Happy Anniversary Honey

MST – Day 62 – 4-25-11 – ORV #27 to Midgett Realty in Rodanthe – 10 Miles

The routine is set now:  start early, park a car, drive back to where we left off, walk five or so miles of beach, get onto Highway 12, walk through a town…

Early morning shadows

Low tide, just the way we like it

After the requisite few miles we left the beach on a long boardwalk to go to Highway 12, passing through a small neighborhood of very posh recently constructed homes.  We peeked in a few windows.  Most of the homes were unoccupied with hopeful for sale signs in the front yards.

We walked through the tiny town of Salvo with its miniature post office.  I really should have been photographing these post offices from the beginning since we walk by one in nearly every town.  My dad’s career was with the U.S. Postal Service.  He would have gotten a kick out of these little ones.  

In the town of Waves we passed a tattoo parlor and I could not resist texting my husband and kids to tell them I was thinking of getting a “souvenir” of my journey.  They quickly responded with lots of suggestions but I managed to keep on walking.

The Midgett family cemetery holds a prominent spot beside Highway 12.  This family name is connected with lots of businesses in the area.

Finally we entered Rodanthe and stopped at my coffee shop that wasn’t open yesterday – yippee!  And since it was a hot day I celebrated with an iced coffee drink.  Connected to this row of shops is the kiteboarding outfitter that I found earlier and business was booming.  This is the sound side of the island where the water is calmer.  In fact, the water is only about waist deep.  If I wasn’t in the middle of a hike I could have pulled up a seat and watched for hours.

Danny found a new friend to give her the scoop on kite boarding

Close to our end point in the northern end of Rodanthe we saw a curious monument entitled “Exodus From Chamacomico” marking an interesting Civil War event. 

At the Midgett Realty offices we asked if we could leave a car in their parking lot for tomorrow’s hike and they very kindly granted permission.  It was the closest we could get to the beginning of our next big challenge – Pea Island. 

Today was Jim’s and my 30^th wedding anniversary and Danny treated me to dinner in celebration.  In our original scheduling I had hoped that Jim could join us for a few days at the Outer Banks.  That didn’t work out but I kept the dates planned because it’s pretty hard for Danny and me to find a 10-day window in our busy schedules.  I was sad not to see Jim on our special day, but we’ve planned a 10-day trip to Ireland later in the summer to make up for it.

Here you will find Danny’s blog entry for today.

Our wedding was many years ago.  The celebration continues to this day.  ~Gene Perret