A Little Tequila, A Little Princess, and a Big Ocean (OBX 7/21 - 7/25/2010) - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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A Little Tequila, A Little Princess, and a Big Ocean (OBX 7/21 - 7/25/2010)
(We had such a good time on our short roadtrip to the Outer Banks, we decided to go back for a little longer. This was supposed to be the Pre-Trip Report, but we left before I could get it posted!)
You just got home from there, and now you want to go back?
So, how did this come about, you ask? Didn't you just get back from the Outer Banks? And the answer is: “Yes”! We did get back in June from a 3 day roadtrip to see what the Outer Banks were all about and take our little chihuahua, Tia to the beach for the first time.
Brenda takes Tia for a walk on the beach
Tia confronts the Atlantic Ocean for the first time!
We loved it so much, we found 5 days in July when we could go back!
Actually, the first trip was very spur of the moment and only whetted our appetite for the ocean. This time, I had a vacation scheduled for the week of 7/18 so I could attend my family reunion and make some doctors' appointments. The reunion was Sunday, doctors' appointments Mon, Tue, and Fri.
The first part of July my Friday doctor's appointment was rescheduled for Friday, the 16th.
So... that left Wednesday through Sunday with nothing planned... and Brenda suggested we needed to go back to the Outer Banks, and I, of course, agreed!! We had a couple of more days to plan, so we started googling pet friendly motels again.
This time we found one that had a 3 room suite for about the same money per night as the regular hotel room last time. That means we can save a little money by cooking some of our meals... theoretically.
This motel is not on the beach, but it's not far from it... well... for that matter, anyplace in the Outer Banks is “not far from the beach!” It is, literally, in the shadow of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, though.
Well, we booked it for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights!
I decided, last time, that Southern Ohio to the Outer Banks of NC should, really be a 2 day drive. If you try to do the 600 miles in one day, you just can't enjoy the ride. So, we decided to stop somewhere in Virginia on the way, this time. I belong to Holiday Inn's frequent guest program, and occasionally get to add points to that account. I just happened to have enough points for a free room at any of Holiday Inns' affiliates! We did some research and found a Holiday Inn Express at the Richmond, VA airport, which is just over 400 miles from us. We just LOVE their breakfasts! This HIX is pet friendly and they had a room for us. Well, my DW, Brenda, was able to get an early dialysis session for Wednesday, which meant we could get out of town before noon! And that meant we would be able to easily get to Richmond in the early evening. From Richmond, it would be about 200 miles more to our motel in the Outer Banks. The return home trip on Sunday we would do in one day so we can spend as much time as possible at the beach! Brenda will have to do a dialysis session somewhere in the area on Friday or Saturday, if possible.
We want this to be a relaxing vacation so our plans are pretty simple:
Wednesday, 7/21:
Leave home by 11am, earlier, if possible
Quick stop in Gallipolis, OH for lunch @ Capt D's (Just to get in that beachy, fishy, vacationy mood!)
No particular plans to stop for anything till we get to the Blue Ridge Mountains
Stop at turn outs in the Blue Ridge for photos
On to Richmond
Find the Holiday Inn Express, Richmond Airport on the East side of Richmond
Thursday, 7/22:
Breakfast at the hotel
Leave the hotel about 9am
Arrive on the Outer Banks, possibly about 2-3pm
Go on to the motel and check in and check out our rooms
Dinner (to be determined)
Back to the motel
Friday 7/23:
Probably dialysis on the mainland (somewhere to be determined). There is a clinic in the Outer Banks in Manteo, but they didn't have room. The next place is about 78 miles from our motel, but we haven't heard back from them.
We will go to the beach today
All else will be determined by how long we spend at dialysis and how Brenda feels afterwards.
Saturday 7/24:
Today we will go to Okracoke Island. It is about a 40 min ferry ride.
See the Okracoke Lighthouse
Visit the Pirate Museum
Look up a couple of vacation rentals for future reference
Go to the beach
Sunday 7/25:
630 mile ride home
All of this is subject to change and “spur of the moment whims”! There are a lot of things to do in this vacation Mecca, and, once again, we won't have time to do much of it. We are starting to plan a 1-2 week vacation somewhere in the Outer Banks for September of 2011, when we will have much more time to explore. In the meantime, short trips, like this one, memories, and dreams will have to do.
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Hey Kenny those are lovely pics of the Outer Banks!! Im in Charlotte, NC and it took us 7-8 hrs to drive there but you must go to this resturant called "Eat and Get the Hell Out" The breakfast there is awesome and cheap. You must go to Duck and Corolla and there are lighthouses there for you to view. Also dont forget about The Wright Bros Museum and take the long walk to the monument there and see where they have mesaured the distances of their flights. Jockey Ridge is absolutely amazing and watching people doing the hang gliding was a sight to see. I could go on and on but I have to make that trip back out there now, its just a beautiful place to visit.
Hey Kenny those are lovely pics of the Outer Banks!! Im in Charlotte, NC and it took us 7-8 hrs to drive there but you must go to this resturant called "Eat and Get the Hell Out" The breakfast there is awesome and cheap. You must go to Duck and Corolla and there are lighthouses there for you to view. Also dont forget about The Wright Bros Museum and take the long walk to the monument there and see where they have mesaured the distances of their flights. Jockey Ridge is absolutely amazing and watching people doing the hang gliding was a sight to see. I could go on and on but I have to make that trip back out there now, its just a beautiful place to visit.
Thanks for the tip on the restaurant, I remember seeing it in the brochures, but we haven't made it there yet... We actually went through Duck to Corolla and saw the Corolla Lighthouse, but I didn't climb it. We love it there and will be going back as soon as we can swing it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Wonderful plans!
Thanks, Cheryl... that isn't necessarilythe way it happened, though...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinkyt177
Sounds wonderful, I love to see people on dialysis still living, and enjoying life as much as possible.
Yeah, dialysis is a scary thing, but, it's not the death sentence it once was. They have clinics all over the country... well, world, where you can get your treatment!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start Kenny!
Thanks, Marnie!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrDolphin
Great start kenny - I've been the Banks once for training - in Feb.... need to go back - when the weather is nicer. Looking forward to reading more.
I was wondering if you had been there with your job, Terri. Plenty to do... or not, and lots of beach!
I am trying to find time to post the first day, but so far, I just haven't had the time. Soon, though... I'll try tomorrow... shoot!!! Today... well, SOON!!!!
A Little Tequila, A Little Princess, and a Big Ocean (OBX 7/21 - 7/25/2010) Updated 8/10/10
Let The Fun Begin
So, you know a bit about why, and how this trip came about, now I think maybe I should introduce the characters involved and explain how I came up with the title.
No... it has nothing to do with the Disney Princesses having a big par-tay at the beach!
A little Tequila
This would be our little chihuahua, Tia Marie. When we first got her, we were amazed at how she would lick me up one arm and down the other until she had “kissed” every bit of exposed skin. I had to nickname her Tequila... 'cuz, as you can see, she's such a licker!
A little Princess
My Mother also has a little chihuahua she named Princess, and she was invited to come along to keep Tia company.
Tia and Princess get some of their best rest riding in the car:
My Mother, aka: Granny
We like to bring her along on most of our adventures, whenever she can come along. She loves to join in the fun with us.
My cousin, and Brenda's best friend, Janet.
Janet's DH works on the tug boats in the Ohio river, and is gone 20 days and off 10 days. Our trip fell within the 20 days he was working and Janet was home alone, so we asked her if she would like to come along, and she said, “Yes!”
My DW, Brenda
Brenda and I have been happily married now for 11 years... come to think of it, we've only been married for 11 years, so, I guess you can call us a Happily Married Couple! We met on the Internet through a mutual friend... (hmmm... that was 11 years ago, too. And they said it wouldn't last!)
Brenda is from New England and she LOVES seafood. She also loves the seashore, and, I think, those are the two things she misses most after moving to Ohio to be with me. Funny thing is, by basing most of our vacations in the last few years around the ocean, I, now love it as much as she does, I think. Brenda was diagnosed with kidney disease last year and we have had to adapt our lives to her having dialysis 3 times a week. The clinic where she does her dialysis helps setting up sessions wherever you are vacationing, so she let them know 3 weeks ahead of time where we would be so they could arrange for her treatment in the area.
Ahhhh, and, finally there is me, Kenny, aka, Kenny, on the boards!
I have been a truck driver for the last 23 years. I have been delivering Kenworth trucks for 20 of those years.
We call it piggybacking, where I drive one truck and “piggyback” up to three more onto each other and deliver all of them, then fly home or to the next load. I fly almost as many miles as I drive, so we rack up a bunch of frequent flier miles and motel frequent guest points through my job.
The Outer Banks... wild horses, the first flight, lighthouses, Pirates the Lost Colony, a movie set, ferries, and miles and miles and miles of uncrowded, pet friendly, beaches and Ocean surf! Paradise, indeed! How did we discover this beautiful place? By complete accident! Oh, we had heard of the Outer Banks, and Kitty Hawk, and Nags Head, and Cape Hatteras, sure. But we had never put them all together. One day, at dialysis, Brenda was surfing the Internet, Facebook, actually, when she saw an advertisement for The Outer Banks. We took a weekend and checked it out and fell in love with the place.
Let's go to the beach! Wed 7/21
Brenda got an early time for dialysis today, 6:30am. Although it was hard to get up so early, we made it! I finished packing the car and picked up Granny and Princess while Brenda had her treatment. She finished up about 10:30am and we were on the way to pick up Janet, who lives about 40 miles down the road, but on the way. She was ready to go when we got there.
First things first, of course. We needed to get in the right frame of mind, and pick up a little lunch in the process. Janet is allergic to seafood, so we had to stop at Wendy's for her, but then we crossed the street to Cap't D's for the rest of us!
Fish and shrimp in our bellies, it was time to cross the Ohio River and get this show on the road!
So, from the lunch stop in Gallipolis, Ohio, We would take US 35 to I-64 East into Charleston, West Virginia. From Charleston, I-64 runs together with I-77 South, as part of the WV Turnpike, through the mountains to Beckley, WV.
From Beckley, we would stay on I-64 East into Virginia...
... by then it was breaktime. I got off at the next exit and we found a State Park that was a little road back up into the mountains. If we had had time, we would have explored a bit, but we found a turnout that was just what the pups needed to get more comfortable...
Back on the highway, we continued through the VA mountains...
... towards the Shenandoah Valley. I-64 East connects with I-81 North for a few miles through part of the Shenandoah Valley, then I-64 turns East again towards the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was here that we found our first Dunkin' Donuts! Granted, it was just a self-serve area in a convenience store, but it served for Brenda and I to get a much needed DD fix!
I really wanted to get pictures from the top of the Blue Ridge because it is, truly, one of the most beautiful places on earth (for a while, in my life, I thought it was THE most beautiful place on earth!) but it was raining, no, pouring, when we got there, so there was nothing to take pictures of. I still stopped at one of the turnouts to see if I could capture any of the beauty, but all you could see was fog. I would have to try on the way home.
We continued on I=64 East through Richmond, VA to Sandston, which is the Richmond airport, where we found our Hotel for the night.
We checked in and then found a KFC down the street and took our dinner back to the room.
Sleep was soon after that. We didn't want to miss the cinnamon rolls in the morning!
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Hello Fans! I apologize for taking so long on this TR. My excuses are work and just a bunch of small personal issues have kept me from keeping up with my social networks. However, I am still here and will continue. I have our second day mostly finished and intend to post it in the next day or so. I got copies of Janet's pictures and she has several good ones that I couldn't get, so I will post hers for our first day here and add them in for the rest of the trip. Thanks for your patience with me... and if you've run out of patience, well I can understand that, too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kworrell0514
Love the OBX! We go every year during the fourth of July week. I think we're hatteras island junkies!
Now that we have found it, we love it, too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great update and cast Kenny! More please!
Thanks, Marnie! More coming.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Great update!
Thanks, Cheryl!
Some of Janet's pictures of our first day's drive:
Another view of the Ohio River
The West Virginia mountains... it was a bit cloudy that day
Did you stop at Douthat State Park? That area is where I grew up.
Sorry the lookouts on Afton Mountain were fogged over. That mountain can be scary in the rain and fog!
Can't wait to read about your beach adventures!
Yes, Melissa! it WAS Douthat State Park! Wish we could have explored it a little more, but we had to keep moving.
I got a couple of pictures from Afton Mt. on the way back that I will be sharing. It is truly a most beautiful area!
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and explain how I came up with the title.
it has nothing to do with the Disney Princesses having a big par-tay at the beach! 
I had to nickname her Tequila... 'cuz, as you can see, she's such a licker! 
through a mutual friend... (hmmm... that was 11 years ago, too. And they said it wouldn't last!) 
Although it was hard to get up so early, 
so we had to stop at Wendy's for her, but then we crossed the street to Cap't D's for the rest of us! 
I got off at the next exit and we found a State Park that was a little road back up into the mountains. If we had had time, we would have explored a bit, but we found a turnout that was just what the pups needed to get more comfortable...
Granted, it was just a self-serve area in a convenience store, but it served for Brenda and I to get a much needed DD fix! 
Kristie
My excuses are work and just a bunch of small personal issues have kept me from keeping up with my social networks. 
However, I am still here and will continue. I have our second day mostly finished and intend to post it in the next day or so. I got copies of Janet's pictures and she has several good ones that I couldn't get, so I will post hers for our first day here and add them in for the rest of the trip. Thanks for your patience with me... and if you've run out of patience, well I can understand that, too! 
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