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Joan and the Girls on the Beach Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Hatteras, North Carolina
The day started with drizzly overcast weather - we were disappointed that our last day in this park would be canceled due to weather. And, since the day before was nearly perfect, we were kicking ourselves for not taking advantage of the good weather.
After the rain let up, though, we took the dogs down to the beach and let them run. (Technically, they were on 'a six foot leash'. However, there was no human on the other end. I wonder how that would play out with a park ranger!). We did a bit of beach combing, and Joan picked up some more shells. This beach wasn't as productive as Shackleford Banks, but she did get a couple of interesting items to add to her collection.
There weren't many other folks out that morning, so we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. Walking the surf after a storm and while it is still overcast is somehow a very tranquil experience. The beach is affected dramatically by a storm as pounding surf and driving winds transport sand in many directions. But the next day the beach is still there. Changed perhaps,
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After the Storm and possibly in very significant ways, but it is still there. So to walk up and down the beach, especially with the surf filtering sand between your toes, is to experience permanence amid the change. It gives you a feeling that everything will, in the end, work out just fine.
After an hour, the girls were getting tired, so we headed back to the trailer, ate some lunch, and then took another long nap (did I mention we were tired!). I woke up around 3:00 to see lots of blue sky and even sunlight. So we hurriedly packed up our beach towels and newly purchased beach umbrella and headed back to the beach.
For two hours, we enjoyed the sun on the beach the usual way a beach is to be enjoyed. A few trucks arrived with surf-fishers, and we had to share a half-mile of beach with two other couples who had the same idea. But, finally, after two months of traveling and visiting five major southern beaches, we had real 'beach time'. There is an unique pleasure in laying on the sand, in the sun, with your eyes closed, listening to the complicated rhythms of the
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Smooch Playing in the Surf waves.
After an hour or so, I realized that my lily-white back was starting to feel the effects of the sun. We packed up and moved back to the trailer. Changing clothes, we headed down for one last dinner on the beach at Dinky's Restaurant in Hatteras Village. Located on the sound-side of the island, they sat us at a table next to a west-side window so we had views of the fishing activity on the inlet below us, as well as the setting sun in the distance. For about two hours we enjoyed a bottle of wine and two great meals. I had a shrimp and crab-meat risotto in a tomato and mushroom sauce, Joan had a pecan encrusted grouper. All the fish were most likely swimming earlier in the morning. Just delightful.
And so ended our trip to Cape Hatteras. This is a terrific park and a wonderful place to experience the beach. (17.1.64)
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Randall
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What a trip!
It's so fun & interesting hearing about your trip, like i'm along with you!