Weekend getaway

Spring has sprung in North Carolina! The trees blossomed, and quickly changed to leaves. The air is warm and the grass is green! We've been spending alot of time outside landscaping/gardening and planting things...even though we really don't know what we're doing yet!
Because the weather has been so warm we decided to take a weekend trip to the coast! We went to Atlantic Beach/Pine Knoll Shores, which is on what is considered the "crystal coast,"...the southern part of the North Carolina Outer Banks, where all the lighthouses are. It is about 4 1/2 hours away, but on the way there, we unfortunately drove through Raleigh at rush hour--bad idea! That slowed us down an extra 1 1/2 hrs. We stayed at a hotel called the Whaler Inn Beach Club, which is RIGHT on the beach...we could step on the sand right out of our room.

The first thing we wanted to do was go to the North Carolina Aquarium. We got to touch sting rays, and horseshoe crabs, which isn't exactly pleasant. Atlantic Beach, where we stayed, is one of the areas where the Loggerhead sea turtles breed. The mothers lay their eggs in a hole in the sand and when the baby turtles are born they have to scramble their way to the ocean. It is a big attraction to the beach. Unfortunately, we went too early to see any turtles.




We did learn that there are american alligators in North Carolina! That is as far north as they get, in the east coast. I love alligators. At the aquarium, we also got to go on a nature hike through a swamp, but the only "nature" we came across were some squirrels. Ooooooh, aaaaaah.
As you can see, we played in the ocean a bit as well, Cory got a bit too excited. The water was surprisingly warm. We had a great time! I guess we're just gearing up for our cruise coming up in 10 days. Not like I'm counting.