More of North Carolina

After leaving Merchants Millpond, we were without reservations for about four days.  We bought a portable solar panel a while back and had it delivered to a Home Depot up in Chesapeake, VA to help us out with energy while at Merchants, but with the shade of the trees and a bad sun day here and there, hookups were looking good.  I had originally planned on staying at Pettigrew State Park, which the kids were digging because we just read the Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs chapter in The Prisoner of Azkaban.  But alas, no hookups.  And worse, no dump.  Merchants had no dump station, either, so the need to dump was real.  We try to use the bathhouses as much as possible, but a week without a dump station and you've got seven people....I'm just gonna put it out there, state parks need dump stations!  At any rate, I still wanted to see Pettigrew, and there's a fish hatchery between Merchants and Pettigrew, so we set off.  

Our first stop at Edenton National Fish Hatchery was the aquarium, where we got to see these alligators hanging out under the heat lamp.  There were a few tanks with some pretty cool fish to check out before we headed to the hatching shed.                

We got to check out the eggs.  They do a daily egg collection, which take about five days to hatch.  So they've also got a huge tank filled with itty bitty little fish.  Their outdoor ponds were mostly empty, preparing for the summer season.

The hatchery also has a nice little boardwalk.  After talking to the biologist about the shad and which rivers get stocked with what (and checking out the dead fish floating in one of the tanks), we headed out.                    

Next stop was Pettigrew State Park.  It's a nice park, small, just 13 campsites.  But with no electric and no dump station (the latter really being the limiting factor for us), we leaned heavily towards not camping.  The deer flies sealed the deal.  Deer flies love me, and I hate them.  But this tree was right out front at the picnic tables.  The kids loved climbing through it.  G even went inside it to get a picture looking up the tree.                                  

There's also a hike out to an historical farm/plantation.  It's got the slave quarters, a formal garden, less formal garden, a couple of goats are there, and a visitors' center (that was closed every Monday--the day we were there!). The kids enjoyed walking around and reading the signs.  We looked in all the windows we could at the main house. Impressive!  And the kids loved that there were enough seats at the dining table to fit all of us and more comfortably!  If you find yourself on the east coast of North Carolina, look into this park.  It was a nifty little stop!

Easter

While living in houses, we always went to sunrise service on Easter.  Beat the crowds, start the day with the Lord, begin celebrating early.  Just our tradition.  Staying in campgrounds that are somewhat isolated can make getting to church a challenge, but we've been fairly good about it all.  If we're not travelling on a Sunday (and I try not to), we head out to mass.  

We've been going on for a while now without reservations anywhere.  This is hard when it's the busy time of the year, but right now, for the most part, it's been fairly easy.  Except that we're hitting spring breaks.  Oish.  We got to Merchants Millpond without a reservation, and they were tight.  We could get a spot for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights in a row, but Easter weekend was pretty full.  We signed on for those nights, but I was stressing out about Easter Triduum.  I wanted to BE somewhere, so I didn't have to worry about moving about and finding a church and all that hullabaloo.  Turned out, if we moved Friday morning, there was a spot perfect for us for the whole weekend.  Whew!  So we got to stay all Holy Week in one campground, no fuss.  Unfortunately, the church I found had no sunrise service, but the 10:15 was nice, and far more doable since the church was about 40 minutes away.  

Since mass was later than our normal Easter mass, we got in our egg hunt BEFORE church.  Limited space and such meant getting creative.  I usually do a bunch of eggs for each kid.  Money and candy.  This year, the money eggs were all that I hid, and I combined them more than I would have in a house.  So they each got two eggs to find.  I signed their notes with an EB, which confused NB. "Why is it signed Eb?"  NS came up with Ebeneezer Bunchabuns for those initials, and so now that's who the Easter bunny is.  Thanks, N-men!              

K also worked hard throughout the week on a play they put on for us at dinner time.  K wrote and directed it, and it was great.  They spent a lot of time rehearsing it during the week, which was great to see.  All in all, it was a great Easter for us!

Merchants Millpond

Our first night at Merchants Millpond State Park.  We took a hike from the campground up to the visitors' center.  This is the view behind the center, at the dock.  Absolutely beautiful.  We got to see a lot of turtles around here.  The park rents canoes out, so we took advantage of this beautiful park.    

We took out three canoes.  Unfortunately, I'm not great at canoeing.  Even more unfortunately, there are a TON of snakes in these waters.  Snakes like cottonmouths.  Scary as all get out for me.  The scenery was beautiful, and it would have been very relaxing being on the water and cruising their trails, had I been able to work the canoe well.  K and I did not do well together, and we both spent more time frustrated than relaxed.  In addition to the cottonmouths, there are a bunch of turtles and a few alligators.  We didn't see the alligators, but so very many turtles.              

It was so much fun to see all the turtles.  The whole area of North Carolina we were visiting has turtles all over the place.  On the way to church we would just point out all the turtles on the side of the road.  So much swampy area, the turtles were just a constant presence.                  

While I loved seeing all the turles, I did NOT love seeing all the snakes.  This dude is a cottonmouth.  He's huge.  HUGE.  Did I mention he's H-U-G-E?????  And we got entirely too close for my comfort.  K and I got within maybe 15 feet of him, but apparently Bill and his canoe of kids got within five-ish feet.  I saw a bunch of other snakes swimming in the water.  I didn't panic too much while we were out there, but learning that this guy was such a deadly beastie, it truly gave me pause about being out in that water.  So I didn't go out another time.  Bill did take the kids out again, but I stayed back.  I would have liked to go out there again, but I think I'll take another time out on a canoe on a different body of water.          

Back on land, in our campsite, I caught a glimpse of these.  There were only these two, and I was so enchanted with them, I took out the camera and snapped away.  Bill spoke with the ranger about them when he came around, and he didn't know what they were.  His best guess was that they're anamolies, galls.  Basically the tree is afflicted with them.  I still think they're absolutely gorgeous.                                  

These guys and I took another hike, this time away from the visitors' center.  This spot has a bench so we could just sit and relax, looking at the swamp.  While I love this area, there were only very few turtles there, so it's not my favorite.                  

We hit the visitors' center before we left.  I took one more walk down to the dock to say goodbye to all the turtles, and this guy was waiting on the path for us.  He wasn't super-psyched that we were on the path with him, but he did stick out his head while were right by him.  It was just very cool to see all these fabulous animals.

Great Dismal Swamp

We visited the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in southern Virginia.  I love the name.  I had wanted to go back in the fall when we were first in VA, but Hurricane Matthew threw off all our plans.  So now we're camping in Merchants Millpond, just like I wanted, and we hit the Dismal Swamp in the morning of an errand-running day.  Here, G is learning about the Underground Railroad and the people who ran to the swamp, but didn't leave it to go north.  It was fascinating to think about HOW they managed in the swamp, and the bargains they struck with other people in the area to get what they needed in return for work.            

 

We stopped to look at the turtles.  This is on their wildlife drive, which are kinda hit or miss for spotting wildlife.  The first time we stopped, I got out of the car to take a picture, and the turtles all slid into the water as quickly as they possibly could.  This time, I got the picture, and on my way back to the car, I noticed something in the water that made me take pause.  Note the snake to the left.  It was just laying there, not moving.  Bill asked the ranger about it when we returned to the visitors' center, and was assured that it was a snake who's just kinda lethargic.  Good to know.            

There were several boardwalks along the drive.  Our van is a bit of a beast, so parking it was very challenging in a lot of areas.  But when we did do the boardwalks, it was beautiful.  So much green around, simply amazing.  And we got to hear an incredible assortment of birds, frogs, insects....totally cool.                                  

Driving along, we saw this dude in the water from quite a distance.  Bill stopped the car, we stared for a while, took our picture, and kept cruising.  He's a cottonmouth.  Pretty dangerous snake.  I'm glad we were in our van.  When Bill talked to the ranger about him, he said the fact that the snake's head was up like this was a sign that he was not happy we were there.  But I contend that his unhappiness was NOT due to us, because we saw him with his head up like this for a while on our drive.  Nevertheless, an agressive posture.              

At the end of the drive is the lake with this beautiful dock and boat launch.  We didn't see anyone on the water, though it was certainly a beautiful day for it.                      

We saw tons of turtles right by the lake, on the way back to the car.  K and I were mesmerized, and the boys were quite frustrated with us taking our sweet time getting back to the car.  On the drive back, though, I made Bill stop the car because I saw green moving through the water very quickly.  For whatever reason, I thought it was an otter.  Nope!  We got to see a beaver bringing stuff back to his lodge.  Pretty sweet deal!                

We had errands to run in the Chesapeake/Norfolk area, so I got in touch with some old buddies from our NOVA days, and they met up with us at Costco.  This trip has really been great for catching up with old pals.  What a great way to end the day!

North Carolina, Again

As we make our way north this spring, we're hitting some states we hit last fall.  First on the list, North Carolina!  While we stayed in the western/central part of the state last November, we're on the coast (or close) this time around.  First stop, Neuse River Recreation Area in the Croatan National Forest.  

As Easter is rapidly approaching, we've taken some time to make some Easter crafts.  We missed mass for the 2nd and 3rd weeks in Lent, which was really weighing heavily on me.  We've made it to every mass since, but I still haven't spent much effort on the season.  It's not been easy, and I hate that the season has found me so lacking, but I'll do better next year.                

About an hour or so from our campground is the Beaufort location for the North Carolina Martitime Museum.  Here we learned all about fascinating things like buoy breeches.  Oh, and Edward Teach....you know, Blackbeard.  So these buoy breeches were used to rescue people from sinking ships.  There was also an 11 passenger rescue boat (?) that freaked me out as it would have been so incredibly tight a fit for 11 people.  But for efficiency, it was the way to go.  It was a pretty cool museum, and after we explored, we walked around Beaufort.  Here we also hit the visitors' center for Cape Lookout National Seashore.  While we didn't get to the actual seashore, the kids were able to do the underwater ranger papers.  They learned a lot with that particular ranger book!                                

We also spent an afternoon checking out New Bern.  Some fellow campers recommended it as a place to walk around, and it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.  We were taken with the bears they have throughout the city.  This one was particularly fun, just hanging out as a kind of gargoyle.                                    

This bear held the Bill of Rights.  That was good for the kids to see again!                                        

We also went to the birthplace of Pepsi.  Notice that it states it's "healthful."  I love old ads.  There was not a lot to do, it was really just a store full of Pepsi paraphenallia, but it was a nifty little stop on our journey.                                    

Our campground is a short walk from the river.  K, NB, and I took a walk there the first day we pulled in, but it took almost the entire time we were at the campsite before the others came out and saw it.                    

G's convinced he can start fire with friction.  We'll see...he's bound and determined!                    

I think these are cypress knees out in the river, but I'm not entirely sure.  The kids had a fun time hanging out in the water and playing.  The weather has been a bit of a mixed bag while we've been here.  Bright and sunny when we arrived, downpours for a couple days, cool and breezy for a couple days.  I do love spring.      

Brand New Feature!

 Ok, I'm finally with it.  Partially.  Before we set out on this trip, I knew I wanted certain things for my blog, but a lot of them never happened.  Today Bill set me up with a subscribe button!  All you people who have followed me have, I'm sure, figured out that I do NOTHING with my Google+ account.  I'm hopeful that this new subscribe button will help all of you keep connected with the blog.  Yeah!

Congaree

Congaree was our most recent NPS visit.  We're camping right outside of Columbia, but Congaree is on the other side of Columbia, so it was about a 35 minute drive or so.  We're not really quick on Saturday mornings, we like to have our pancakes and sausages.  Oh, and we had to clean the car from the deluge of rain the air conditioner poured on the kids the other day.  So we set off, and got there right around 11:30.  Fairly empty parking lot, though it did fill up while we were in the visitors' center.  We went on the boardwalk trail, along with pieces of other trails.  Congaree is a swam/bottomland hardwood forest.  Pretty cool.  

This is right outside the visitors' center.  I was much relieved to see the 'squito level below ruthless and war zone.  The Everglades had the level right around ruthless.  Not fun.  But this sign was quite truthful.  We met a couple bugs, but that's because a few of us are sheer magnets for the beasts.                  

The forest boasts some of the tallest trees east of the Mississippi.  Beautiful, tall trees standing in puddles.  Not that there was water everywhere we walked today, but the area does flood every year.  I liked the non-flat nature of this downed tree.                                      

This was the first of several snakes we saw at the park.  I'm not a fan of snakes, but it is kinda cool to see them slither around.  You know, slither AWAY from me.  FAR away.                                      

If you've never been to a swamp (Congaree, Everglades, similar places), get thee there quick.  The cypress trees that grow there are really amazing.  Their roots grow back UP out of the soil.  The growths are called knees, and they're not entirely certain why this occurs.  But the knees all look different, and they somewhat reminded me of the hoodoos in Goblin Valley.  I like the two entwined ones in this pic.                                  

Towards the end of our walk, we even got to spot some turtles in Weston Lake.  We didn't get to spot much wildlife, so it was cool to get to see the turtles.                      

I've been trying for a while to catch a butterfly with my camera.  Sesquicentennial Park has a TON of butterflies, but they are all well-versed in eluding cameras.  This was the only one I saw who landed and stayed somewhere long enough for me to get my camera out.  All in all, our day at Congaree was a bunch of fun and we got to see some really spectacular scenery.