Spring Beach Trip to Duck North Carolina, Beach Birds and Restaurants

Early April I slipped away to enjoy a week at the Beach with a dear friend. It was a perfect time of year before the Summer rush. I left my new greenhouse behind at a crucial time. I had my seedlings coming up in the greenhouse but it was pretty calm in the garden so it ended up a good decision.

The weather was generally warm enough in Duck, North Carolina to get outside every day. We booked a house ocean view with a hot tub. We even sat on the beach a few days but most of our time was spent hiking or reclining on the decks. I even found some time to rotate between two books and we attempted to read aloud one of my favorite books, The Devil in the White City, but it ended up being so very time consuming. We turned on the TV only once, the very last evening, because we were packing and trying to down leftovers.

The sunrises were glorious and our hikes were peaceful. We checked out a nearby trail, the Pine Island Audubon Nature Trail and made it up to Corolla several times to walk the supposed "wild horse areas". A lot of poo views but no ponies in sight. We headed out one day over to Manteo to visit The Elizabethan Gardens. 

As always, there were plenty of things to see and do. We had the best food ever and my fav coffee shop with enormous biscuits, Treehouse Cafe, had just opened for the season. A word to the wise, wait until April 1 to go to Duck as many restaurants do not fire up until then! Missing out on all that good food would be so sad. Our favorite found restaurant was NC Coast Bar and Grill. We discovered their wonderful beignets so had to hit it twice, once for a dinner sunset. An interesting phenomenon is that the sun rises only over the beach and the sun sets only over the sound side (the outer banks is a barrier island strip having 2 open sides). If your beach house is situated on the ocean side you have to go over to the sound side to see a sun set so restaurants on that side are busy during that period of the day.

Curiously we didn't see any Ducks in Duck but enjoyed many Cormorants and my favorite seabird the Pelican. We had numerous flyovers of Pelicans and even saw a few Dolphins. There were not many bird sightings in the forests we hiked but my Merlin bird sound identification app on my phone picked up many different calls. I was surprised to see quite a few butterflies during this time of year.

It's never long enough but my greenhouse and messy gardens were calling me home.

Plan a trip somewhere this year, have some fun!

~Rebecca

 

Fall Trip to Scottsville, VA

Last week Hurricane Sandy was slated to batter the East Coast so the girls decided to hit the road to see the colorful leaves before they were all blasted off the trees.  We headed South of Charlottesville to the quaint town of Scottsville, Virginia.  It was a scenic drive down Highway 20 with lovely hillsides covered in glorious yellow and orange with a few splashes of red.

First stop was to travel on the last poled ferry in the United States, The Hatton Ferry.  This was the final weekend of the season to catch the ferry trip from Albemarle County to Buckingham County.  Ironically, the water level was so low (pre-Sandy) that we could only venture halfway across the James River.  Regardless, it was a lovely day and our ferry driver was a wonderful guide, born nearby, which allowed him to share a bit of local history while we enjoyed our ride.  The ferry has operated for 140 years and is still in motion thanks to the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society.

Next we strolled downtown Scottsville.  It reminds me so much of my old small town residence of Pulaski.  Like many small towns, the economy has really done a number on it but we did find one great shop, the recently opened Scrumpcious Sweet Shoppe.  Ohhhh, and Ohhhh, and Ohhhh does it ever have great cupcakes!  I was really happy to see they provided samples and man did that hook me into wanting MORE.  The White on White was the best, the Chocolate on Chocolate was no slouch.  Creamy rich icing and a soft buttery cake.  It has been a long time since I've had such a good sweet.  The reviews on the Chocolate Cake with Mint icing were mixed.  I loved it and wanted more but my friend didn't like the icing because it was Spearmint and not Peppermint.  I personally loved the surprise and love Spearmint!  The Pumpkin Cupcake was excellent but I still liked the sample White on White the best.  I WANT MORE.


Ivy coated Mennonite Church, Schuyler, VA

After devouring our sweets we were off  to Schuyler, Virginia where the creator of " The Walton's", Earl Hamner, grew up.  His home still stands as do several beautiful churches tucked into the landscape.  The Walton's Museum was closed already (darn those cupcakes) but several interesting structures remain in Schuyler.  The Mennonite Church covered in Ivy is a treasure.  We were invited in for a service by the local Non-denomenational Church group but we were trying to make it home before dark so had to pass. 


Darling Rockfish Post Office, outside Schuyler, VA.

The little Rockfish U.S. Post Office is now closed but the darling little structure still remains.  It is so sad to think this community no longer has it's little Post Office open.  Such a gem and I can imagine quite the "community center" when it was up and running.

We zipped up 29 N back to reality, but it was a nice venture back into the country, little traffic, a lot of wildlife, and little noise.  Just how I like it.

-Rebecca