NC beach lovah

So, I've been absent for a couple days and here's why. My Mom came to town (visiting from Minnesota). As I write, she is packing her bags. So is my Aunt who just came down from Northern VA... they both leave on different flights at exactly 12:40 today.

But the week started with my Mom getting in late on Friday night. I won't re-live every aspect of our week, but one of the highlights is that we spontaneously decided to go to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I have never been there before... And it looks pretty crazy if you see it on a map because it's a tiny strip of land totally out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean:



You see that little black line just east of Raleigh that outlines North Carolina? Yep, that is it.

So anyway, we saw several lighthouses which were beautiful and majestic but also kind of frightening. They call this area "the graveyard of the Atlantic" because there have been over 1,000 shipwrecks. I thought that meant the lighthouses were doing a terrible job but my Mom says it would have been even more without their help. Interesting.

Anyway, we found a hotel room on the 3rd floor, oceanfront! The waves were so incredibly loud and powerful. I have never gone to sleep with something like that roaring outside my window. We woke up to the world's earliest sunrise, and this beautiful view:





We headed back that morning and went through Roanoke Island. That's where the lost colony of Roanoke was... the first British settlement ever. Yes, even before Jamestown. I always thought that was Roanoke, Virginia but indeed it is in North Carolina. It turns out that all this land was called Virginia back then! Named after the virgin queen, Elizabeth.

Anyway, on our day heading back, I was so headachey and tired and just felt terrible. All I could do was sleep in the car. I was totally useless and pretty miserable. Even when we got back to my house, I immediately collapsed on the bed and couldn't get up for several hours.

When I did wake up, I threw up. Four times. Yes, I just told you that. Hahaha. We think it was something to do with the shrimp that we ate at the beach. I don't know but I started to feel much better, but it took another 24 hours for things to really get back to normal. Even now I'm not 100% but I'm getting there...

Then my aunt came and we went over to Chapel Hill, ever so briefly... just so my Mom could see this college town. I'm trying to post some photos but it's not working. Hmm... well if I do get it to work, this is the end of the post for now. :) I need to get showered and get these girls to the airport!





The rest of the photos are here.