Last Minute OBX Trip
The wife and I decided at the 11th hour to take Friday off work and spend Valentine's weekend on road :wings: She's 6 months pregnant so there's very little physical activity for her these days. Fortunately for me she enjoys road trips and visiting new places so after spending a late night Thursday dialing in a few things on the truck we loaded up all the gear and hit the road Friday morning heading east.
Before I go on I should preface by saying this was by no means a "hardcore" off road trip nor am I a good photographer, but the plan was to hit the sand on the Outer Banks for some off road driving time, snap a few pictures along the way, and mainly enjoy the beautiful weather and relaxing time away from the city and the monotony of working in an office.
On to the trip....
We spent last night in Beaufort, NC at the Beaufort Inn on the river front (great place and highly recommend if you're ever in the area). After a nice breakfast compliments of the Beaufort Inn staff and chat with the owners we headed north on hwy 70 for a date with the Cedar Island Ferry over to Ocracoke Island.
A few pictures from this morning at a rustic old gas station turned restaurant in downtown Beaufort and a few decent pics of the Tundra showing off it's new armor and painted grille :elkgrin:
I've always had a soft spot for the VW's and this one was no exception, parked on the street in Beaufort. My wife thinks I'm crazy but I had to turn around and snap a pic.
For those not familiar with the NC coast there are hundreds of small barrier islands that are a part of the larger more commonly known Core Outer Banks islands like Ocracoke, Hatteras, etc... NC operates a ferry system that connects tourists from the mainland to each of the larger core islands. The other smaller islands are open to 4wd vehicles but are only accessible via privately owned and operated ferry services. On the way to the Cedar Island Ferry (NC Ferry) we drove through the small town of Davis, NC where the private ferrys head out to the smaller islands. It seemed as though around every corner in these small towns all of the older 4wd trucks and vans had been lifted and outfitted with large mud terrain tires and slide in campers. :Wow1:
The drive from Beaufort to Cedar Island provided several very scenic views and beautiful spots as we traveled through the wilderness areas.
We arrived at the boarding terminal for the ferry around noon with a scheduled departure time of 1pm. After a PB&J sandwich and cold beverage we loaded the ferry for the 2.5 hour trip across the Pamlico Sound bound for Ocracoke Island. I only took a handful of pictures on the ferry ride as the trip had us mainly on open water.
After a nice nap, some reading, and several snacks we finally arrived on Ocracoke Island. By this point we had been on payment for 300+ miles so I was itching to put the truck in 4wd and hit the sand! We had about an hour to kill before catching the next ferry from Ocracoke over to Hatteras Island so hit the sand we did. :wings:
Given our time crunch I only stopped once on the sand to snap a couple of pics.
We are staying the night tonight on Hatteras Island and if the weather proves to be as beautiful tomorrow as it was today we plan to drive out to the cape in the morning before hitting the pavement again for the load trip home.
I promise I'll post some soon.
