Texas Vacation: Skating

We took the girls skating one afternoon. They did pretty good and enjoyed the afternoon.

Texas Vacation: Texas Girls

The girls really have grown. Pictures of them taken while there.

Texas Vacation: Shopping

Linda took the girls shopping one afternoon. Some pictures of them shopping and the final results.

Texas Vacation: BBQ

We were invited to a BBQ held at the home of our old postman when we were stationed at Sheppard AFB. His daughter is married to Suzie's (our daughter-in-law) brother. We had a great time and Homer filled me in on the neighbors that lived around us.

Texas Vacation: Museum

Museum was small, but interesting. Not much picture taking opportunities.

Texas Vacation: Prairie Dogs

We visited the prairie dog city while in the game reserve. The herd of Texas long horns and buffalo were there also.

Texas Vacation: Holy City

The Holy City is the site of an annual Passion Play.

Texas Vacation: Game Reserve

Pictures taken on the way to Mt Scott and from Mt. Scott which is located in the game reserve.

Texas Vacation: Mountain Park

Pictures as promised. Our day at medicine park.

Outer Banks Day 8

Day 8, Saturday April 17, 2010

We are finally home. We decided to take a different route home. We headed west on I-64 to Winston Salem, North Carolina. We then headed north on I-52 to I-74 and then to I-77. We took I-77 through Virginia into West Virginia. We picked up I-64 near Beckley, West Virginia. We passed Charleston, West Virginia and picked up I-35. We did not stay on the interstate. We traveled local roads that paralleled the interstate as much as possible. The drive was beautiful, but long and we did not get home until around midnight.

We did have one interesting stop. We stopped for gas and to use the bathroom. Linda when in to the store while I gassed up. While putting gas in the car, an ambulance parked in front of the store. I went in to go to the bathroom and was told the front was blocked to remove a patient. I had to go to the truck stop. As we were leaving, we were told that a lady had slipped on the bathroom floor and had hit her head on the sink. She was strapped to a stretcher and was being loaded on the ambulance as we were leaving.

I guess we will sign off for this trip and get to planning our next adventure.

Outer Banks Day 7

Today is a day to take it a little easy and do the usual tourist shopping that we have been ignoring all week. We saw some gotcha shops that looked interesting so we decided to take a look.

We stopped at a jewelry store and bought charm bracelets for the granddaughters with charms from the outer banks. We left there and stopped at a strip mall that had a large store with just about everything in it. We bought t-shirts for us and friends, hats for us and various other items to use as gifts.

We decided to go back to Corolla and visit the Whalehouse Museum. The museum was very interesting and we enjoyed it very much. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures. Since we had already taken pictures of the grounds, we did not take any pictures. Imagine a whole day of vacation without taking a single picture. Un heard of for the Keeling's.

After visiting the museum, we drove back to our quarters to have a snack for supper; pack up and load up the car for an early departure Saturday.

It has been a great vacation and the Outer Banks is a place worth visiting again. However, as Linda says, "It may be great, but, there are too many other places that are just as good that we have not seen". So I guess we will look to some other far corner of the United States for our next vacation.

Outer Banks Day 6

Day 6, Thursday April 15, 2010

Today the weather is much better than yesterday so we decided to cross over the sound and travel the backroads of North Carolina. We traveled through a lot of swamp lands that had very few people living in them. It was miles and miles of saw grass, cypress trees and other trees and vegetation that grows in swampy areas.

We eventually drove through Tyrrell County, North Carolina whose web page states, “Nature's buffer zone, sprawled between the urban mainland and the popular stretch of North Carolina's Outer Banks.” We stopped in a small town of Columbia, North Carolina and toured their museum; walked down their river walk; took a stroll through town and had lunch a a small diner. It was a pretty, quaint town with very friendly people. We only took 3 pictures while there and probably should have taken more.

We left Columbia and made our way to Edenton, North Carolina which is labeled,

“The South's Prettiest Small Town"

Edenton was he first permanent settlement in North Carolina and was originally incorporated in 1715. Edenton at once became the focal point of civilization in the Province, the capital of the Colony and the home of the Royal Governors.
Incorporated in 1715 as ''The Towne on Queen Anne's Creek,'' and later as ''Ye Towne on Mattercommack Creek'' and, still later as ''The Port of Roanoke,'' the spot was named Edenton in 1722 in honor of Governor Charles Eden. Edenton was established in 1728 as the colonial capital of North Carolina, and it soon became the cultural and economic capital as well. Hundreds of ships made the town a regular port of call, offloading food, goods, and slaves and shipping the prolific agricultural products of the region to European ports. The result was a thriving plantation economy that brought life to northeastern North Carolina. It is said that the beautiful historic district may surpass Williamsburg, Virgina because the homes and buildings of Edenton are not reconstructed, but are the restored originals. Over 25 homes and public buildings comprise the North Carolina State Historic Site, and many special events and seasonal tours bring sparkle to the town. The waterfront is a favorite spot for pleasure boaters, and land travelers will find several quiet bed and breakfasts to lure them off the beaten path. The surrounding countryside boasts many plantations that once provided the economic backbone of the area.

Linda and I took a very long walking tour of the town to include the water front was was very surprised by how well the buildings had been preserved. This is a town that is worth another trip. If we make it back this way again I think we would try to stay in one of the bed and breakfasts in the middle of old town.

Outer Banks Day 5

Day 5, Wednesday April 13, 2010

The cold front passed through last night and it is cool and windy today. It is around 50 degrees with wind at 30 - 35 miles per hour. The chill factor is much lower than 50 degrees. We wore our long sleeved hooded sweat shirts, but, we should have worn coats.

Since it was cool, we did not leave until after 10 AM. Our first stop of the day was Jockey State Park, home of the tallest sand dune on the Atlantic Coast. We visited the museum then took a 1.5 mile stroll through the sand dunes. With the wind, it was very uncomfortable. Walking through the sand was very tiring and did warm us up a little. We left the main area and drove to a nature trail for another stroll through the dunes.

We left the dunes and went for Mexican food at a restaurant called La Fogata. There was a restaurant with the same name in San Antonio that was great. I don’t think it was part of a chain, but, we hope a restaurant with the same name would be just as good. The food was great.

After eating, we drove out to the beach to pick up shells. It was still very windy and cool so we decided to drive back to one of the National Parks, Bodie Lighthouse, which we had passed the day before. The light house is under renovation so we could not take any good pictures, but, there was a small museum to visit. We had a long discussion with the individual working at the light house. He had 2 sons in the Navy and one in the Marine Corps. His two sons in the Navy had graduated from the Naval Academy and had spent 3 years together at the Academy.

After visiting the park, we went back towards Kitty Hawk and stopped at an antique mall. They had a lot of neat things, but, nothing that we needed. Another successful shopping day--a lot of looking, but no buying.

After the antique shops, we left the outer banks and went for a wine tasting. They had 15 different wines to taste. Some were very good and some were just passable. We did buy 3 bottles to bring home with us.

All in all a very enjoyable day without rushing around. People were super friendly at each stop and we enjoyed talking to them. Tomorrow is supposed to be a better day. Friday is supposed to be sunny and 80 degrees. Linda wants to go looking for shells so maybe Friday would be a better day.

Outer Banks Day 4

Day 4, Tuesday April 12, 2010

We are up bright and early this morning since we are going to Ocracoke Island which requires a 45 minute ferry ride. We were told that it can take up to 2 hours to get on the ferry. We got on our way a little after 8 AM. Traffic was a little heavier than usual, but not bad. When we took the road to Ocracoke, there was no traffic at all which was nice.

There was a light house at Bodie which is part of the National Parks System that we wanted to see. When we got there, it was surrounded with scaffolding and we could not take any pictures or take a tour of the inside. I did find a picture of the light house and boardwalk and downloaded them. It looked like it would have been a good stop, however we skipped Bodie and continued our trip.

There was a life saving station a little farther down that has been renovated and turned in to a museum. It was the first--and maybe the only one--that was manned by an all black crew. However, it did not open until mid April so we continued our trip.
The next stop was the lighthouse at Cape Hatteras. The park was open, but we could not walk to the top. That was ok with us. The climb at Corolla left our legs pretty sore. We did tour the small museum and walk the beaches. Cape Hatteras light house was moved about 10 years ago because of beach erosion. We visited the original sight which has some of the foundation stones at the old site. The site has now been taken over by the sand.
Insert hatteras slide show


After leaving Cape Hatteras light house we went to the port to board the ferry to Orcacoke Island. We had a very short wait before getting on the ferry. What a perfect day for a ferry ride. It was very warm and sunny. The ferry travels through the sounds and is protected from any rough water. When we arrived at Orcacoke Island, we landed at the end opposite the town. It was 14 miles to the town and there is very few buildings outside the town. We stopped at a place called Howard’s Pub for lunch. It is a well advertised place and probably has over 300 different types of beers. I had the blue fish special and Linda had a crab cake sandwich. Both were great. We also had a draft Yuengling which is brewed in Pennsylvania. I have had the beer before and liked the taste. When we visited friends in Pennsylvania, John and I stopped by the brewery for a tour and a taste. Great friends; fantastic beer; good food. What more can you ask for. We had great food and good beer, but lunched by ourselves. I guess 2 out of 3 are not too bad.

After lunch we drove to the end of the island and visited the National Park Visitor’s center. There is a small museum there. We bought a National Park Passport and we got it stamped. While in Arkansas we visited Pea Ridge Battlefield which is a National Park. We have visited many parks and could not remember all of them--old age I guess. We decided to buy a passport and start stamping it when we visited parks. I guess we should have stopped by the Bodie lighthouse just to stamp our book.

The little town of Ocracoke was interesting and contained many little shops. Most of the places were closed and had signs that April 15 was the opening days. We walked to the lighthouse which is the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina and took a few pictures. On the walk back, we stopped by a small antique shop which had some interesting glassware. Very successful shopping tour for me--saw a lot, but didn’t buy anything.

We walked back to where we parked our car and visited a small museum operated by a Historical Society. It was a restored house that had some period furniture and pictorial displays of events that happened in the local area. After the museum, we took a different road out of town to stop at another antique shop however the shop was closed. I guess it is a seasonal shop.

We left the town and headed back to the ferry. We stopped at a few of the beach entrances and were pleasantly surprised at how good they were. Orcachoke Island is listed as one of the ten best beaches in the world and I can see why. There are miles of clear, sandy beaches with beautiful water. We walked the beaches to look for shells, but, there were not many good shells. Most were broken because of the wave action.



We drove back to the ferry and lucked out again--ferry was there and we got on without waiting too long. We had a pleasant ride back to Cape Hatteras. We stopped at a few of the beaches on the way back to check them out and they were beautiful areas to visit--long empty beaches with plenty of fine sand.

We finally got back to our rooms after 6 PM. I settled in for the day and Linda went to an Ice Cream Social at the Rec Center. Tomorrow is another day and looks like the weather will not be too good for touring. I suppose we will stick close to home; have lunch at a good restaurant; and do some of the inside activities.

Linda is reading some of the activities listed and came across an announcement for a week long bike ride--the 8th Annual Outer Banks Bike Week which is sponsored by three Harley dealers on the outer banks. Tim and Vickie load up the bike and come on down. There were 20,000 bikes last year.

Outer Banks Day 3

Day 3: Monday April 11, 2010

Another beautiful day. We decided to go to Roanoke Island to visit Fort “Raleigh, the lost village, the Elizabethan Gardens, Manteo Heritage Park and walk around the town.

We arrived at Fort Raleigh and Lost Village area which is a National Park and started to walk the paths. We were not told that a lot of construction was going on and most of the area was blocked. It did not take us long to walk through the area. There was nothing to see or take pictures of.


We then went to the Elizabethan Gardens which is not part off the National Park. If you like English gardens with many flowering shrubs and trees, you will love the gardens. It is almost 100% wooden area with beautiful sculptures placed throughout the gardens. The trees were in bloom, but a lot of the flowers were not.




We left the gardens and went into Manteo for lunch. We went to a diner called Big Al’s which was built in the 50’s and looks like it has never been upgraded. It was well maintained and the food was very good. They had a lunch buffet and we decided to take it since we could try a lot of the things they had on their menus.

After lunch went to the Heritage Park which is a museum and park that is dedicated to the early settling of Roanoke Island. They had displays on the early Indians which showed how they lived, canoes, utensils and information on early farming. One of their displays was a camp that showed how the early settlers lived before they built permanent quarters. All were interesting.

A lot of the displays in the museum were interactive so the children who visited could use the items. There was a 45 minute movie about the early Indians that we watched. It was ok, but I would not cut the museum portion short to see the movie.

We drove back into town and took a stroll along the Broadway that goes around the city. There was a light house mounted on top of one of the buildings in the dock area. We also stopped by a marine museum. It was closed so we only got to see what was outside and what we could see through the windows. We then continued our tour of the town. Some of the restaurants and shops were closed. I guess it is too early for them to open. We did find an interesting antique store to visit. Their prices were very reasonable, but we did not find anything that we wanted.


We drove back to Seascape and took a walk up to their club house for a beer. It was a slow day for them and there were only 2 people in the bar. We both had a draft Belgium white beer which was good and reasonably priced. I suppose we will go back for another beer.

We went back to the room and watched a move of Patricia Cornwell’s At Risk. Linda popped popcorn and that was dinner for us. The movie was great .

Outer Banks Day 2

Day 2, Sunday April 10, 2010


What a beautiful day! Although a little cool, the sun is shinning brightly and you can see for miles--sometimes on the coast, it can be a little hazy early in the morning. After a light breakfast we went to the beach near our quarters. The resort is not on the beach but we can walk to the beach or drive to the free parking lot on the beach. We chose to drive and park.


It was a little cool early in the morning so the walk on the beach was invigorating. Since we are here before the tourist season, we had the beach to ourselves and what a view we had. A lot of the tourist shops are not open, but, enough are for us to enjoy a little shopping from time to time.

After a short visit to the beach we went to the Wright Memorial. The memorial is a national park and admission is free to people with a senior pass. I have a pass so it did not cost us anything to go to the museum and park. We have seen a lot of the Wright Brothers sites in Dayton; however, this is our first trip to where the first flight took place. The park is well laid out and has an excellent description of each event of the first flight. It was interesting looking at all the exhibits and monuments. We also sat through a 30 minute presentation on the Wright Brothers.



After we left the park, we went to a little restaurant call Rundown Cafe. We had watched the local TV network and had seen a program on restaurants on the Outer Banks. This one sounded like it would be worth a visit. The food was good and if we lived in the area we would probably go back. We shared a bowl of fish chowder that was very good. I had Baja fish tacos with black beans and rice that must have been cooked with a little curry. Linda had a fish burrito with the same rice. Both were very good... We will be here for a week, but, there are so many good restaurants that I doubt that we will go back.

After lunch we went to a Corolla, NC to visit the old town and a light house built in the 1870’s. They also had a heritage park that we visited. The light house was in excellent shape and Linda and I decided to walk to the top--160 steps of spiraling staircases. The view was great. When we got back to the bottom we decided that maybe we should start exercising more. We walked around the grounds then took a drive through their old town--not much to see and probably not worth the drive.




We visited the heritage park which has the Whalehead Museum, boat house and other buildings. The buildings were built by a gentleman whose wife liked to hunt. No hunting club would let her become a member so he bought the property and build the lodge in 1921. The lodge has over 21,000 square feet of space and really is a great building. Unfortunately, it is closed on Sunday and we were unable to take a tour.

We left the heritage park and went to check out the beaches. They were great. We did discover the northern parts of the Outer Banks have much better houses and the scenery is much better. If we do come back this way, I think we will try to rent one of these units.

We drove back to our quarters and watched the last of the Masters’ golf tournament. We have missed the entire tournament until today.

We took a walk around our complex; visited the recreation room and finally made it back to our quarters. We are still not very hungry after the large lunch so we are having a light snack for dinner. Tomorrow is supposed to be another great day and we are planning on checking out the southern end of the Outer Banks. After doing a little research, we think there is more than enough to keep us busy for a week.

Outer Banks Vacation

I guess it is time to get our thoughts and pictures together about our vacation to the North Carolina Outer Banks in April of this year. The posts may be short since we are doing most of this from memory and our memories are not that good anymore. So here goes.


OUTER BANKS
KITTY HAWK, NORTH CAROLINA VACATION
APRIL 9-16, 2010

Day 1: Saturday April 9, 2010

A long drive was ahead of us so we got up around 5 AM and got ready. The car had been packed the night before so we only had to put a few things in the car. We finally got on the road around 6 AM.

The weather was perfect for driving. It was pretty warm and a bright and sunny day. There was very little traffic until we got about 30 miles out of Norfolk, Virginia. Although it was a little heavier, we were able to maintain the speed limit. We never saw a signal wreck the whole distance--I think a first for us for a trip this long.

The drive through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina was a beautiful drive. The trees had a full coat of leaves and everything was so green. The flowering shrubbery and trees were also in bloom. We saw many trees with pink flowers, some that looked like dogwood covered in white flowers, and miles of tall trees covered with wisteria in full bloom. Linda was a little envious--she has planted some wisteria vines and they still have not bloomed.

Arrived in Kitty Hawk and tried to use Expedia’s directions to get to the time share. The directions were wrong. Linda finally looked at the information we had received and used their directions and we finally got to the time share. This only caused a short delay. Expedia had us turn left about 1 mile from where we should have turned right.

We finally got checked in around 7 PM and went to our quarters. We have a two bedroom, two bath unit. We are in a unit with two time shares and we have the upstairs unit. It has all the comforts of home and is very clean.