Yesterday we visit the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  This is an area that everyone should see sometime in their lives...the history!  It is a very narrow pennisula that is about 85 miles long.  In most places it is less than about a half mile wide.  And the beaches!  The water was warm, the sand and weather were perfect and importantly dogs were allowed on the beach!
We loved the Outer Banks...miles and miles of open beaches and the HISTORY! 

We included Ruby in this shot only because nobody else would hang on to her.  This story is all about Cindy and I.
You see Cindy was in charge of collecting the $15 charge for the 2 and 1/2 hour ferry ride from Cedar Island to Oracoke Island (the southern most) of the Outer Banks islands.  It was about 3 miles offshore from this island that the famous pirate Blackbeard was killed by the British.  He supposedly is buried somewhere on Oracoke Island (how come there weren't any pirates here like there were in Florida and Georgia)!
Back to the present, my story with Cindy began after she had collected my money ror the ferry ride and I was beginning to drive away she stopped me and said "my your a pretty one", I thought (as has been the case the entire trip), she was talking to Ruby who was hanging out the window.  I told her that she really was a sweet dog.  She said no I'm talking about you!
I fell in love with her instantly!
Love at 1st sight!

Meet Bowden and June (I forgot their dogs name) from Forsyth Georgia.  Paul corrected me on the prounuciation of his hometown-it's For-see-ath.  Paul regaled me with stories of his time during WWII aboard a troop carrier in the South Pacific.  He had many, many interesting stories, some very funny (isn't it funny that most people will remember the good and funny things that happened in life rather than the bad or ugly things)?
June told me that she was originally from Washington and and met Bowden in San Francisco while he was on leave.  They fell in love immediatly and were married 3 weeks later before he was shipped out again!
He said that he was a country boy and that June agreed to return home to Georgia with him.
They have been married for 63 years!
I totally enjoyed my time with them...we had a lot of time to talk on the ride.
Isn't their story a beautiful one?
Their love and committment to each other warmed my heart!

Meet Ann and Paul..they were not related just two more people I talked to on the long ride (even though it went by very quickly).  Ann is from Wilmington, North Carolina..a very gentile southern lady!  She explained to us that it was state law in N. Carolina that land owners can still bury family members on their property!  You need a permit but she said they were never denied.  Her 1st husband dropped dead immediatly from a massive heart attack and she buried him the next day on their land...feet pointing east, head pointing west so when the resurrection occurs that all of the dead rise pointing in the same direction!
Paul is from Lansing Mi. and splits time there and his home in Titusville Fla. (doesn't everyone in Michigan have a place in Florida)?  Paul is retired but is working part time with his wife in a truck equipped with a ton of electronics.  The truck is used to record road conditions (read potholes and uneven roads) for states that contract with his company. Most of their time is spent on two lane roads...they do this for 5 months solid..no days off.
Talk about the ultimate road trip!

The Oracoke lighthouse...the second oldest, still in continuous operation.
This lighthouse began operating in 1823.  Probably saving many lives over the years.

The famous Cape Hatteras lighthouse, basically the international symbol for N. Carolina.
It is the tallest brick lighthouse operating in the U.S.

Couldn't resist a picture of me and the Rubes at the lighthouse!

This is the marker denoting the location of the famed "Lost Colony", a group of settlers sent by Sir Walter Raliegh