The Happy Harper's: ~North Carolina~

WOW - what a beautiful area! We have just finished visiting North Carolina. There were SO many lovely cotton fields - just like you see on TV. I even made Scott pull over so I could pick some up!!

This is how they harvest the cotton into large "bales" Just SO cool - we were all fascinated!

We found this incredible campground in Newport, NC. Our site was right on Goose Creek - an intercoastal waterway. People go in and out from here to go fishing in the area. We were able to see the fishermen come in each evening and watch them clean their fish. Folks were also crabbing right off the dock.

It was lovely and hot so we were able to eat our meals outside, do school at the picnic table and even wash and dry our towels, sheets, pillowcases etc.... in the warm wind.

From our park it was just a short drive to the little strip of land called "Emerald Isle" which contained Indian Beach and Atlantic Beach. Basically you are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean - just amazing. At times while driving you can see the water on both sides of you!

The sand was SO soft, white and "squeaky" on the island. The kids had SO much fun! Also....so many shells to collect. There were MANY people fishing from the shore that we enjoyed watching.

This is the Bogue Pier - talk about a lot of people of all sorts. They were catching SO many fish and we had such a great time visiting with the friendly North Carolina people and learning about the way they fish, what types of fish they catch and what they use for bait.

These are blow fish or "puffer fish". They at not all that large when you pull them in, but once they are put into the bucket of water they balloon up with air and water to look bigger and protect themselves.

Look at those teeth - just nasty looking! Hilarious!

While down on the shore people were digging for sand fleas to use for bait. WOW - these things were like mini crabs - our sand fleas back home are more like little flies.

More "surf fishing".

The following day we went into Morehead City for the annual Veteran's Day Parade. It was lovely and sunny and there were tons of people lining the street.

The parade was mostly veterans of all sorts from many different wars. Also, lots of prominent people in fancy cars etc....

One thing that was different in the USA was that they still throw candy to the kids! The kids were more than happy to join in with this activity and everyone around us had MORE than enough!

This is how much candy we got!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It filled up the entire dining room table in our trailer!! Needless to say....we are limiting our stash with just a few each a day.

The next day we went to the North Carolina Aquarium. It was so great and we enjoyed all the interpretive centres and displays.

Alligators are very prominent in this area so they had a big display on them - yikes!

Travis was a bit "crabby" today !!

We had a great aquarium interpreter that explained all about alligators and crocodlies. He even had a "real" one which he brought out and let us all touch!!! "Just don't feel it near his head", he said :)

Then back to the beach for some skimboarding, beach volleyball, football, collecting of shells, going for walks and just relaxing in the sun - lovely!