continued south until we ran out of land on the small peninsula and had to take the bridge over Currituck Sound to the Outer Banks and the city of Southern Shores.

We had been to this section of the Outer Banks a few years ago and had visited Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head, so that wasn't on our list of places to see on this trip.

There is so much to look at along this stretch of road with all the shops and eating establishments. Passing by Jockey's Ridge State Park, we caught sight of the large sand dunes located there. They have the largest dune on the East Coast which is part of a massive dune system spanning over 5 miles.

It looked like some people were getting ready to hang-glide off of the dunes.  We'll have to come back during out stay here and check it out more closely.  Maybe we'll actually be able to see them in action.  After driving past the park, we took Highway 64 across the bridge to Roanoke Island–a small barrier island between the mainland and the Outer Banks.  

We headed south on Roanoke Island to Wanchese and the Refuge on Roanoke Island, our campground, We had trouble finding the office to check in.  We had to drive through the entire campground looking for it and on our second time around, Bob noticed a sign that said to see the manager in site #35.  Bob walked to site #35 and checked in.  The manager gave Bob the 3 rules that must be followed.  Rule #1–Don't let your kids run loose without parental supervision.  Rule #2–No rugs on the grass.  Rule #3–No parking on the grass. The manager did not have much of a sense of humor.  We were assigned site #8 and settled in.

On our past trips boating and camping, we have stayed in Manteo, Rodanthe (on the beach), Ocracoke, and Cape Hatteras, so we've spent some time in the Outer Banks before, but this is our first time in Wanchese.  The campground is small and our campsite backs up onto a saltwater pond and marsh.

We have a beautiful view out of our back window.  

We are enjoying a grassy site which is such a treat!  Auggie is loving the grass, too. We spent the afternoon sitting outside near the water.  The skies were cloudless and the temp had risen to 83, but there was a cool breeze blowing.  At times, it was blowing quite hard as you can see by Auggie's wind barometer.

We had dinner and took a walk in the campground.  We checked out the pool and hope to be able to use it this weekend.

Auggie and I took advantage of trying out this huge chair.  It was quite a feat to climb up into it.

 From there, we walked to the dock where two girls were trying to net some crabs and oysters. Auggie was curious too, about what was in the water.  

There was a raised boardwalk that took us out to a fishing pier and then in another direction into the marsh.

Bob noticed this HUGE spider in its web, but I didn't want to get too close to it.  LuckiIy, I could zoom in with my camera.

We could see our camper from across the pond.  Some of the sites were empty now, but the manager said they would be full this weekend.

We sat on a bench there on the boardwalk and watched the sun set behind the trees.  It was such a beautiful night.

As we walked back to our campsite, we noticed this very appropriate sign considering that right at this moment, Hurricane Dorian is heading for Florida.  We are watching its path very carefully over the next couple of days and making appropriate alternate plans, if needed, for our trip home

The stars came out in full force tonight with the clear skies that we had and the Big Dipper sat low enough in the sky to almost touch the water.  I am going to love it here!