We've been enjoying our leisurely stay here over the last 5 days. I guess we're getting ready for our 4 days of drive, drive, drive to get home and avoid Dorian on the way. Not the best way to end a fabulous 2 month trip, but if we get home safely that's all that matters. It look like a lot of the campers are heading out today after the Labor Day weekend. Many are from Virginia and maybe want to get home before Darian comes visiting. The skies were cloudy and we had a light rain this morning. It remained cloudy with a light breeze after the rain. We got ready and took off for Jockey Ridge State Park as the sun peeked out of the clouds. We took the short drive across Roanoke Sound to Nags Head.
Bob was looking for an OBX hat, so we stopped at a Super Wings store where they were having a 50% off sale. We bought 2 hats and 2 t-shirts for $21.. .total! Unbelievably cheap! From there, we drove a few more miles to Jockey Ridge State Park.
Jockey Ridge State Park has the tallest living sand dune on the Atlantic coast.
They have a hang-gliding school there.
We entered the covered path to the dunes and from there we walked barefoot towards the tallest dunes.
On a normal sunny, summer day the sand gets so hot it can burn the soles of your feet, but being that today was cloudy, we could go barefoot all the way. The hang-gliding school had set up the gliders, but the students were just starting their lessons inside, so it would be awhile before they were actually gliding off the dunes.
We walked up to the tallest one we could see and took in the view of Roanoke Sound in one direction and the Atlantic Ocean in the other.
Some kids were enjoying their slide down the dunes and lots of giggling could be heard.
Others were flying kites.
At the top of the dune, there was a slight breeze, but down on the path, the air was still and it was warm. After enjoying the view, we took a path that took us down the sand dune back to the truck.
From there, we drove along the Virginia Dare Trail which runs along the beach. It was a quiet drive past the older established homes that were mostly rentals. The older homes have the weathered gray shingle look, but most of those had hurricane shutters.
The newer ones are brightly colored and don't have noticeable hurricane shutters, but I'm thinking that at least they have hurricane glass in the windows.
We made our way to Jeanette's Pier.
Jeanette's Pier extends into the Atlantic Ocean 1000 ft. and is a popular place for fishing.
Over the weekend, they had a big surfing competition, but today the pier was pretty quiet. We did stop and watch the surfers from the pier catch a few waves.
There were some people on the beach, but compared to yesterday, I'm sure it was pretty quiet.
Inside the building, there is a gift shop and a couple of small aquarium tanks containing a variety of local fish species.
We paid the $2 each to be able to walk onto the pier. We wanted to see if anyone was catching anything. There were lots of fisherpeople on the pier, but not much "catching" was being done.
We got an education about fishing from the pier from the posters along the pier and the locals that we talked to.
One of them pointed out a sea turtle swimming nearby and told us of a 20 ft. whale that had been swimming near the pier last week. Darn! We missed that! After we enjoyed our time on the pier, we stopped for gas and went back to the campground. When we got back, the campground had emptied out and no one was around us. Ah…..
It turned out to be a nice day and we enjoyed some outside time with Auggie. He enjoyed looking for crabs and fish over the seawall.
He got pretty hot as he walked up and down the wall searching for something that moved.
We had burgers on the grill and took our final walk around the campground to see who was still here. The place was pretty empty. I think some people who are seasonal campers took their RV's home just to be safe with the pending storm on the way. Our camping neighbors told us that they had left Hatteras today because it had been raining for the last 2 days and they couldn't take it anymore. They also said that there was an evacuation notice issued for Ocracoke Island today and there would be one issued for Hatteras tomorrow. Good thing we are leaving in the morning. It's making me a little nervous, the closer it gets.
We did some packing up tonight so we could get an early start to our 265 mile drive to Lumberton, NC tomorrow. We're planning to go inland and then south….to get away from the coast. Let's hope we don't run into any rain or traffic. Tonight we had a beautiful sunset that was reflected in the lake behind us. What a great way to end the day and our stay here on Roanoke Island!
