Where the Streets have NO NAME [Wish I was joking]

In roughly three months, I'll be getting married (yay!). However, in a week and three months, I will be on an island made of mountains (bigger yay!). Yes, you can take the girl out of Colorado, but you can't take the mountains out of her blood. I will be heading the an island known as "Helen of the West Indies" because of how often the French and English fought over it.

St. Lucia is located Almost as far south as you can get in the Caribbean. Just a blip north of the coast of Venesuela, it'll be the farthest south I've ever gone. Thanks to another excellent Air B&B snag by my mother-in-law, John and I have a simply luxurious place to stay while we are there.

Instead of getting ready for work this morning, like an adult, I decided instead to work on plans for our honeymoon. I messaged the host of the place we are staying to get the address so that I could figure out how long it would take to get there from the airport, but mostly so I could creep on it using google street view. Apparently it doesn't have an address.

No, you don't understand. This isn't a scam. It's not that I just needed to look harder.

There are a lot of streets and roads on this island that simply aren't named. Seriously, his directions were like, "Take THE highway from the airport, turn left at the gas station, and right at the big church."

For those of you who don't know me, I'm directionally challenged enough IN DENVER. Thankfully this is an island and it is small, otherwise I guarantee I'd end up in the wrong country. There is a drive-in volcano on this island though.... anyone want to make bets on if I end up in that by accident?

North Carolina Video

If anyone is curious about how my trip went, I made a video!

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!

Ocracoke: Sunburns, Ocean Storms, and Crabs

So what's the first thing you do when you get to an island? Well, I slept, but most people go straight to the beach with a rum punch in their hands. So we showed up to our amazingly gorgeous Air B&B (Thanks again for finding these, Lisa!) and then we slept. For some reason, driving all day makes you more tired than you ever thought it should.

The Beach
The most experience I have with beaches is the pristine white Florida beaches, and this beach is very much not that. The sands are this beautiful golden color and the water is this deep blue-green. Fun fact, the island itself has a company that rents chairs and umbrellas to all the beaches. This was my only saving grace. More specifically.... this was John's only saving grace. We had a lot of fun dunking people in the ocean, playing a version of sand ping pong, and building sand castles. Our downfall came with the lack of reapplying sunscreen. A few of us did, but not enough for how much we must have been washing it off in the ocean. Thankfully, I don't have any pictures of our shame to show you, but damn. I am really marrying into an Irish family. Red heads throughout the family and skin as delicate as the finest silk. We were burned for
days. But hey. We had fun.

The entire time we were up at the Wright Brother's memorial, the park rangers kept telling us that the undertoe is strong and how to survive a riptide. A riptide is when the water goes out, in the most simple terms. You, as a swimmer, need to swim parallel to the shore until you're back in waves and they will bring you back to the shore. No one warned me of the however. The drag on my legs walking back to shore tired me out like none other. I spend the last half hour asleep with my toes in the water, which is one of the reasons I burned to a crisp.

Fishing: 
Another great activity on this island is the fishing. Crab fishing, shrimp fishing, fish fishing, all if it is a good time had by all. We went out on the boat Miss Kathleen with Captain Ronnie. If anyone is planning a trip to Ocracoke any time soon and really wants to go fishing, I would highly suggest him to you. Not only is he quite the character, but he is a

native islander with a smaller boat. You don't ever get the feeling of the large commercial fishing tours and his price is quite modest. He's happy to come down and help you bait your hook and chat with you about not only what you'll be fishing for, but what life is like for a fisherman on this island. We all caught some variety of spanish mackerel, blue fish, and flounder. That's just the ones we were able to bring home. There was a lot of seaweed, lizard fish, and robin fish caught and returned. Bob got the record of the smallest fish caught, which takes a lot of skill you know. You have to aim for something so small!

We passed by the island to the south of Ocracoke called Portsmouth. The island is now technically abandoned because the jobs left and so did the people. I believe it was officially left in the 1950s. All the buildings are still there and intact, and the post office is still kept up by the local park rangers. Many people still charter private ferries or boats to bring them over and camp on the island, but that sounds like a good start to a horror movie to me and I'll happily stay with civilization on Ocracoke.

The whole fishing trip, I was watching the beautiful green ocean kiss the purple storm clouds on the distance marveling at the colors they produced. Don't believe me? Well I actually got a picture of this, thankfully:

Photo Credit to Lisa Regan

As we were anchored and fishing just off the shore of Portsmouth, Captain Ronnie proclaimed he didn't like the way that storm was coming in and proceeded to drive DIRECTLY INTO IT to get back to Ocracoke. Now don't get me wrong. We weren't riding into the Perfect Storm on the back of some revenge driven captain, but it was still spooky to watch the lightning flash deeper in the heart of the roiling gray-blue clouds. I took a great many videos, soaking my camera lens in the process, but nothing could quite capture that feeling of impending doom. I think the best picture of that feeling was caught by Lisa who has also entered it into a photo contact for Ocracoke Realty. I'm always so surprised at how awe inspiring natural powers can be. As nervous as I was driving into it, I couldn't just sit down and enjoy it from a seat safe near the cabin. I was at the back of the boat with John, watching the waves roll by and us drive deeper under the storm cloud. It. Was. Beautiful.



Crab Fishing:
The next day, after some cruising around downtown and having a Pokémon date (which is just like a normal date, but you play Pokémon Go the whole time) the family went to the pier on the northwest

side of the island and went crabbing. I have only ever used crab pots to catch crab before. That's when you put a big chicken wire box into the ocean with some bait and then ignore it for a few hours. It's really my kind of crabbing. However, even if crabs don't bike the bait like fish do, they are stupid enough to not let go once they have it meaning that if you're careful, you can pull them up to your net. First things first, you buy a bunch of chicken necks. Then you throw those on the end of a string and wait. There are lots of fish in the water who will nibble at it so you will feel lots of tugging, but you have to wait until your line starts to walk away before you pull it up. Amazingly, it works. With six crabs bubbling away in a cooler, we happily went home that night.

That night we were treated to a beautiful lightning show along the northern coast. I was boosted onto the roof to get pictures of the full moon and the myriad of strikes. Sadly, not a single one of them turned out otherwise I'd show you why it was worth getting 5 bug bites on my left foot alone just to watch the splendor.

History: 101

Saturday we woke up, some of us went to the farmer's market *coughoverachieverscough* and others slept in and packed. By 2 in the afternoon we had lazily worked our way of the beautiful town home

in Cary, North Carolina and on to the island of Roanoke.
ROANOKE:

History lesson:
In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh was granted a charter from queen Elizabeth to try to start an English colony on Roanoke Island. This was at the beginning of the Anglo-Spanish War. Roanoke was meant to be a military port for the English to jump on Spain from an unsuspecting direction. The first wave of men built a fort on the island as well as built relations with two of the native tribes. But after sacking and pillaging one of the tribes villages because they were suspected of stealing a silver cup (come on guys, what good is that going to do?) the tribe retaliated with many causalities on both sides. These men were shortly able to board a boat and head back to England thanks Sir Francis Drake who was coming up from the Caribbean after a raid there and offered a ride back for the men.

The second wave of people consisted of 115 men and women. They reached the fort and only found a skeleton. The pilot refused to let the colonists back on board the ship to return home when they saw

there was no one left here. The colonists stayed and gave birth to the first European born on North American soil, Virginia Dare. Because of the war, relief for the colonists stretched from the promised year to three. John White was able to charter a ship three years later to come and see what was left of the colony. Carved into a tree nearby was the word "CROATOAN" which was not only the name of a nearby native tribe, but also the island to the south. The fort and all the buildings within were dismantled showing that the people did not leave in a rush and had time to take the precious supplies of the fort with them.   Because of a brewing storm, John White's men refused to continue searching down to the southern island and they left the port to go back to England that day.

No traces were ever found of this colony after that. There were no more forts or encampments or even traces of them. If you go to the exact place where the colony first set down, you can see the remnants of the fort as well as a recreation with a full length play with liberal amounts of dramatization to the story. It's a beautiful place and a wonderful tourist trap. 3 out of 5. Would recommend, but would probably not go again.

The Wright Brothers:

After that eventful play, we trudged back to Stumpy Point, fell asleep to the raucous sounds of frogs all along the bank, and were up and out before noon the next day. We went to a local attraction, Stack 'em High Pancakes and no one even had a pancake (I know, I'm disappointed in us too). After that we stopped by the monument to Orville and Wilbur Wright. The Wright Brothers, as mentioned in School House Rock, built the very first airplane as well as quite a few very formidable gliders.

The monument itself is a hot place with lots of walking and wind, but the presentation about the brothers was the most uplifting thing a park ranger has ever said to me. He went on about their dedication and their unique visions of flight. They were simple bike mechanics in Ohio who had a dream. They never even finished high school, but they had a dream that changed the world forever. Did you know that Orville Wright actually watched the moon landing sitting on the steps of the memorial where he flew for the first time? It is amazing how their invention changed the world so rapidly. I cried. Honestly I cried a few times. I don't think I've ever seen something so moving.

After that we took a rather uneventful, but beautiful, ride through the outer-banks all the way down to Ocracoke. Now, if you don't mind. I think I have waited long enough. I am going to the beach. 

Fancy Duke Ceremonies and Not as Fancy Foods

Let me just start off by saying that Duke is not an Ivy League school; however, I believe it is just as

gorgeous as one. Our second and third day in Durham was largely about Sara. She showed us around her school and we attended her White Coat ceremony (but more on that later).

First thing first. We started our morning off with a hole in the wall called Monuts. The only way I can describe this place is: A specialty doughnut shop with kick ass breakfast sandwiches. For those of you who know Denver, you probably have heard of Voodoo Doughnuts. They throw everything on. From breakfast cereal to Kool-Aide powder. Walking into breakfast that morning, I thought that's what I was in for. How wrong I was. Voodoo seems like the garish younger sibling in comparison to the indy-hipster vibe and locally sourced, hand made food that Monuts churns out. Listen folks, I'm not one to often take pictures of my food, but look at this sandwich and tell me it doesn't look good. I dare you. 

After my belly was full and my heart was happy, we found a nice parking spot and had a mini Duke tour. I call it a mini tour because we saw most of the campus by car and only one main building on foot. 

Because Duke was founded in 1838, a lot of the original architecture is old and gorgeous. Honestly, I felt like I was accidentally back in Europe (except for the fact the church, as impressive as it was, had been obviously made from concrete and had glorious air conditioning). Just because it was obviously slightly more modern with a Methodist throw back, didn't make it any less gorgeous. Don't believe me? Well, here's a little proof. 

During this walk I was informed of a figure carved into the side of the chapel that would never stand next to any European saints. This figure is non other than Robert E. Lee. For those of you not from the south or not from the good ol' Unites States of America, many people during the civil war put Robert E. Lee on the same level as our first president, General George Washington himself. When Robert was first carved into the chapel (proudly at the front door, might I add) he has the initials US proudly displayed on his belt buckle which was concurrent with the US Army at the time. After the Civil War had started, someone took offence to that and scratched that out and carved in CSA for the Confederate States of America. Now, if you look at the buckle, you can still see the bottom of the U and the top of the S, but it has been carved out to look like a simple ripple design. Well, there's the south for ya. 

After that I got cranky from heat exhaustion and not enough water so I had to go home and take a nap until I could be a human again. Remember kids, DRINK WATER.

Then I went and had myself a good ol' back home delight. Chicken and waffles. You heard me. Fried chicken on waffles. There were all sorts of variations of this. They had many schmears and

Why yes, I did take this with my selfie stick. 

chicken cuts and even kinds of waffles you could put together. But it still always boiled down to the same two things that sound like they should never go together.
Many people will tell you it is delicious and you just need to try it or (my personal favorite) it'll grow on you! For those of you who like the sweet and salty mix, the feelings of squishy and crunchy, the intersection of breakfast and dinner, you will love chicken and waffles. It's that weird shit y'all are into. I did try it. I tried a whole plate of it. Let's just say I was never meant to live in the south. Everyone else at the table swore it was weird and quite delightful, but even by the end of the plate, there was no way I was going to have another. 

Now onto the meat of the trip, the entire reason all of us hauled our asses out to North Carolina to begin with. Sara. My future sister-in-law is accomplishing something amazing that has taken hours of dedication, months of hard work, years of classes, and more than a few tears. We proudly followed her around the next day as she presented her capstone project, showed us her wonderful professors, and then received her white coat, a symbol that she has finished classroom

schooling and is now allowed to start clinicals. I know she isn't yet my sister, but I couldn't help but burst with pride as I saw her march up to stage and don her newly pressed white coat. In that moment, I knew that as much as I loved my fiancé, I could not ask for a better sister.

Dear Sara, if you are reading this:
I know I have only been in your life for a fraction of what it took to achieve what you have so far, but I am already so excited for you and so amazingly proud. 

Love,
Your future sister

Raleigh/Durham: 4.7 out of 5

Blucifer:
For those of you who are not natives to Colorado,
or even the Denver area, this statues stands proudly
off the road in and out of the Denver Airport.
This statue not only looks like a demon, but actually
KILLED HIS MAKER BY FALLING ON HIM.
If that doesn't make you feel safe flying out of
Denver, I don't know what will. 

Hello again fellow travelers, bloggers, and avid blog readers!

Today I am writing to you from a rather comfortable Air B&B just south east of Durham, North Carolina. Let me tell you, today could have been one of those disaster trips where everything goes wrong. It really could have been! However, the travel god (all hail the mighty Bluecifer, may he hate you less than everyone else) must have averted his laser beam red gaze while we drove past him on the bus this morning.

John, the fiancé, and I woke up at roughly 3:25 this morning to make sure we had ample time to go through the process of preparing our home for our departure. The alarm went off without a hitch and we were in the car ready to go a few minutes before we planned.
We stopped at McDonalds, joked around the with only two people working in the building, and headed on our merry way. There was construction all the way down a major highway between us and the airport, but at 4:00 AM, there was not nearly enough traffic to be slowed down by this.

At the airport, we went to shuttle parking and were the last ones on the shuttle bus before they declared it full to capacity and drove past many others waiting for the same thing we were, to get to the airport. We walked in, got our boarding passes and were through security with enough time to grab a coffee before we started boarding.

I don't know if you're familiar with how South West boards, but it's general seating and all you, the customer, has is a zone in which you board. The farther back your zone is, the worse chance you have at getting seats you want. We were farther back than we normally were, but I was still able to procure a window seat and the neighboring middle for a comfortable ride.

Hey Nashville, thanks for your Jolteon!

The only thing that could have made this better was that when we landed in Nashville for a layover, we didn't even get off the plane and there was a PokéStop within reach. I caught a few awesome Pokémon and was stoked.

Now, at this point, the trip has just gone well. No one is running behind or way too early. We are having a smooth ride. Everyone seems to be happy (except when we were both cranky because it was rather early and neither of us had anything vaguely resembling caffeine until we got to the airport). We get to North Carolina and everything is still running as smooth as Irish butter. We hop off the plane. There is a startlingly short walk to baggage claim, my bag came out right away, and it was all very clearly marked. We hopped on the shuttle to pick up our rental car, and the lady driving the bus was the nicest, chattiest lady ever. She was helpful with any question we had and was prompt in getting us the information we needed and where we needed to be.

So within just a few hours, we were waking up before dawn in Denver, Colorado and then we were getting lost on I-40 heading up to see my (future) sister-in-law. It was honestly great. We hung out with Sara (the aforementioned soon-to-be sister-in-law) as well as the other sibling, Jacob. We went swimming, had lunch, and listened to Mumford and Sons like it was going out of style.
After this relaxing jaunt, we went to see the (future) parents-in-law at the VERY nice Air B&B Lisa found. (I'm not sure how my mother-in-law does it, but you set her free on Air B&B for a few hours with a vague idea of what you want and she will bring you back a gold nugget the size of your fist. It's thanks to her that John and I have the PERFECT honeymoon planned out, but more on that later). We had pizza from a place called Lily's. Why is a pizza place named after a flower? I don't know, but if you're in the area, I highly recommend their pizza.

I know what you're probably thinking, or will be thinking soon. "But Alexandra, after all this good, why is it only rated a 4.7 out of 5?"
Why, that's a very good question! Because, my dear readers, it is humid as fuck. Like not just a little to curl your hair. NO. It's like walking into a bath tub every time you open the damn door. Now excuse me, I have to swim to the bedroom and get that sleep I missed out so sorely on last night.