Here is a Rosalie description from the emails that we sent to relatives and friends while we were traveling on a photographic sabbatical rimming the United States. Try to visualize all of this!
So much to say, just can’t find the time to say it, so I’ll start by describing an incredible experience Patti and I had at Jockey Ridge State Park in Nags Head, NC. A young, energetic waitress hustling grits at a local eatery told us this was a great place for pictures, as it is home of the highest sand dunes on the East Coast – over 100 feet above sea level. She spoke of observation points – I assumed they would be civilized stairs or ramps or something solid anyway. She also said to bring water bottles. (Should have been my first clue! Another clue should have been that, when we got there, the only other human we saw was limping badly.) Patti was all riled up to go – so, after checking out of the hotel where we stayed for the night, we headed for the dunes. Sure enough, there they were – imposing masses of sand and beach grass with 15 levels of observation points … all straight up and narrow. No ramps, no steps, just fine powdery sand that gave way with every step. One step up … three slides down. And it went on FOREVER. Now I know where they must have filmed Laurence of Arabia. What a picture – two old bats struggling up these dunes, half jumping, half crawling – trying to both protect the cameras and keep their shoes from disappearing into the sucking sand. Of course, we lost sight of the car, the signposts, all types of humanity and – as usual in off-season - we were ALONE. Thank God it wasn’t 90 degrees. Now, I get a laughing fit, thinking we would be like Hansel & Gretel trying to follow the bread crumbs back home – only this time we were frantically trying to search for our ascending footprints. Luckily, we had distinctive sole markings. But, the kicker was that the descent looked more hazardous than the climb. So, we thought up the “heel and toe” method. – dig in your heel so that as you slide down a foot or two, it creates a sand step for your toe. It sort of worked. Except when we started laughing and hanging on to each other, it backfired. Finally, what we thought was a mirage materialized into the parking lot. I was never so happy to see asphalt! Of course, we were ten pounds heavier with all the sand in our shoes, pants and coat pockets. Then, off to tour up and down the whole Outer Banks strip, visiting lighthouses, fishing villages and new “Hampton-like” developments. We found a motel in Buxton for the night – then took off on two ferry rides to Morehead City, NC. I can’t wait for somebody to make another suggestion there!
So much to say, just can’t find the time to say it, so I’ll start by describing an incredible experience Patti and I had at Jockey Ridge State Park in Nags Head, NC. A young, energetic waitress hustling grits at a local eatery told us this was a great place for pictures, as it is home of the highest sand dunes on the East Coast – over 100 feet above sea level. She spoke of observation points – I assumed they would be civilized stairs or ramps or something solid anyway. She also said to bring water bottles. (Should have been my first clue! Another clue should have been that, when we got there, the only other human we saw was limping badly.) Patti was all riled up to go – so, after checking out of the hotel where we stayed for the night, we headed for the dunes. Sure enough, there they were – imposing masses of sand and beach grass with 15 levels of observation points … all straight up and narrow. No ramps, no steps, just fine powdery sand that gave way with every step. One step up … three slides down. And it went on FOREVER. Now I know where they must have filmed Laurence of Arabia. What a picture – two old bats struggling up these dunes, half jumping, half crawling – trying to both protect the cameras and keep their shoes from disappearing into the sucking sand. Of course, we lost sight of the car, the signposts, all types of humanity and – as usual in off-season - we were ALONE. Thank God it wasn’t 90 degrees. Now, I get a laughing fit, thinking we would be like Hansel & Gretel trying to follow the bread crumbs back home – only this time we were frantically trying to search for our ascending footprints. Luckily, we had distinctive sole markings. But, the kicker was that the descent looked more hazardous than the climb. So, we thought up the “heel and toe” method. – dig in your heel so that as you slide down a foot or two, it creates a sand step for your toe. It sort of worked. Except when we started laughing and hanging on to each other, it backfired. Finally, what we thought was a mirage materialized into the parking lot. I was never so happy to see asphalt! Of course, we were ten pounds heavier with all the sand in our shoes, pants and coat pockets. Then, off to tour up and down the whole Outer Banks strip, visiting lighthouses, fishing villages and new “Hampton-like” developments. We found a motel in Buxton for the night – then took off on two ferry rides to Morehead City, NC. I can’t wait for somebody to make another suggestion there!
No comments:
Post a Comment