Our day of exploration took us to Roanoke Island, which lies between mainland North Carolina and the islands that I refer to as the outer Outer Banks. Specifically, we explored sights in Manteo.
Our 8:00a departure from the campground made for perfect timing. We arrived in Manteo an hour later, just as the places on our sightseeing list were opening their doors. Our plans called for starting out in Fort Raleigh, but when we saw three busloads of kids in the parking lot, we made a quick adjustment to the order of our sightseeing stops. All in all, our day worked out quite nicely.
In the morning, we visited …
The Elizabethan Gardens
(above and below)
Fort Raleigh ... Home of the Lost ColonY
(image from an informational poster in the visitor center)
Although we’d packed a picnic lunch, we toyed with the idea of eating at a restaurant on the Manteo Waterfront instead. Once there, however, we had another change of heart (actually, I did; but Mui didn’t put up much of a fight). Spotting a gazebo jutting out into the water, we headed there for an al fresco meal.
My hat stands in for me for the lunch photo op.
The Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse … the view from our lunch spot.
We had planned to spend the afternoon at the North Carolina Aquarium. That was before we learned that there were several busloads of kids there intent on doing the same thing. Switching gears, we rounded out our afternoon in Manteo at …
The Roanoke Island Festival Park
(celebrating the first English Settlement in America)
And, on our way back to the campground, we capped off our day with a stop at the last of the four Outer Banks lighthouses …
Bodie [pronounced “Body”] Lighthouse
We were back at the coach around 5:00p. A few minutes to check our emails; another hour to prepare and eat our steak and shrimp dinner (cooked to perfection in our microwave/convection oven since there are no grills at Camp Hatteras, and we’ve not yet bought one for the coach). It was 6:30p before we knew it.
Although the clouds had moved in and the winds had picked up, we decided to walk over to the section of the campground that overlooks Pamlico Sound to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, the stiff wind made it impossible to wait until 7:38p to see the sun disappear over the horizon. Slightly chilled, and more than a little disheveled, we returned to the coach to enjoy a quiet evening at home.
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