Vacation Part Two

So we had booked an apartment on Hatteras Island in the town of Buxton, NC. 

We'd never used Air bnb before, so it was a super pleasant surprise to find the cutest apartment with everyhting we could possibly want or need and the beautiful Hatteras Light house just about 3 minutes away!

 We arrived late in the day, so the offices were closed, but the National Park Service keeps things shipshape!

 Had the lighthouse been open, one could have paid $8 to climb up it. Well I'm on vacation so , no thanks!

 The Hatteras lighthouse was moved in 1999-pretty amazing, when you see the awesome size of this thing!

 Now it's safely inland 2900 feet from it's original location. While we were visiting, there was a couple getting their wedding pictures taken with their ring bearer dog!

 Then I had to go step into the ocean. Just a few steps and BAM! You're there!

 People were surfing and the crowds had cleared for the day, the weather was wonderful-hot, but still so nice at the beach.

 These are all taken at Hatteras lighthouse beach.

Here's our cute apartment.

 Another guest visiting the upstairs tenant took this picture of us on the porch one evening. It was so nice to have a kitchen and full size refrigerator in the hot weather! We didn't go out too much to eat, there was a grocery store about a block away and we just ate in.

We moved right in and made ourselves comfortable!

 

Next on the to do list is to go to Ocracoke Island on the ferry! Everyone says, go early to have a shorter wait...well we didn't go early and did have quite a wait.

The ferries run back and forth all day long, it was a beautiful day in the 80's but the breeze was wonderful! And it's FREE!

I've never driven a car onto a ferry so it was fun for me! Once the ferry gets underway, you can get out of the car and go up on the upper deck of the ferry.

 

See there's hubs still sitting in the car. There's every kind of vehicle, big trucks, UPS, Fed Ex, everything that is needed for life on the island comes on the ferry.

 

I had to laugh at the GPS-it showed us driving on the water!

Once we arrived we were directed off of the ferry-it's a very organized process! The workers there all know what they are doing-all day long!

 

So here's Ocracoke!

 

I had to make the stop at the pony pens. I still remember reading the book, Misty of Chincoteague, and the other books by Margurite Henry when I was a little kid, and these ponies are the ancestors of the ones in the book. 

 

Not much to see here this time of year, but I'm a sucker for Book locations, right?

Then on to the light house.

Look at the thickness of those walls. The guide told me that they are 5 feet thick at the bottom and taper up to 2 feet thick at the top. 

 

We did a llittle shopping and gawking around then headed back to the ferry for the return trip to Hatteras.

Hardly any wait at all this time!

Look at all those big houses! Most of them are rental properties, they rent out individual rooms or the whole house. 

I loved the ferry ride and of course any time on the beach is a good time! More to come tomorrow!