We stayed at the Ann Street Inn, a quaint bed and breakfast, central to all of the restaurants, etc. in town.
The town was beautiful! Most homes were at least 100 years old. Almost every one had a plaque indicating the house name and the year it was built.
Town was small, but just enough to have what you needed!
The waterfront boardwalk was so pretty!
Dynamo starting taking my picture since I was always taking his!
In town there is a ship building building and museum.
Over the few days we really experienced the area! The first evening we ate at Aqua Restaurant!
It was yummy! Then, the first full day we ventured over to Atlantic Beach and Fort Macon.
We relaxed on the beach and hunted for shells!
We found lots of clear rocks that looked a lot like sea glass!
For dinner we went to Spouter Inn and sat on the deck and enjoyed the view!
The bread was amazing there! They have their own bakery!
The next day was a little questionable weather wise, but we really didn't want to miss out on the great shelling we had heard about over on Shackleford Banks!
You could only get there by ferry so we ventured over to see what it was all about!
It was a nice 15 minute boat ride over to the island. We got to see the town from the waterview!
The captain was quite friendly and helpful! They promised to come and get us if the weather turned bad! But, it actually turned out to be so nice and so much fun we called to ask if we could stay longer!
We walked as far as your eye could see until it started drizzling and then turned back! Look at some of the cool shells we found!
The water was rough and the shells were just rolling onto the beach! Dynamo found so many beautiful shells. More than we could carry!! We had to leave some behind! But, we had so much fun hunting! My legs were so sore the next day from running and fighting the waves!
Back in town that evening we found what appeared to be a heart in the sidewalk!
We ate at The Cedars that evening! It was delicious!!
And so pretty too...
One thing is for sure...the food in this town was AMAZING!!!!
The next day we decided to ride over to Harkers Island to catch the ferry to Cape Lookout National Seashore and Lighthouse! On our way we stopped and grabbed a bite at the Fish Hook Grill.
The ferry ride was a quick 15 minutes and on the way the captain stopped for us to take pictures of a wild horse eating on Shackleford Banks Island.
The horse didn't even care that we were there. It just kept eating.
We hopped off of the ferry at the lighthouse and snapped a couple of pics...
We learned that the black diamonds mean north and south while the white diamonds mean east and west!
The beach was so gorgeous. Not many were out visiting the national park that day! It was like we had the whole island to ourselves!
We hopped onto the "Mule Train" and got a short tour of part of the island and were dropped off at "the point". It's the very tip of the island where the Atlantic meets the sound. The view took our breath away!
It was nothing but sand and water meeting the sky!
Not a soul around! You could see where the water covers the sand at high tide.
The tour guide dropped us off for a couple of hours and left us to hunt shells! Us and another couple of people hunted and found whole conch shells galore! It was like our own private island.
And, back we had to go to catch the ferry back to the mainland! Did you know that the island has over 50 miles of rustic roads that run along the beach? You can camp there to experience the whole beauty of the island. Dynamo and I would love to go back and do this! It was truly one of the most beautiful places we have seen. We are so thankful that it is preserved as a park.
There are a few signs here and there...
The tour guide was excellent. He knew the island well from his days in the Coast Guard while stationed there. This place truly is a national treasure! We had such a fun filled day adventuring together! We are so blessed to have one another to experience life with. God has created so many beautiful places for us to enjoy!
Here are some more pics of the town's scenery...
And we were able to set the camera up and take a pic of ourselves...
And one more!
The last night we ate at the Blue Moon Bistro!
It was the best eggplant lasagna I've ever had! And, the red velvet cake was to die for!
I'm telling you...the food in this town is unmatched! We wish we had more time to try more of the restaurants! We will have to go back because there's still so much we didn't get to do!
And, on our way home we stopped in Oriental, NC, which is the sailing capital of North Carolina!
And, here's a pic of all of the shells once we got them home!
We are looking forward to going back and visiting more around the area. There's Emerald Isle, Hammocks Beach State Park, and so much more! Hopefully next year! It was a nice time together. I treasure our one-on-one times. Life gets so busy that sometimes it's nice to slow down and relax together! Thank you, Dynamo, for a wonderful time. I love you always!
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