NC Trip - Part IV - Saving the Best for Last

After Charleston, we spent the better part of a day in Congaree National Park.  Known for its swamp and biodiversity, this park was my favorite site of the whole trip.  This sign reminded us that the visit could have been much, much worse.

3-9-12 - Signs indicate this would NOT be a fun park to work at

We started the boardwalk trail to pass the time until the Visitor Center opened.  Little did we know, the boardwalk loop was three miles long and takes you through most of the habitats and by many of the anomalies in the entire park.  The scenery was just amazing, incredible.  It was such a surprise for a relatively unknown park.  I highly recommend Congaree!

 3-9-12 - Swamp Oddities

3-9-12 - Two Birders

We stayed half a day, then made it to Guilford Courthouse in time to see their updated museum and to watch Alison stick her head inside a cannon.

On our last day of vacation, two of the three of us went to a Waffle House for the first time.  We finished the trip with a stop at Thomas Jefferson's Estate in Charlottesville, VA, Monticello.  It was really neat, nicely updated, and much more fun to tour with someone who has decided that TJ is kind of a jerk and who makes up his own version of the tour under his breath as you go.  I highly recommend bringing Nathan on your next tour of Monticello.

3-10-12 - Monticello

We had a lot of fun on the trip and Alison was great in the car (most of the time).  About a day after we returned, we both decided that we like traveling a lot more than working.  I guess no matter how much you like your job, it's nice to get away once in a while.

NC Trip - Part III - The City

I love Wilmington, NC.  We've been there many times, so enjoyed our stay at the Blockade Runner and eating at Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn.

 3-7-12 - Wrightsville Beach is the best

Our next stop was Charleston, NC.  We started with the Charles Pinckney National Historic site, the highlight of which, for me, was this lizard.  Just kidding, Pinckney was the youngest delegate to help draft our constitution and was an institution in South Carolinian politics.  Did you know that South Carolina was the first to secede from the union?

 3-7-12 - Reincarnation of Charles Pinckney?

The next day, we rode the ferry to Fort Sumter.  What an amazing ride.  You see the city, the forts, dolphins, and seagulls who keep pace at eye-level right with your boat.

 3-8-12 - Mine!

3-8-12 - Entering Sumter

3-8-12 - View from the battery

3-8-12 - We went to Fort Moultrie too.  Awesome.

I really loved Charleston.  It wasn't my first time there, but downtown is so vibrant.  We enjoyed Market Street and King Street.  It helped that the weather cleared up and soared into the 70's.  I laugh as I look back at all of our beach pictures with Alison in her winter coat and hat.

 3-8-12 - Random Bird

NC Trip - Part II - Lighthouse Alley

Could I turn into one of those people who decorate their bathrooms with framed cross-stitches of lighthouses?  Perhaps I could!  We first stopped at Bodie Island Lighthouse in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  It had a neat boardwalk to a marsh lookout where Nathan and Alison spent a lot of time birdwatching.

3-4-12 - Bodie Island Lighthouse

3-4-12 - View from the Marsh

We spent two nights in Buxton, NC in a condo right on the beach (super-cheap because we didn't realize the weather in March in the Outer Banks is kind of icky).  The first day, we stopped at Hatteras Lighthouse.  It had a nice museum with some stories of the numerous shipwrecks off the coast of the Outer Banks.  At one point, a young navy private's parents found his name tag washed ashore before they had been notified of the wreck.

 3-5-12 - Hatteras Lighthouse

There is a nasty battle going on in this area between the residents and the National Park Service, which had to start charging for permits to drive on the beaches this year.  A sad output of the vicious cycle that is: economy is bad->people lose jobs->government doesn't make as much money in taxes->government can't support as many services and has to start charging for them->people get mad and elect Republicans->Republicans cut taxes->Park Service receives less money->Park Service has to charge for more services....wait, I don't really see how this is helping....But, I thought the wooden "Death to NPS" ornament on one guy's lawn went a little too far.

We took the free ferry to Okracoke Island.  Unfortunately, the wind was so strong that day that our car was literally sandblasted and we couldn't play on the beach.  We did, however, have a nice walk in the woods, saw Okracoke Lighthouse, and ate at an amazing restaurant called Dajio.  Please don't forget to try Dajio when you visit Okracoke.

3-5-12 - Okracoke Ferry

3-5-12 - We weren't the only ones waiting for Okracoke Ferry.  Mine?

3-5-12 - Okracoke Lighthouse

3-6-12 - Windswept

The next day we took the ferry to Okracoke again to catch another one back to the mainland.  Thirty minutes before we were scheduled to leave, they canceled our ferry and made us take one three hours out of our way.  We were all thrilled.  I was happy when we finally arrived at my favorite beach hotel: The Blockade Runner in Wilmington, NC.  I can't wait for Sami to move back to Wilmington so we can visit more often!

3-7-12 - Blockade Runner

NC Trip - Part I

We haven't been on a real trip since our 2009 Tour D'East Coast where we realized we liked DC enough to move here permanently.  Traveling is dangerous for us!  This year, we decided to explore our own backyard and visited North and South Carolina.  The goal?  To hit as many National Park Service sites as possible.

Our first stop was accidental.  Alison woke up from a nap, demanded a banana, and we stopped for gas, randomly, at the same exit as the Cold Harbor Battlefield Visitor Center.  It hadn't been on our list, but we visited and now I know slightly more about horrors of the Civil War.

 3-3-12 - It doesn't take us long to travel since we can always turn on warp speed.

North Carolina's Outer Banks was our real destination for the day.  It was raining, so we checked into our hotel and headed straight to the Wright Brothers Memorial instead of playing on the beach.

 3-3-12 - The world's first airborne humans went from me to Nathan on their first flight.  I've since lost track of how many flights my 1.5-year-old has taken.  It's over 20.

3-3-12 - Wright Brothers Memorial

We planned to spend our first four nights in hotels right on the beach.  Coincidentally, that's exactly how long it rained on this vacation.  We spent a lot of time enjoying this view:

3-3-12 - I do love the Carolina coast.  You can still see dolphins in the rain, by the way.

The next day, we left Kitty Hawk and drove to Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island.  I enjoyed learning about the major failure of a colony the English had there and the short nature walk in the rain was amazing.

 3-4-12 - Fort Raleigh Nature Trail

Next, we went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke.  Here's a secret travel tip: become a member of your local zoo.  Our Friends of the National Zoo id got us in for free and we saved $16.  Best. Donation. Ever.

3-4-12 - If Alison were running Oprah's Favorite Things list, aquariums would be on it.

In spite of the rain, we were having a pretty good time and looking forward to learning more about the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

The House

 View from the sunroom

We had an eventful Easter last weekend.  For the past few months we've been searching for a house.  The DC Metro Area is huge, so we cast our net wide and quickly realized that, given our tiny budget, the large yard we wanted, decent commute, and good schools, that translated to exactly one place in all of Northern Virginia: Springfield. 

We found a house almost immediately, were thrilled, then ended up walking away after we discovered the addition was unstable, the furnace test left our inspector slightly charred, and the laundry room came complete with asbestos tiles.

After that, the real estate market changed completely from the buyer's market we all knew and loved to a seller's market where every good house was getting multiple offers overnight.  We found another house, but lost out to another buyer.  Nathan and I were seriously considering giving up and moving to the mountains instead.

Until last Sunday...Nathan and I both fell in love with the world's most amazing house.  Over half a wooded acre at the end of a dead end right next to a creek (ok, storm drainage, but the birds don't know that), with amazing landscaping, a green house, sun room, and crazy-awesome kitchen.  Heaven.  The problem was, the true value of the house, though it was listed in our price range, was about $30K higher than we felt comfortable spending.  We've seen this a lot in this market: the sellers price the house low and let the competition escalate the price tens of thousands of dollars higher.  We were not going to get this property.

Except that we underestimated the human element of buying and selling a beloved piece of property.  When the seller found out Nathan was a Park Ranger, she waited for our offer.  Our agent, who I think has the mind control powers of a jedi, had us write her a letter about what we loved about the house and why we wanted it.  He also took a picture of us in front of it and sent that along.  The house got seven offers in total.  Three of them were higher than ours.  We got the house.

So, it turns out there are more benefits to being a Park Ranger than just spending your days outside.  We close on May 10.  During the inspection, I took very few pictures, but here's what I've got.  We are crazy lucky.

 Front Door

Kitchen

Greenhouse

Peek-a-boo!

New York City

No where to go but up!

I didn't like New York at first.  In fact, I swore that if I found an "I hate NY" T-Shirt I was going to buy two: one for myself and one for Alison.  I guess New York is a place that grows on you ever so slowly.  By the second day I found myself caught up on the bustle, sites, and excitement.  Now a week later I'm already plotting my next tour of the city.

 Nice try, sign.

New York really isn't so bad, but it did make me appreciate DC a lot.  In DC we have less people, cleaner, nicer metro stations, and the buildings are short enough that you get to see the sun occasionally.  In New York it's just people, trash, shopping, advertising, and buildings all day all the time.  I actually worry about its inhabitants and wonder if they are slightly less human than I am just because they see so little real nature.  However, I had a good first trip there with a great group of friends and am really happy I went. 

 Empire State Building dressed up for St. Patrick's Day...oh...and some trash...

I took the train from Alexandria to Penn Station, which takes four hours and 15 minutes if you don't pay for the slick three hour express train.  The last time I rode a train was on my way to Williston, ND to visit Nathan in Medora and I felt a twinge of sadness that I wasn't going to end up in one of my two favorites parks this time (Glacier or Theodore Roosevelt NP).  This train went through the grossest parts of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New Jersey so by the time I got to New York I already felt that the world was becoming overcrowded.

This is the first person who greeted me outside Penn Station, so my trip to New York actually started on the right foot.

 Three stories high (yes, I measured!)

Sara, Marie, and Amanda had already gotten us all hop on hop off bus tour tickets, so we spent the afternoon avoiding the rain and seeing sights such as downtown Manhattan, Wall Street, Battery Park, Chinatown, the UN, and the last standing makeshift 9/11 Memorial.

 Last makeshift 9/11 memorial

 This statue stood in between the World Trade Towers.  In the background you can see the new building they are finishing at Ground Zero.

UN

We got off the bus at Rockefeller Center and I tried hard to achieve one of my goals for the trip: to see someone famous.  I never did achieve that goal.  We walked up 5th Avenue, stopped in a couple stores where I could have blown my life savings on a hat, and noticed the crowds hanging outside of the Big Apple's Apple store awaiting the new iPad.

 30 Rock

Apple in the Big Apple

After dinner we visited the Museum of Modern Art where the 5th floor has a load of Picassos, Monets, Miros, and at least one Dali.  I wish I would have spent more time on the 5th floor, but instead I spent too much time eating candy off the floor.

 Mmmm, floor candy (yes, we were allowed to take and eat this - they replenished it each morning)

Whoa, I didn't know this was here!

We accidentally picked St. Patrick's day to visit and on Saturday, the parade and crowd on 5th Avenue were huge.  We took another tour of uptown, then stopped to visit the Guggenheim before strolling through Central Park.  Central Park is the only place that felt real in New York.  You could lose your sense of reality quickly if you never left, but I'm sure you would quickly go bankrupt.

 Guggenheim

 Central Park

Saturday night was my favorite time in New York.  We had dinner at a South African restaurant called Braai, where I met Matt and Anil, two of my Corporate Service Corps teammates who I haven't seen since 2008.  Good times and I'm glad they made it out. 

 Tanzania Team 1

Sara, Marie, Amanda, & Me

The four of us girls got all dressed up to attend Wicked later that night.  It was an excellent, excellent show and now I want to go back just to see more of them.  Afterwards we visited Times Square, the most surreal, weird, wonderful, and terrible place in the world.  It was brighter than day at midnight, but I felt like I was walking through a dream.

Times Square at Night

The next day we took the Statten Island Ferry back and forth to see the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline.  We glimpsed the 9/11 Memorial from a walkway, and I tried some New York Style pizza at a place near our hotel.

 Manhattan - Who builds a city this big on an island anyway?

Statue of Liberty

I'm glad I went.  I'm glad I got to see my travel mates.  But most of all, I'm glad I don't live in New York City!