Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina

When I was little, I was fascinated by a picture of a tree draped with Spanish Moss in a book I saw. Finally, at the age of 59, I got to see my first moss draped live oak, and my truck was actually parked under it in front of my hotel room. This is a different truck, but it's the same hotel room and live oak. We loved staying at the Waterway Lodge so much in Wrightsville Beach, NC in 2012, that we decided to stay there again this year.

One of the reasons we loved the room, besides the live oak, was because we had our own little parking spot and seating area, away from all the other rooms. I was really excited when the same room was available this year!

The room was the same inside as it was last time, except the bedspread was green instead of yellow.

Another good thing about this hotel is that it is on the inland waterway, rather than on the beach. Sometimes I would rather be on the beach, but sometimes it is also nice to be in a quieter area. The road by the hotel isn't terribly busy, and it is a really pretty walk, with lots of live oaks and beautiful houses.

There are also three restaurants within walking distance. The last time, we went to the Dockside Restaurant and enjoyed our meal, so we went there again this year. They were able to make a meal I could eat on my pureed diet, so I didn't have to make a meal of Ensure, and the view was beautiful!

The last time I was here, we didn't go to see the beach. The girl at the hotel told us they weren't charging for parking yet, so we went down. It was very cold and windy, and the beach was deserted, so we only took a couple of photos and returned to the truck. Unfortunately, they had apparently started charging for parking within the last day or two. We then went toward some stores, and paid for parking again, so I could go into a store for some souvenirs. The store we went into didn't have a good selection, but I bought a t-shirt.

I wanted to get things for the kids, so we walked a ways looking for another shop that was open. Almost everything close by was closed, and it was really cold, so we didn't pay for more parking in another location. I don't mind the idea of having to pay for parking, but when everything is still closed and the streets are deserted because it is really cold out, I would think it would make more sense to have free parking so people would buy things in the shops that are open.

Anyway, we really enjoyed our second visit to Wrightsville Beach. It was quiet and relaxing, and I hope we get to go again sometime!

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and the Outer Banks

After leaving Rehoboth Beach, we went across the CBBT. We have been across this bridge a few times, and always really like crossing it. They are now working on making the new set of tunnels, rather than having two way traffic in them, and the restaurant and gift shop are closed, and so is the fish pier. I feel really lucky that I got a chance to visit them back when they were open. It was a unique experience!

The photo above is of two very large ships, which had gone over the top of one of the tunnels just before we went through it. The picture doesn't look nearly as interesting as the ships looked in real life.

We were really lucky with the weather while we were gone. The temperatures were way below average the whole time, but the only rain we had was the day we drove between the Delmarva Penninsula and the Outer Banks, a few times at night, and when we drove to New York. The days when we wanted to be outside were generally sunny.

We drove from the CBBT to Kill Devil Hills to spend the night. It didn't matter too much that it was pouring rain, because we have been to the OBX a few times, so we didn't plan on sight seeing there. We spent the night just because we love it there.

This time, we spent the night in a motel we had never stayed at before. The Outer Banks Inn. Unfortunately, when we got there, even though the room was all paid for, they charged us another $60 before we could even check in. It was pouring so hard, and the parking lot was a swamp. If we hadn't paid the extra $60, we would have lost the payment we had already made, so we ended up paying more for this place than we paid at the beautiful hotel on Rehoboth Beach. The hallway to the rooms was a nightmare, and the rooms weren't great. I must say that the workers were very nice, and it wasn't their fault about the extra charges, but I definitely would never stay there again.

The next morning it was cold and extremely windy. We drove to a beach access place and watched the surf for a while. It was pretty neat, because we had never been there during stormy weather before. The photo above doesn't really show just how rough it was.