Long weekend at Hatteras National Seashore

Since my weekend was not consumed entirely by baseball for a change, I decided to make a last minute trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. 

The Outer Banks of North Carolina is a chain of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina connected by a highway which relies on bridges and ferries.  As a national seashore, much of it is protected from development and many species of fowl, reptile, and mammals call this place home.  One of the significant parts of the history of the Outer Banks is that it was the place that the Wright brothers chose to test some of their early prototypes for flight.  There are numerous sand dunes on the island which combined with the coastal breezes made a good place to test their theories on flight.  Today, there is a large monument to the Wright brothers and Jockey Ridge is now a state park where you can still spread your wings and hang-glide.

We stopped at Jockey's Ridge on our way down to our destination of Buxton, NC so that we could stretch our legs after riding all afternoon.  It was a beautiful day with a stiff breeze and we enjoyed climbing over the dunes.  Of course, climbing sand is very different than the hiking I am used to and my calves were screaming by the time we left.

We continued down Route 12 to Pea Island and noticed the encroachment of the sand on the highway.  The thing to know about Route 12 is that much of it travels down narrow strips of land and there are sections where you are literally on the beach on the ocean side  and the sound is just yards away on the other side.  After crossing the impressive bridge at Oregon Inlet, it is not long before you notice the damage from late last summer's Hurricane Irene including a makeshift bridge erected to span the new inlet created by the storm.  Further down in Miro, more damage is still very much evident to homes in this area.

When we finally arrived, we quickly unloaded and threw on our swimsuit to spend a little time on the beach before dark.  It was a beautiful evening and it framed the Hatteras lighthouse beautifully.  We also saw a couple getting married on the beach at sunset just up the beach from us.  It was very beautiful.

The next morning found us traveling back up Route 12 to Oregon Inlet Fishing Center.  Our mission was to sail on a headboat and do some fishing.  Unfortunately, the only headboat operating that day doesn't leave the sound and fishing is limited.  We sailed around several spots looking for the fish but none was to be had.  We did enjoyed watching some dolphins, though, and it was very cool out on the water.  When our boat returned to the docks, many of the charters that had went out to the gulfstream were returning and unloading their catch.  There were some impressive catches that day and we enjoyed watching them unload the fish.





We then headed back to Buxton and to the beach for more evening time at the beach.  Dusk is a beautiful time to be on the beach as it gives everything a different hue.

Next morning found me up bright and early to head to the Orange Blossom Bakery for their famed Apple Uglies.  These concoctions are homeade, delicious, the size of dinner plates, and go fast.  You must be there early or your chances of getting one are slim.  They have many other awesome breakfast sandwiches and pastries, but you have to try the apple uglies at least once.

We enjoyed another full day at the beach and enjoyed playing in the surf.  There were excellent waves this weekend and many surfers were out enjoying the surf.

The day of departure arrived and we enjoyed another couple of hours on the beach before hitting the road and heading home.  We had a great weekend and everyone should experience the beautiful, unspoiled beaches of the Outer Banks.

Home Sweet Home

Writing this from the comfort of my own home where I know I will sleep well tonight.

While waiting in Chicago to board our last train, I found out the the tracks at Donner Pass were closed not long after we went through due to a mud slide.  Whew, that was a close call.  The west-bound California Zephyr ended up being about 12 hours late as a result of the mudslide.

They called us to board and we pulled out of Chicago right on time.  Unfortunately, our almost perfect on time performance took a bit of a nose dive on this last leg of the journey as we were not twenty minutes out of Chicago when they put us in a siding and we sat there for an hour and a half while five freight trains went through.  You see, Amtrak does not own most of the tracks it travels on, but rather the freight companies do and they are supposed to give priority to Amtrak but sometimes they do not.  We never made up this time and ended up pulling into Staunton more than two hours late.  The Cardinal is probably my least favorite train because it is smaller and does not have a full diner nor a sightseer lounge car.  The tracks it travels on are extremely rough, too.  The scenery through West Virginia is very pretty, though.

As we pulled into Staunton, several police officers were there to meet the train and escorted a woman off the train.  She was in coach, so I don't know what her offence was, but it was obviously serious enough to get kicked off the train.  We had to have some drama on this trip, after all, though no where near my trip last summer.

All in all it was a great trip.  Now, where do I want to go next . . . . . .

Pictures are here if you would like to view https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3213484589157.139415.1627562189&type=1&aft=3213691514330&l=141f6ad3b5

One more train

I write to you from the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago as we await the boarding call for the eastbound Cardinal at 5:15.  The ride from Denver to Chicago is fairly boring as far as scenery is concerned with the only sights worth noting is the Missippi River and the many farms dotting the midwest.

Amazingly, we arrived in Chicago a little early.  The on time performance on this trip has been incredible with us arriving early or on time on every leg except for our arrival in to San Francisco due to the southbound train hitting a camper just ahead of us.  Considering that we will have traveled over 7000 miles, it is pretty remarkable that we have kept to the schedule.

Also amazing, the on board crews and staff have been super friendly and accomodating.  This trip has been much better than my big trip last summer for this reason and for not being many hours late each time.

The food has also been fantastic.  We have enjoyed delicious steak, crabcakes, duck with orange sauce, chicken cacciatore, angus burgers, soups, and fabulous desserts.   Here is a picture of the fabulous deep dish pizza we enjoyed in Chicago and a picture from the wine and cheese tasting on the Coast Starlight:

They will be calling us to board, soon, so I will sign off for today.  I'll post from home tomorrow night.  All aboard.

Rocky Mountain High

This morning found us speeding across the high Utah Desert headed toward the Canyons of eastern Utah.  Such beautiful rock formations are here.

Then we headed into the canyons of western Colorado which was dotted by ranches and a few vineyards.  We followed the Colorado river along until we reached the Rocky Mountains.  There was still some deep snow in spots as we crossed over the Rockies and then the snow was gone as we made the sweeping descent into Denver.  We are parked here in Denver next to Coors Field and we will soon be heading to dinner.  I think I will be having Ribs tonight.  We will turn in after that and wake up in Iowa after traveling through Nebraska.



Greetings from the desert

(written yesterday, but could not post due to no coverage)

Night is now falling on the desert outside of Winnemucca, Nevada.   This morning found us packing up early and hailing a cab from the hotel and heading to the Amtrak station at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.  We were ticketed to leave from Fishersman Wharf, but that is just a bus stop with no shelter and guess what, it was still raining in San Francisco.  So, we decided to leave from the Ferry Building stop instead because they have a waiting room there.  We waited there for them to announce the arrival of the bus to take us across the bay and into Emeryville where we would catch the number 6 train, the California Zephyr.  You may recall that the California Zephyr is rated one of the top ten scenic trains in the world, so we were pretty psyched to board to see the scenery, and to go home.

Unfortunately, the rain and fog followed us from San Francisco all the way up the summits of the Sierra Nevada obscuring what is supposed to be beautiful views of the American River and Cape Horn.  The clouds and fog did make for a pretty setting along the San Pablo Bay, though, with the multitude of shore birds to be found there.

Once we reached Donner Lake and Donner Pass, the sun did finally start peeking through the clouds and the rain slacked off.  It had snowed earlier in the week and there was a fair amount of snow on the Sierras.

After we reached the summit and started to descend into a cute little town called Truckee.  Once through Truckee, the train was busy as people who were headed to Reno for the weekend were getting ready to depart.  After Reno, the train was much quieter and the scenery became much more dramatic and desolate, in a beautiful sort of way.

At least we had finally left the rain and fog behind.

Tomorrow will be a big day of scenery, the canyons of Utah and the Rockies in Colorado.



The day that wasn't

When planning this trip, one of the things I really wanted to do while on the west coast was go to Yosemite National Park.  I heard and read much about Yosemite and it has been high on my "must do" list.  Unfortunately, because of the really lousy weather here in central California, I didnt feel like it would be worth driving the four hours to Yosemite and the four hours back, so it is something that is going to have to remain on my "must do" list a while longer.

We did have a nice day in San Francisco, though.  We started out early and headed over to Alcatraz for the cellhouse tour.  In addition to the old prison, the island is covered with beautiful flowers and is home to many birds.

After Alcatraz, we grabbed some lunch at Boudin's sourdough bakery, a San Francisco original.  We then headed to Golden Gate Park and went to tour the Japanese Tea Garden.  They had beautiful flowers and lovely Koi ponds.

Then we headed over to the icon for San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and we walked the span.  It was very windy and cold, but we enjoyed walking across.  I only wish we could have really seen the views, but it was too cloudy and foggy to enjoy much view.

Finally, we headed to China Town for some authentic chinese for dinner and enjoyed looking in many of the shops.

We are packing up our things and getting ready for early morning departure.  We will take a bus across the Bay Bridge to Emeryville where we will board the California Zephyr headed to Chicago. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the Zephyr last summer and am looking forward to seeing it again.  Happy rails!





Rainy, windy, and cold

We ended up waiting about an hour and twenty minutes for the accident between the southbound train and a camping trailer to be cleared away so that we could proceed and when we got off the train in Oakland it had started raining.  We took the bus across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco and finally got to our hotel about midnight. 

We slept in a little and then went out to explore the city.  We walked down to the Fisherman's wharf area and watched the Sea Lions and did some shopping.

We then purchased one of those hop on and hop off tours and went around the city.  It gave us a good idea of what we might want to do tomorrow. We are hoping that the weather will be a bit better as it was really nasty today.

We also went to the aquarium at Fishermans Wharf which was a nice warm, dry way to spend some time.  They have some nice exhibits of  local species.

We enjoyed learning about the city on the tour and tomorrow plan on visiting the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park, walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, and visiting ChinaTown.

Here are some more more pictures about town.

Keep your fingers crossed that we will have a clearer day tomorrow.  We will start out going over to Alcatraz in the morning and then on to the Golden Gate Bridge.  Until then . . . . .