This week my cousins invited me to stay with them at Nags Head, North Carolina. They rented an efficiency at the Blue Heron Motel. It is on the beach at mile marker 15.5. This is a nice place to stay and I do recommend it. While they enjoyed an entire week there, I was able to make it down on Monday and stayed untill Wednesday.

I have to admit, I did not feel like going when Monday rolled around. I had to be up early and run errands. By noon I had a splitting headache and needed a nap like a three year old on a car trip to Canada. I did manage to pop some meds and sleep for about three hours. When I woke up, I had just as little energy before I went to sleep. Not good. It was about 4pm by now. I decided to get my things together and see how I felt in about thirty minutes. After loading the car and eating a snack, all systems were go.

The car trip was uneventful, this was a good thing. Two hours in a car is not exactly my idea of fun, but there were no surprises. I arrived around 6pm and greeted the family. Here is the cutest member of the family, Noah.  My cousin Trae is his daddy. Note: My ugliness was offset. That is how I was still able to use the camera for later photos!

After socailizing and geting a bite to eat I stepped out onto the balcony and took these photos. I managed to put them together and get this decent panorama shot.

Later on, Ryan (Trae's brother) and I got into the Atlantic. I wish I had known there were jelly fish out there! I must have gotten stung about 12 times! The thing is, you could not even see the little guys. We adjourned to the  indoor pool and hot tub for about an hour. We then got cleaned up and Trae, Ryan, and I went for a walk on the beach. The goal was to discuss what were were going to do the next day.

By this time is was dark and very difficult to see the little crabs that had come ashore for the evening. This made for a very interesting, zig-zag walk down the beach. First we came to this huge jelly fish. It must have been the size of a shovel head! I have never seen one this big and was thankful that ones like these were not stinging me earlier.

When the walk was over, we had decided to go to Oregon Inlet to drive on the beach, Bodie Island Lighthouse, the old Coast Guard Station, and the lighthouse at Hatteras. A big day and alot of driving was ahead of us. Especially since it was midnight at this point!

Tuesday morning we got up around nine and ate breakfast. I packed food and drinks and we were off by 11am. The first stop was Bodie Island. I managed to get a good shot despite the people that were there.

Bodie Island Lighthouse Facts Height: 156 feet Height of Stripes: 22 feet Stairs: 214 Light Pattern: 2.5 seconds on, 2.5 off, 2.5 on, 22.5 off Beam Range: 19 miles Ownership: transferred from US Coast Guard to the National Park Service in 2000

The second stop was Oregon Inlet. There were very few people on the beach here. Ryan and I tossed the football around for a little while then we were off to the old Coast Guard Station. I had never been to the old CGS and did not know quite what to expect. You however, can expect a long winding walk and if it is in August, a hot one at that!

The walk to the beach here was even longer, but like dummies, we did it. There were areas all along the entire way to Hatteras that were marked with these signs to protect the local birds.

 A little while later we finally made it to Hatteras! YAY! Our excitement was short lived. We got a good swift kick in the pants because tours to the top were cancelled! It seems that because the heat index was about 105°F, the park service was afraid to let anyone clib to the top. What a shame. Oh well, I can now say that I have been there and did get some great photos.

The ride back was not bad after being in the heat and doing a lot of walking. It managed to not rain on us the whole time which was a plus. Although I would have welcomed it in retrospect. After returning to the Blue Heron around 6pm, Ryan and I took a dip in the indoor pool. This was most refreshing. Later we got cleaned up and headed to the stores at Jockey's Ridge.

This is the sun setting on Tuesday night. I took it from the front of the hotel on the third floor. I left Wednesday morning around 10am. Leaving was so hard to do especially when I was with good people and they were going to be there untill the weekend! This was a fun quick getaway that I am so glad I went on. It was just what I needed at just the right time.

Read more about the places described in this article

The Blue Heron
Bodie Island Lighthouse
Oregon Inlet
The old Coast Guard Station
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse