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!!

Ashboro Zoo on First day of spring break a.k.a 7th circle of hell

So apparently we went to the North Carolina Zoo in  Ashboro on the busiest day of the year.  An average Saturday during the summer has about 6 to 7 thousand people visit.  There were over 13,000 there yesterday. The Lady was saying they had run out of parking yesterday.  People were parking along the roads, in the woods, on the grass and lawns. Thankfully we got there early enough to get a parking spot near the front and didnt have to hike like a lot of the poor souls who got there AFTER us.
Considering how BIG the zoo is, it really wasnt too terribly bad.
What I LOVE about the NC Zoo, is that it is an open plan. The animals get large fields to roam in, there are multiple vantage and viewing points and it is so spread out that even when there are more people here than you would perhaps like, it is actually really a nice day.
And on the plus side, I think I got Charles as excited about the new cameraCanon PowerShot SX50 12.1MP 50x Optical Zoom Black Digital Camera (Google Affiliate Ad) as I am.   We were able to take some INCREDIBLE shots, especially in the aviary. He kept borrowing the camera and wandering off, coming back with various shots of birds and the flora in the beautiful Aviary.

It was a beautiful 73 degree day, blue skies, slight breeze. Perfect.  The animals were all out, showing off.  The only bad part is there had been rain the day before, so the turn was wet in the giraffe habitat, so the giraffes were not out, due to the slippery terrain and their propensity to slip, fall and hurt themselves. Oh well, cant have everything.

We started our day with a visit to the cemetery to visit the grave of our sweet Jillian.  I feel AWFUL because I havent been there in FOREVER. Worst...mother...ever.  But it was a short, sweet visit.  i even made it through without crying.  After 15 years it is getting easier.

 We Then took a 3 mile detour to hit one of our favorite restaurants in Kernersville, Prissy Polly's.  We have been going there for 16 years.  The first time charles and I ate there was before we were married. He had come to NC to visit me for a few days before the wedding. We went out to eat with my parents and at that time P.P's was run out of a small house and you would go through the line like a cafeteria.  However they are still delicious. So every time we are up in the area, we hit P.P's. LOVE THEM. The Lexington Style BBQ is delicious.(Especially with the BBQ slaw).

We finally made it to the zoo...along with 13,000 other people. Thankfully we found a parking spot rather quickly (after illegally entering a "Lot full, do not enter" barricade, looking for a handicap parking spot.  A quick jaunt into the gates and 50 dollars later and we were inside.

We spent almost 5 hours roaming the zoo. The kids were troopers (Although I heard "Im Thirsty" 482 times.).

 FIRST STOP: NORTH AMERICA:  Marshlands, Rocky Coast etc.  Alligators, Crocodiles, Turtles, puffins, otters, harbor seals and more.  All the reptiles and amphibians were out on the rocks sunning themselves. It really was a perfect day for it. Never smile at a crocodile...

This turtle couldnt get enough sun. He was trying to stretch every limb to the extreme to get the most out of the warm rays!

NEXT STOP: THE AVIARY.  This was my favorite.  It is a HUGE glass biodome building full of tropical plants, birds and more.  It smelled like jasmine, and the birds were amazing.

NEXT STOP DINOSAUR EXHIBIT:  The zoo had a special Dinosaur exhibit. It was animatronic dinosaurs that you could walk through.  It was an extra 4$ per person,  It was cool, but really for kids about 10 and under to be honest. a little young for my kids.  They enjoyed it, but it wasnt as awesome as they thought it was going to be.

 NEXT STOP: PRIMATES.  Lemurs, Gorillas, Chimps and more.  LOVE these guys.

I like to move it move it:

Now my favorites...the chimps were eating popsicles. It was hilarious. They are like little people. The gorillas were just hanging out.  There were 2 new gorillas born in august, about 7 months old. Bomassa and Apollo.

NEXT STOP: LIONS.  These fat cats were the laziest things Ive seen. and I know lazy cats, I have two at my house.  They would have given Rusty and Skittles a run for their money.

NEXT STOP ELEPHANTS, RHINOS AND ZEBRAS:

And other random pictures from the day...and yes that IS a dung Beetle sculpture.

And finally, after a LONG LONG LONG day, Foof just couldnt handle it.

Looks like he had the right idea.

Love my boys.