Hatteras Weekend Trip

Last Friday afternoon, I received a call from Matt saying we were going to the beach for the weekend. Um, what? Who is? Where? WHEN?! Let's just say the call caught me really off guard and then I was in stress mode, because Mallory does not just pick up and go somewhere for the weekend---at least a couple of days planning would be nice, haha. But, I managed to get home, pack and we were on the road with Matt's brother, Mike, & his girlfriend, Chrystina, all within about 3 hours of finding out we were going. haha.

We spent Friday evening driving to Hatteras, and by the time we got there, I just wanted to go to bed, because it was hours past our bedtime. haha.  On Saturday, despite some mishaps with catching the Ferry to Ocracoke, we had a good time: we walked on some of the beaches, took lots of pictures and Matt & I collected a bunch of shells! However, I was so mad at myself because even though I remembered to bring my camera with us, I DIDN'T remember to make sure the batteries were charged before we headed out on Saturday. You could say I was mad. I was able to get a decent amount of pictures, as I would turn my camera on, take a picture real quick, then turn it right back off. I was really trying to save that battery. haha.

Hope you enjoy these pictures of our weekend!

Wasn't planning on starting my weekend taking this picture, but hey, when at the Border Station.....

Bad joke? Probably.

While in Ocracoke, it was awesome because we literally had the beach to ourselves!

These pictures of Matt running after the birds cracks me up.

I had my bigger lens on for these pictures....do you really think I'd try to get close to birds? No.

On Sunday, as we headed home, Matt and I made a few stops.

First up, I Googled the house that was featured in the movie Nights in Rodanthe (great Nicholas Sparks book, by the way!). By the time I figured out which house was used and found the directions, we were just 7 minutes away!

Abby, look! Dory Lane!

Here's the house!  However, if you've seen the movie, you'll notice this isn't what the house looked like when they were filming.  They added features to it, like decks and shutters, for the movie. Also, where it is now isn't the original location of the house.  It used to be right on the beach, but the beach started eroding away, so they moved the whole house!

I just loved the name of this house in the neighborhood! Very clever!

Moving on....here's the "patchwork bridge" that I did not like driving over.

Heading over to the lighthouse!

Well, that's interesting..

We went to a second lighthouse, but this one ended up still being closed for the winter, so we didn't get to up close to it, but I was able to get a couple pictures of it through the trees..

Hey! Anyone recognize this house?!

My family stayed here with the Warthans when they invited us to the beach with them!

I don't know how I remembered this, but I knew it was off of Dolphin Road, and sure enough we passed it, so I made Matt drive by :)

 When we got home, we finally went through all of our shells.

Last night, we bought a great vase that we have them all in now :)