Day 10, Wednesday, June 16, 2021, Rodanthe, NC (Outer Banks)

We visited the Bodie Island Lighthouse, a part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  I asked the park ranger how to pronounce the name and he indicated like “body” since one theory is it was named for all the dead bodies that washed ashore in the area due to the treacherous coastline. Tickets to climb the lighthouse are online only beginning each day at 7:00 am which left me out since they sell out in a few minutes. Turns out when we arrived, ticket holders were getting refunds as the climb was closed due to thunder in the area. In Nags Head we visited Jennette’s Pier, a 1,000 foot fishing pier.  Lots of fishermen but no one had caught any fish.  Nice view of the beach which was loaded with people.  Next was a visit to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. We had a nice hike but did not see much wildlife - lots of red wing blackbirds, turtles and fish jumping. An after dinner walk on the beach again rounded out our Outer Banks visit.

Day 9, Tuesday, June 15, 2021, Rodanthe, NC (Outer Banks)

Today we headed to the northern part of the Outer Banks and visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devils Hill.  At the top of Kill Devils Hill is a monument to the Wright Brothers.  The hill was a giant sand dune where the brothers experimented with designs of their gliders to learn about the aerodynamics of flight. There is also a monument located at the Wright Flyer’s takeoff spot and each of the landing spots of the four flights. The visitor center contains a replica of the Wright Flyer, the original is in the Smithsonian. A few miles north we stopped at the Century of Flight Monument in Kitty Hawk which is not really worth the visit. An evening walk on the beach was delightfully cool and breezy with a beautiful sunset which rounded out another great day.  Almost forgot, I ate the first mango from my tree today. So good that leaving so many mangoes on my tree is the only reason I miss home.

Day 8, Monday, June 14, 2021, Rodanthe, NC (Outer Banks) (166 miles)

We entered the Outer Banks and although we sit 8 feet high in the coach we still could not see over the sand dunes to the ocean. We checked into the Cape Hatteras/Outer Banks KOA (50 amp, w) in Rodanthe which is closer to the south end of the Outer Banks than the north end. So we took the car south to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.  Unfortunately, the lighthouse is closed due to renovations so we could not climb the tallest brick structure in the US. A talk with a park ranger informed us of the free ferry to Ocracoke Island that leaves on the hour. We decided to go to Ocracoke and jumped in the car at 4:30. After some deft driving, we arrived at the ferry at 4:59 and were the second to last to board the ferry. The ferry ride was an hour in beautiful sunny and cool weather. Ocracoke Island is about 14 miles long and the ferry is at the north end but the town is at the south end. So we drove to the town and visited the Ocracoke Lighthouse.  Dinner at Plum Point Kitchen which shares a building with 1718 Brewing.  Fish tacos were very good as was Rosemary’s salad with grilled shrimp. Need More Cowbell Milk Stout went well with the tacos. A long line for the return ferry lead to nice talk with some other RV’ers.  We got on the second ferry at 9:30 and got back to the coach at 11:15. A long day but a lot of fun.

Day 7, Sunday, June 13, 2021, New Bern, NC 

Well, the reason for coming to New Bern is the Tryon Palace. Built from 1767 to 1770 by Royal Governor William Tryon.  For fans of the Outlander series, this is the governor building the palace to which the regulators (angry taxpayers) were objecting. Tryon actually only occupied the Palace for 13 months before he became the Royal Governor of New York.  After the revolution, the Palace became the first official capitol of North Carolina until 1794 when the capitol moved to its current location, Raleigh. Unbeknownst to us before our visit was that the Palace burned down in 1798.  The only surviving structure was the building housing the stables.  For a century and a half, the property came to be occupied with many residences. In the 1950's, a group of women formed the Tryon Palace Commission, raised funds to buy out the 40 homeowners on the property and reconstruct the Palace with the original architectural plans found in London and the stables building to help determine brick color, etc. The reconstructed Palace opened in 1959. The Palace gardens included a vegetable  garden.  Those purple topped veggies in the photo with Rosemary are artichokes. The Commission also developed a coastal Carolina History Museum which we visited. Afterward we walked around downtown, all two blocks! We visited the birthplace of Pepsi which had an unlimited supply of Pepsi paraphernalia. I asked for a Coke but was told they did not have any.   “Bern” is Swiss for “bear” and there were hundreds of models of bears throughout the town. We bought coffee to go from Bella’s Café, two “Life is Good” rv tee shirts and a gift for the grandkids at Poor Charlie’s Flea Market. So the Commission’s goal was accomplished as we visited New Bern and spent money. And we accomplished our mission - to have fun!