North Carolina

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For some reason I had never thought of North Carolina as being very attractive, and that I could see all that I wanted to see in a twelve days; I was so wrong and will have to make another trip here to see what I have missed and enjoy the places where I didn’t have time to “smell the roses.”
I stayed in lovely little park between Chocowinity and Washington, NC, on the Pamlico inlet which feeds into the Pamlico Sound. I knew that I wanted to explore the Outer Banks so I chose a beautiful day and took the toll ferry from Swan Quarter to Ocracoke Island, which is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and drove up to Roanoak. How beautiful.
I had committed to attend a Multi-Chapter Escapees rally in Marion, North Carolina. Several SOLOS were going to be attending and I was looking forward to that. Marion is at the southern tip of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the campground where the rally is only about 15 miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway, so we enjoyed the area as well as some good fun and fellowship. I was there for six-days; the weather was beautiful, cool in the mornings and evenings but warm during the daytime.

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Photos

Going for a swim
On our way up the East Coast we stopped for a few days in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We just chilled out and enjoyed the beaches.

Golf Cart
What a good use for a golf cart hey? They were enjoying fishing and a cold beer on Myrtle Beach

Pamlico Inlet
The campground was lovely and right on the Pamlico. This is a shot of one of the permanent sites located there.

Seagulls
For some reason the seagulls just loved this spot at the end of the Washington boardwalk

Marina
In Chocowinity

Ocracoke Island
The toll ferry from Swanquarter to Ocracoke takes about two and a half hours. At $15/car I thought that was very reasonable.

Just look at that water
I really don't want to take a dip!

Cape Hatteras
There are several free ferries that cross at various places on the Pamlico and the Ablemale Sound. The ferry between Ocracoke and Cape Hatteras was a free one. The trip took about 40 minutes

Cape Hatteras
Such a lovely entrance. There are several homes for sale right on the Pamlico Sound overlooking the water.

House For Sale
Beautiful Location!

National Seashore
I would've loved to spend a couple of hours just sitting here and watching the waves from the Atlantic. This is Raleigh Bay, named of course for Sir Walter.

Marion
We took a trip up the Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoyed some cool mountain air and lovely scenery, this apple orchard was miles from anywhere.

Little Switzerland
This little village was so quaint. I'm not sure whether folks stay up here year around though. It was quite a climb getting here.

Emerald Village
The mine here is long since deserted, but a lot of precious stones were found here, including emeralds. The most lucrative for the town being Feldspar, which was added to a polishing cleaner.

Mica
There was mica all over the place. It was an important product because it was sold as a seconddary product. Miner's families often gleaned salable mica from the dumps.

Boy Miners
This area was very poor. Some of these poor kids don't look much older than 10.

Mothers
The men and boys were down in the mine while the women hauled around the feldspar.

The mine
It was possible to go about 60 feet inside the mine, which was really interesting. What a life though!

Old Town
Because the winters are severe here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, one building housed several businesses.