Up in good time (way too early for me at 5am) and due to the weather forecast of a pending rain storm down where the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is located, we flipped what we had planned to do today (visit Cape Hatteras) with Saturday (visit Corolla, NC on the north Outer Banks) and instead headed out to Corolla today and hopefully visit Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and area tomorrow when the weather is predicted to be better.
Off we drove on the only highway on the Outer Banks, Highway 12 for about an hour north. After driving for about 30 minutes we drove through the the city of Duck on our way to Corolla – what a sight to see some of the plays on words that were used on highway signs for this area! Continuing onward, we went to the Corolla Visitors centre and then proceeded as far north as we could go – to where the highway ends and a sheriff sits in his cruiser to ensure only 4wd vehicles continue onto the beach and they have a permit to do so! We pulled a U turn and soon found we had passed what we were looking for – which was recommended to us by the Visitors Centre – a lovely accessible .6 mile boardwalk trail through the dune forest to the west side of the island to look over the delta area on the sound. There was a small parking lot and sure enough, the one accessible parking spot was empty! What an enjoyable walk in the humidity! Yes, due to the impending weather that humidity is climbing! It was about 75% at that point in time and 25 degrees C in the shade.
Next we drove back down the island a short distance and stopped at the Historic town of Old Corolla, where there also was a Wooden Boat museum, a lighthouse and several stores. First we visited the Wooden Boat museum and what a beautiful display that was! It was in a tall but narrow building with boats in two rows and a ramp up the middle. At the end, at the top of the ramp, was a display area. On each side of the museum were more displays. I was totally enthralled as I like water and boats and remember building with my dad our own wooden dinghy in the workshop. And this display was free! Quite surprising!
Next to the Marine Museum of Corolla is the Corolla lighthouse, pictured in yellow above. It can be climbed like the Cape Hatteras one, yet Andrew decided to pass on it, as we are going to Cape Hatteras area tomorrow. We saw both the lighthouse and next to it, the gift shop (although not accessible) and then went into the Old Town to check out some of the displays there such as the original Lifeguard station and the Corolla Wild Horse Museum/Wild Horse Fund store and display. We also stopped for some coffee/sustinance and I did some shopping as the coffee shop had some really cool photo cards! We then visited the Corolla bookstore which was a bit of a unique experience as it was not accessible at all (it had a ramp but bookcases inside were VERY close together), I managed though and I was able to get some nice postcards!
Now when we started to drive back to the hotel, we took the Virginia Dare Road instead of Highway 12, once they split near the upper exit of the Outer Banks back to the mainland. The VDR basically parallels the highway all the way down through Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and into Kill Devil Hills, past our hotel to where the road comes in from Manteo. Along the way we saw tons of beautiful houses and LOTS of sand dunes – which we will hopefully play on these another day!
Near our hotel, Kill Devil Hills had in the last few years built some “accessible beach access” for people who use mobility devices. I thought this was awesome as I would not have to climb the stairs over the dunes that were everywhere or drag my walker through the sand. This was a really nice set-up – there was a paved parking lot, a great ramp up next to the Lifeguard station, a private accessible shower stall, and a ramp to the beach. The only issue was that the mat which is used on the sand did not go very far compared to other beach locations I have been to like Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver and various beaches in Spain. Spain, hands down was overly accessible at their beaches – the mats go right down to the waterline!
It was though, despite the short leash of the mat, great to visit the beach! Just the smell of the fresh salt air is so comforting! While I do not remember exactly where we stayed at the Outer Banks so many decades ago, the sand dunes are definitely smaller and the beaches do not go as far out into the ocean now – according to my memory! I am aware that the Outer Banks has been hit by some pretty bad storms and hurricanes and that has affected the beach and as a result the sand dunes – the good thing to see is that they are being restored/taken care of from an ecology standpoint. Hopefully we will see those sky high dunes and long beaches out to the ocean again!
After this experience, I was quite tired! I guess it was all that fresh air that did me in, so we went back to the hotel after about 30 minutes. We had requested a move to one of the accessible rooms that had become available, so we moved rooms and that did me in! We had dinner and I *think* Andrew was watching some sports and I was trying to knit, which it was at this point, I realized that it was Friday the 13th! So much for things going wrong! It was an awesome day! I soon was sound asleep!
