Last on the blog for our North Carolina trip are photos of the Blue Ridge Parkway (the highlight of the trip for me personally) and hiking. Stay tuned for photos from our trip to Los Angeles and Michelle and Brandon's wedding preview (they will be married on the 29th!)

Lin Cove Viaduct

I took this profile shot of Andy while he was sitting on

his perch to take the previous photos.

This is what it looked like driving on it from inside the car. Scary!!
This is what the hike up to our perch looked like.

The view was worth it!

Taken from the car again.

Taken at one of the many scenic overlooks.

The beauty is all around us!!

We hiked to see three waterfalls.

Andy decided he needed a gazillion photos of the above waterfall so while I was momentarily

bored I decided to take photos of myself to see how red my face was (it was SOOO hot).

The hike down from the top of Chimney Rock.

This is what we did after all that hiking!

I think this photo was actually taken in the morning though.

My favorite part of most any vacation is spending time

at the beach. Here are some landscapes and other

things from our tip to North Carolina.

Ocracoke Seagrapes on the beach in Ocracoke.
The sky and ocean taken from the ferry on

our way to Ocracoke from Cedar Island.
This is a sand crab on Hatteras Island.

I had to saturate the crab in order for him to

not blend in with the sand in the photo.

These little guys were scurrying aorund everywhere!

Myrtle Beach. You can see one of the multi million dollar homes in the background. These last two were taken at the beach in Kitty Hawk.We were saying goodbye to the ocean before driving back to Raleigh to catch our flight home.

I LOVE taking photos of lighthouses! We were able to photograph

4 lighthouses along the coast. First off is one of the most famous;

the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.

Ocracoke Lighthouse.

On Ocracoke there are miles and miles of heavenly

undisturbed beach that is part of the National Seashore.

The only bad thing about this island (other than the

remoteness, 2.5 hour ferry ride from Cedar Island and

another 40 minute ferry ride to Hatteras island) are the

mosquitoes. It was like the movie Jumanji!

The Bodie Island Lighthouse is also on Hatteras Island.

It sits accross a goregeous grove of tall trees and behind it is

a boardwalk trail through marsh and reeds.

Currituck Lighthouse

This was the only lighthouse open for climbing.

Most of them close to climbers in early October.

View from the top (looking toward Virginia)

The next stop on our vacation blog tour is Wilmington. Wilmington is a fun town with an artsy vibe yet retains that Southern charm. It was one of our favorite parts of the trip. We stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast called the Greystone Inn. It is a 5 diamond inn and I highly recommend it! While in Wilmington we toured a couple of historic homes. (Yeah, we're geeks like that and yeah, we also watch the History channel!) Before we left town we toured the WWII battleship the North Carolina. (Andy had more fun with the ship than me. I can only take so much history in one day).

The Greystone Inn

Our room and chocolate turn down service.

The grand staircase.

The dining room and parlor.

They made a delicious southwestern egg fritata for breakfast.

The former ballroom on the top floor. The doors go out to a rooftop patio

where the band used to play back in the day. So cool.

We wanted to take a trolly tour through the historic district

but they canceled the last one of the day. We settled for a

cheesy cariage ride instead but the host was very funny

and we had her to ourselves. Andy took this lovely

photo of the horse's backside. (His name is Ned).

The Bellamy Mansion and gardens.

We must shoot a wedding there some day!

View from the cupola of the Bellamy Mansion.

The Burgwin-Wright House and Gardens.

The host gave a great tour.

A daytime and nightime photo of the river walk area

(Along the Cape Fear River).

Andy wearing an old mask at this fun store downtown called Planet.

He found a man version of a copy cat Shootsac (a.k.a. a regular mesenger bag) there.

The last two photos are from the battleship.