Sunday on the Coast

We arrived at the Outer Banks yesterday along with the cloudy cool weather. It rained off and on most of the day and the temperature is in the sixties. It looks like that will be the trend for the three days we are here, but the rain is supposed to stop.
The islands are interesting, but a bit more developed than we thought. It's a good thing the government sets aside land for parks and national seashore, or these crazy people would put beach houses on every square inch of available land. The hurricanes come through periodically and take back some of the land, but the people keep rebuilding and putting houses where they shouldn't be. I hope these folks spend too much money on homeowners insurance!
We explored the north end of the islands yesterday and wound up in a town called Duck. It was the most prestigious of the communities we drove through. The roads into the beaches were private and in some cases gated and the homes were magnificent. there were two main north/south drags going along the island. One was busy with traffic lights and a lot of shopping and restaurants and the other was smaller and closer to the beach with houses on both sides. We drove to a state park and saw the sand dunes of the Island and then on to Kitty Hawk to a park with a monument to the Wright brothers since this is where they made their first motorized flight. (They came to the Outer Banks since the winds were reliable here and helped them launch their aircraft). At one point the houses stopped and we drove through miles of national sea shore. Then back to Rodanthe on Hatteras Island where we are camped. (Look at a map). The towns here are Duck, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Whalebone, Oregon Inlet, Waves and so on.

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday...

The visitor center at Roanoke Island. This is where we came across to the Islands from I-64

 1000 foot long fishing pier that was first built in the 1930's and rebuilt several times there after.

Another view of the pier.

Looking south along the beach.

Looking north.

A light house in the National Seashore

Park shoreline on Hatteras Island

Outer Banks or Bust!!

We made it to North Carolina and are at the doorstep of the Outer Banks. We looked into taking a ferry to the southern end of the banks, but the morning ferry is already full and the only other trip is at 4:30 and takes two and a half hours. We decided to spend the night on the mainland on the Pamlico Sound just south of New Bern (find it on the map!) In the morning we will drive on highway 17 to 64 and get to the barrier islands. We plan to spend three nights there and take day trips to explore the seashore along North Carolina's coast. I will take pictures and update you if we have good airwaves for Internet connection.
The trip has been good so far and we are still planning on being back to southeast Michigan on April 5th.
Love to all!

The campground here was hit by a tornado last April and a hurricane in August. Trees were toppled everywhere and clean-up is still underway. 

The campground host was here during the hurricane and huddled in this restroom during the storm. Two trees fell on the building, but no one was hurt!. 

Myrtle Beach; What a zoo!

This morning we took about a ten mile bike ride on the beach from the state park south. There were several resorts and a lot of beautiful homes along the ocean. The beach here is hard packed sand just like Daytona and bike riding was awesome! Later in the morning we took a tour of Myrtle Beach and were amazed at how developed it is. We knew it was a popular destination, but didn't know it was so developed. The resort hotels go on for about five miles, and there are non-stop restaurants and shopping along the main drag for miles. There is a nice boardwalk in the main downtown area that goes along the beach for about a mile in between two piers. Lots of hotels, gift shops and bars along the boardwalk and restaurants and arcades. It looks like this place would be busy at the height of peak season, but right now it is still a bit slow.

On Friday we are going to make another move further up the coast to North Carolina and the outer banks. We plan on camping there for four nights and do some more exploring.

Happy trails!

The gang at Key West standing at the southern tip of the continental US

Ospreys nest anywhere they can build on an elevated platform. Here at Flamingo on a radio tower.

A picture from the boardwalk at Royal Palm visitor's center, Everglades National Park.

The fort at St. Augustine, Florida

George Street, St. Augustine

Just read the sign.

St. Augustine Beach at Anastasia State Park.

Now we are at Myrtle Beach. Self Portrait.

The boardwalk at Myrtle.

We made it to Myrtle Beach

Well, we are actually about 12 miles south, but we found a really nice state park campground and set up for two nights. Tomorrow we will take a ride into Myrtle and do the boardwalk, but the beach here at the park is much less crowded. The temperature seems to be cooling down quite a bit, but we did get up to 83 while we were driving today. Now at 8:45 it is probably about seventy or even 65.

My internet signal is slow here, so not condusive to posting pictures. We took quite a few at St Augustine, but so far nothing from this park. Once I have good reception I will post more pictures from Key West and beyond.

US1 heading south in the Florida Keys

The beach at Bahia Honda Key

I hope everyone is well and doing fine.

St Augustine, Florida

We spent a day exploring St Augustine today and were amazed at the history and the beauty of this area. The town dates back to the 1500,s and has lots of history. St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States.^[1] Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United States.^[2] St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as "The First Coast", which extends from Amelia Island in the north to Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Palm Coast in the south. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 12,975.^[3] St. Augustine is the headquarters for the Florida National Guard.
My internet reception is slow here so I'll post pictures later. Tomorrow we are going to work our way north along the coast and will be headed to the Myrtle Beach area.

Our last day in the Everglades

We've been camping and touring with the Bozins for the past five days and all is well. They left for Disney World this morning and Nancy and I went to Biscayne National Park for the day. We were in Key West and the Florida Keys on Friday and toured Everglades National Park on Saturday. The weather has been good and hot and sunny. In the morning we head north along the east coast to northeastern Florida.
I hope this finds everyone well.

We saw our first wild rattlesnake at one of the boardwalks in the Everglades. Nice and fat and probably around six feet long.

Joe trying to shake hands with a gator!

The boardwalk at Royal Palm Visitor Center.

An Anahinga at Royal Palm.

We went for a boat ride at Biscayne National Park south of Miami and north of Key Largo.

We went to Boca Chita, an island that is part of the National Park.

Friday Heading to Key West

We are on our way to Key West this morning with the Bozins. We met up with them again in Collier Seminole State Park south of Naples and are camping with them now in Everglades National Park. We are having a great time and enjoying great sunny weather in the 80's every afternoon. We packed bikes this morning for a full day's adventure in the Keys. Yesterday Nancy and I went back to Shark Valley and did the fifteen mile bike loop to see all the alligators and wildlife in the glades. It' a great place to view the areas nature.

Birds at Clyde Butcher's Everglade's Art Gallery

At Shark Valley

And of course the gators!