“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.”
Three girls, one vibe, and four lighthouses, it was a weekend never to be forgotten.
My roommates and I decided on Thursday night that we didn't want to be in DC with all the inauguration craziness, so Friday afternoon we headed South. Destination? The Outer Banks of North Carolina. Why? There are seven beautiful lighthouses along the banks and I have a thing for lighthouses. We had nothing else planned or scheduled except visits to the lighthouses. Which, for those of you who have traveled with me, know is a little out of the norm for me (I really like itineraries). But this was one trip where we just rolled with it, and had a great time.
We started at the Cape Lookout Lighthouse in Harker's Island, NC. Sadly we couldn't actually get out to the lighthouse because it was so cold the water was nearly frozen over and we couldn't get anyone to take us over there. So we had to look at it from a distance. We actually got a little lost trying to find it, and we met the NICEST people who were literally coming out of their houses to help us. We were stopped on a road trying to make sense of the GPS and the directions this other nice woman had given us, and out of the house where we were stopped come a li
ttle blond lady. When we explained what we were trying to do, her response(in the most charming southern accent) was, "Well if I'd a known you coulda gone out there at 5 oclock this mornin with my husband. He woulda given you a ride on his way to duck hunt." She then proceeded to tell us how to get as close to the lighthouse as we could without going out to the island. One place was right down the street from here and the other was in Harker's Island, just down the road a way. As we were thanking her and about to pull away her final comments were, "Now if you have any problem findin' it just come back here and get me and I'll take you. I don't have anything goin' on today". So NICE!! And the best part came when after we had gone to the first spot down the street, we had to drive back by her house to get to Harker's Island and she was standing on her porch watching for us and waving as we drove by!! We were all so delighted by this we proceeded to make a really silly video about the whole experience, which actually took place in Smyrna, NC.
The day continued to go better than we ever could have dreamed. Since we couldn't go out to the lighthouse, we had a few hours to kill before we needed to catch the ferry to Ocracoke Island where the next lighthouse was. There wasn't much going on in Harker's Island, since it is a city that mostly exist
s for tourism. But as we were driving back out we passed a sign that said "The Kindred Spirit". Anyone who is a fan of Anne of Green Gables will recognize that title. When I saw the sign I didn't know if the place was open or not, but I wanted to take a photo by it. I turned around and when we pulled in we were amazed to see a sign that actually said "Green Gable Tearoom"!!!!!!!!!!! True
story! And it was OPEN!!! I don't think you can even imagine our excitement about this. We walked into a great little antique store where we met Libby Liles (don't you love her name!!), owner and Anne of Green Gables enthusiast. We spent the next two hours in our own little world of happiness. There were lovely old hats for us to play dress up. We had delicious tea and scones with all sorts of different toppings. Libby told us 
stories about moving to Harker's Island, which apparently has a high concentration of Mormons (who knew?). And her gold fish, Matthew and Marilla (of course). And we each left with a rather large bag full of great little treasures including serving trays for us to use when we host our upcoming tea party (I'll be sure to post about that when it happens). All in all, it was a very serendipitous visit. We are already planning our next visit. You're all welcome to join us for tea wit
h Libby Liles at the Green Gables Tea Room.
We were enjoying ourselves so much that we were almost late for our ferry to Ocracoke. And usually you need a reservation but due to the freezing cold weather there weren't a lot of folks headed out to the island. Lucky for us. We passed the 2+ hour ferry ride pleasantly in my car reading and napping
. What a weird feeling, moving in a car, but not being the one doing anything. We could already see the lighthouse as we pulled off the ferry and we drove straight to it for our first pictures close to a lighthouse. We had contemplated staying the night there, but there was really nothing open and so we immediately headed to the other end of the island to catch the next ferry to Cape Hatteras. Since we didn't have to hurry to the ferry we decided to get out and watch the sunset on the beach. Which sounds heavenly, and it was, but it was also FREEZING cold!! It was beautiful and we entertained ourselves for far too long taking photos. We are AWESOME!
The next serendipitous moment came after we got off the next ferry and we're driving through a completely shut down and deserted town, wondering where we're going to spend the night and there off to the right was a light beckoning us. The Seaside Inn B&B was calling our name. I just love B&Bs. And this one was run by the nicest people. They let us check in and then go get something to eat (we had
to hurry because the only place open was going to close soon). When we got back our suite was all warm and cozy for us. And the next day when we had to rush out because we needed to visit a light house before we headed north to make it to church, they gave us a tray that we could fill with food and eat on the road. Loved it! And they of course had a lighthouse on a beautiful wrap-around porch...my dream!!
We stopped at the Cape Hatteras lighthouse on our way to church. It was so much warmer than the day before and we were only going to jump out and take a photo so we left our coats in the car. So when we got up to the lighthouse there was a photographer there and he looked at us and said, "I just have one question. What are you guys doing out here?". Our response,"What, doesn't everyone come visit lighthouses at 7:30 on a Sunday morning in February wearing dresses and no coats?" He was really nice inspite of our obvious craziness and took a picture for us. It was cold.
me feel like I'm back on my mission. Then we back tracked to the Bodie Lighthouse. And yes it is pronounced like body. There are some great stories about how it got its name. We changed out of our dresses in the car and then ran out to take more photos (between Christina and I, Ani didn't even have her camera, we took over 300 photos in the 2 days!!). This one was probably my favorite. There is just something wonderful about tall, majestic, well kept lighthouses. I love them. I was so excited that I did some jumping and cartwheels. And randomly, the same photographer from that morning was there and took a picture for us again. Hahaha, I love meeting people. 
Okay, this is the longest thing ever and I'm impressed if you even read all of this but I'm going to end it right here. After Bodie lighthouse we headed back home and it was a smooth trip with the exception of a bridge closure in Virginia Beach. Thank goodness for GPS systems. 
