Message in a Bottle

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No, we didn't find any bottles with messages like in the Nicholas Sparks movie that took place on the Outer Banks.

It's quiet on the Outer Banks in March - not many people here or restaurants open for that matter.  The town of Corolla has a full time permanent population of 500 that swells to a summer time high of more than 50,000.  Wow, glad we are missing the craziness and traffic jams on the two-lane roads!  The Outer Banks is a chain of barrier islands extending 175 miles along the coast of North Carolina.  It's beautiful!

The weather has been cooler than normal and very windy every day.  Walking along the beach requires hat, mittens and warm coats.  No going in the water this time (unlike Newport, OR)!

Here are a few pictures of the area.




We've found more seashells than sand dollars on this coast.  A jellyfish and skate (both dead) washed up on the beach.  Skate fish are relatively harmless unlike stingrays for example.
Visited a few lighthouses.  The Outer Banks has a reputation for being the graveyard of the Atlantic with an estimated 3000 shipwrecks along the islands.


Jockey's Ridge State Park is home to the tallest living sand dune system along the Atlantic Coast and we got to visit it!  Wow - lots of sand - even brought some back to our hotel (in our shoes). People are known to hang glide here and sand surf (like in the picture below).



The week before visiting the Outer Banks was spent in Richmond, VA.  We met up with a friend of Donna's - Carla and her husband Greg.  They prepared a homemade meal for us which was much appreciated.  It was great to see them!  Sorry, no photo.  The James River flows through the city.  We wandered around town and even visited the Hollywood Cemetery - President Monroe and President Tyler are buried there.

The Hollywood Cemetery


We ate at Bottoms Up Pizza - Donna ate there a couple of times while she was still working and visited the Richmond Federal Reserve.  It's yummy - though not as good as Woodstock's Pizza in Corvallis in Donna's opinion.
Hey, guess what season it is?!? It's ice cream season - oh wait, in Don's opinion - every season is ice cream season!!!!
We're off to Charlottesville, VA in the eastern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains on Wednesday.  Looking forward to it.


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