End of the road trip
We dropped off the rental car at Grand Rapid Airport. This was the second car, as the first one died on the first day of the road trip.
Total Mileage:
Car 1 that died was 130 Miles. Car 2 was 5535 Miles. Therefore the total mileage driven in 42 days was 5665 miles. That’s an average of nearly 135 miles daily, not that we were driving between accommodations each day. Still, we have been driving to places of interest like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon National Parks for example.
Myrtle Beach
We have planned to keep flying to a minimum. To get from Michigan to South Carolina on the east coast, we had to fly. Friday, May 2nd, we flew from Grand Rapids (GRR), through Philadelphia (PHL) to Myrtle Beach (MYR), SC, for a week using a timeshare with Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV). We planned to meet our friends DJ & Jim as we went through PHL. Everything went well, and we arrived at dinner time.
Even though we had planned for some R&R in Myrtle Beach, it really did not work out like that. We did have a beach day and half a day at the pool. Most of these Photos are DJ’s who has allowed me to use them.
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Wedding
Leaving Myrtle Beach on Friday the 9th we drove the four-plus hours to Kitty Hawk, Outer Banks, North Carolina. This week we are staying in a VRBO location in Kitty Hawk with Kathy & Marc, my Sister-in-Law, and Brother-in-Law. Another uneventful drive.
Chelsea, Karen & Kathy’s Niece, was married on Saturday afternoon on Kitty Hawk pier at Hilton Garden Inn. It was a great weather day and a great wedding. Congratulations, Chelsea and Brandon Windley. The bride and groom asked us to unplug for the wedding ceremony itself so we do not have many photos, but here is the link to the official photographer, Vinluan Photography blog.
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OBX
After the wedding, we stayed on for the rest of the week with Kathy & Marc at the VRBO rental at Kitty Hawk in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
We also saw Noah. He gave me a personal guided tour around the Wright Brothers National Museum and Monument. This 6-year-old is a sponge and graduates kindergarten this week. He was reading all of the plaques in the museum.
As we are still at OBX for the rest of the week, we will update this section during the week.
We visited Duck on OBX. This is an excellent place with a short boardwalk with many ice cream parlors! We spotted a Green Heron following us as we walked along the boardwalk after some ice cream. Can you spot the Green Heron?
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Alligator River National Wildlife Reserve and Manteo
Tuesday, Jun 13th, we explored the Alligator Reserve and spied a Bear and cubs in a field, Eagle, Turtles, an Alligator sunning himself, a bear enjoying the day in a tree, and a kid playing in the brackish water.
Following this, we went to Manteo for a walk along their water and had some ice cream. Kathy purchased a coaster from a store that had a bear on it. After talking to the store owner, it turns out that the photograph of the bear was taken in the Alligator Reserve crossing the road. Nice to think that it could have been our bear up the tree.
It is a right of passage for boys to jump off the bridge in Manteo Harbor that goes to Roanoak Festival Park. Four kids were going to jump, but only three did. See the photos.
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Tomorrow….. Who knows.