Summer Vacation...OBX Style

I love the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I have been vacationing here with my family since the 70s. It is, quite possibly, my favorite place in the world. My happy place. My go to in moments of stress. I imagine the sand on my toes and can hear the waves in my mind. We try and go on a yearly basis, but that isnt always possible. SO...
Last week we headed that way and spent a glorious seven days in Nags Head. The group consisted of  Us (me, hubbs, and boys) , my parents and Two of my brothers and their families. Two houses were rented and the fun began!!

THE signs!! 

every morning at 545 we would walk over to the beach to catch the most amazing sunrises.  These are not edited in anyway. AT ALL.  These are taken with my canon sx50 on Manual mode. This looks almost exactly like what we saw with our own eyes. (hubbs says they look a little washed out compared to actual colors.) whatever.

Sun hadnt peeked up over the horizon yet, but was filling the sky with color already.

Kind of looks like Jupiter

Good Morning Sunshine!!

DISCLAIMER: These next two photos of the sun at 200 zoom were taken right at sunrise and I DID NOT use a solar filter like I should have.  The sun was low and dark red, so I just zoomed in and snapped.  had the sun been brighter or higher in the sky I would have used a filter. ALWAYS use a filter for solar photography .

Like I stated above, This was on 200x zoom.  i think I caught sunspots. I researched current sunspots and they seemed to match up as far as placement and numbers.

Gorgeous reflection of the sun on the rippling waves

I LOVE THIS PHOTO! Those pelicans swooped down at just the right moment!

The view from the top of our hill.

We spent every day at the beach! 

Just batman strolling on the beach at dawn, looking for shells.

One of the houses.

One of the things I LOVE about the outer banks are these sand crabs. these guys are hilarious. I LOVE watching them.  They spend all morning and afternoon skittering around the beach digging holes to chill out in during the high heat of the day.  At night they come out and we used to go to the beach at night with our flashlights and chase them around.   They come up out of their holes with claws of sand, throw it out  and do a little dance around the hole. Go back in and the cycle starts over again.

One day we had the annual FISH-O-RAMA.  We all met at the Bodie Lighthouse (pronounced Body...I have been wrong my entire life on how to pronounce this) and walked back to the sound and fished until noon.

Bodie Lighthouse at Dawn

My brother pat(blue) and nephew Matt (red)

Finn (left), Me and my nephew Zach (in blue) all fishing from the pier

Yay! Finny got one!

Hubbs got one!!

He also got a clump of oysters!

Finn caught himself...the elusive "crotch-fish".

I caught 10 fish that day, thus clinching my victory for MOST FISH!!  i also got smallest fish, but thats not the point.

Hubbs took this photo. It is a collection of lures, weights and other junk hanging on the wire across the sound. 

Finny fishing

One of my many catches.

I also like to go walking on the beach and  taking photos of cool things,.

This was a draining pier near our beach . I knew i would find some cool stuff on it.

These were the gorgeous mussels and barnacles attached to the drainage pier.

OTHER:

Chocolate Covered Bacon.  Yes. It was kind of gross, but kind of good at the same time.

No trip to Nags Head is complete without  a stop at PIGMANS BBQ!!!

Had a wonderful week. Hated to come back to real life and real world. Thats always the hardest part of going on vacation, is getting back to work!  cant wait until next year!!