A TRIP DOWN TO DOWN TO NORTH CAROLINA - PART 2

No Monday Morning recipe today as I have quite a few posts to share with you. I can honestly say we were on the go the whole time we were together, and didn’t make anything except for a very simple meal on Easter Sunday. 

Every day we gave them a few choices as to what they would like to do. We went to the National Air and Space Museum-Steven F. Udvar Hazy, where Gregg deposited me at the cafe for another sit-down. I drank a cup of coffee and Gregg joined me shortly afterwards. We waited for a while until our family had a good chance to walk around and joined us. For me it was fun seeing all the activity, people and families going back and forth. I will share the photos they took eventually.  

We gave them three days to relax and then traveled to North Carolina, staying with Gregg's sister and husband. It took us about 7 to 7-1/2 hours to get there. A good journey considering. It was so kind of them opening up their home to us all and thanks to them, we had a great time.Gregg's sister loves collecting shells and sees the beauty even in the broken ones. I agree as I thought those displayed in this vase were delightful. She has more upstairs, whole ones. She also gave me two conch shells a few years ago that are still treasures on our family room bookshelf.

I found this online. You can enlarge all photos for better detail.

One of the days we found ourselves at Bodie Island Lighthouse.

 Our niece with Uncle Gregg.

Here she is again.

I am including three maps showing the location of the lighthouse.

The current Bodie Island Lighthouse (Bodie is pronounced 'body') is the third that has stood in this vicinity of Bodie Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and was built in 1872.

It stands 156 feet (48 m) tall and is located in the Roanoke Sound side of a portion of peninsula that is the first part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The lighthouse is just south of Nags Head, a few miles before Oregon Inlet.

It was renovated from August 2009 to March 2013, and was made climbable by the public. There are 219 steps that spiral to the top. 

The 170-feet structure is one of only a dozen remaining tall, brick tower lighthouses in the United States, and one of the few with an original first-order Fresnel lens to cast its light. 

You can read a lot more of its history at this website, which is where I got the above information.

On the itinerary? A sunrise! They got up at 0-dark-thirty. I again stayed at home as not only wasn't I able to walk too far at all but walking on the sand in the dark would have been an accident waiting to happen, so I was very happy to get a peck on the cheek from Gregg upon which I slide back under those nice, warm, cozy covers. His sister took them to the beach. I enjoyed the conversation later telling me all about it.

Our dear niece, photo taken by Gregg...

and another he took of the rest of the family watching the sun appear over the horizon.

With Uncle Gregg again.

Brother and sister who always enjoy each other’s company. They are looking forward to getting together with their other brother not too far down the road.

These photos were taken by various family members. Looks like they had a wonderful time.

That's all for Part 2 and more to follow.

Thanks for looking and I hope your day is a great one.