The Long Trek Home

The dreaded last day of vacation dawned bight and hot on the island. We loaded out of the house with John's two siblings who are now about half way through their road trip to New Mexico. We left the house and the parents at 8 in the morning and didn't get home until midnight mountain time. It was a long day but well worth all that we did. We caught the ferry to Hatteras Island to stop and see one of the most poplar sites on these outer banks, the lighthouse. We didn't have the time or gumption to climb it, so we lost out on the alleged wonderful view of the island, but we did get some history at the local museum over next to it built in the old keepers barracks.

One of the houses the lighthouse overseers lived in.

One of the things I thought was coolest about the lighthouse was that it was moved from it's original location. Because these islands are all simply made out of sand, the coast line changes a lot with currents and storms. The coastline was getting too close for comfort, so the people of the island moved it. This lighthouse is the tallest in the USA and it is an historical site, so the moving of it had to be very careful. Steel beams were set down for the 2,900 foot trek. Sensors were set up all over the lighthouse to be alerted to any tilting. Not only did the lighthouse make it to it's new location in HALF of the allotted time, but NONE of the sensors every went out. Kudos Hatteras. We hopped back in the car, skipped on over to Roanoke, and and had a sandwich at Poor Richard's where we caught a few more Pokémon.

View from the plane as we
came into Denver.

When we were talking to Sara about flying out, she kept insisting that the airport was small and easy to get through so don't get there too early. And guess what. She was right! Even though the Southwest servers went down the night before (we checked in to our flight at 2:30 AM thanks to John not being able to sleep due to sunburn) and many flights being canceled, ours was only delayed by 20 minutes and on our way home. After a quick pit stop to pick up our baby pooch at my parent's house, we were finally on our way home.

Tired, happy to be home, and thinking about out trip, were were astounded to think about how easy it is to travel in this age of modern technology. 16 hours before, we had woken up almost 2,000 miles away with the heavy, wet air flowing into the windows with the sun. We then took a boat between islands and then drove 270 miles to the airport. We boarded an airplane that flew us home then took a train to collect our baggage and a bus to collect our car. Now, traveling can be expensive and I know that not everyone can take the time to do it or save the money for the luxury, but we did in one day that, 100 years ago, would have taken weeks.

With these thoughts rambling around my head, I happily sank into my own bed with my love at my side and my baby at my feet. I love traveling, it makes coming home so much sweeter.
Until next trip, my dear reader!