It took a good many miles before the fog started to lift (see how we could NOT see trees on the left side in the first photo).
on one of those trails
fishes behind us
a 'gator snaps!
M keeps still while a stingray passes.
That's a hermit crab.
a break at the gift shop
uh, dat be me
The sharks are fed twice a week (that's why they don't touch the other fishes that are in there with them - yaiks, what if they miss a feed?)
The NC shores are nicknamed ' The Graveyard Shores' as about 2000 ships sank there.
happy inside the jaws
Out the trail
and on to the beach! It was the perfect day out!
M found three crabs!
Couldn't get enough of the water! 
Having all the fun in the world!
AJ cried when it was time to go.-------------------------------
We've already been to a number of aquariums but one more was not going to hurt, so we packed the boys off and headed up to NC Pine Knolls Aquarium. Aris and I were up by 4:30 but we didn't leave the house till 6:02. Ask me what I brought along. I brought me some BIKO which is a Filipino traditional sticky rice cake for myself as it was going to be a 3 1/2-hour road trip. I brought all three of them a little of something else that they liked. And enough water to drown us. We were also geared up to our necks with swimming stuff as we promised the boys a dip at the beach afterwards - their first. I also found room for books. (Earlier in the week, we brought them to the Public Library, and had the two registered for library cards.) So I carted away 2 each that they had borrowed, tucked in one that I was currently finishing up on, and, armed with blankets and the navigator, we hit the road.
M and AJ were too high-strung to drift back to sleep, even though they slept really late the night before. (I tucked them in at 7, but they were promptly up by 10. They didn't, couldn't, go back to sleep till midnight.)
So we played 'I Spy' till they got bored. AJ played with his Transformers toys, and I took out the books. Got hungry. Ate some. Played music all the time, sang songs, did rhymes, anything to keep them busy so we wouldn't have to turn on the TV. I wanted them to focus on the scenery.
WHICH was something to take in AFTER we got through the fog. Wow, speak of fog at 75 mph, for more than 20 minutes! We couldn't see the taillights of the car (there was only one) ahead of us, even though they were on (we found out after we got really close).
After it had gone on too long without breaking, M wondered aloud whether it was a good time to go to the beach.
Finally, the fog broke and we found ourselves in a quaint little town where we saw men and women in uniform - there was even a car with a USMC sticker on, and the driver went straight to a marine camp. We stretched ourselves at a rest stop.
Further ahead were miles and miles of cattle farm (you could tell by the smells before we saw the animals and their huge barns). Sorry, I have no pics! (We ended up turning our windows up, the smell got so bad.)
Eventually, we stopped for gas, because it was cheap! We stopped right where boats were being moved by car here and there - and where several more of different sizes were docked right by the gasoline station. We all got excited. There was even a boat called Widowmaker II, and I thought, wow, speak of sinister!
We got closer and closer to where there was water on both sides of the road, and our enthusiasm was such that even I couldn't wait to get off the car!
Whew! But it wasn't all that - closer to Pine Knoll, one road got so steep, soooo steep that we braced ourselves for a roller coaster ride in the car, and M and I got to excited screaming. I t w a s a l o t o f FUN!!!
I have to say that the houses there LOOK a lot different from the ones here at the Triangle. They have 3-STORY (u-huh) houses over there, and they are colorful - pink, green, blue, orange, yellow side by side by side and across the street from each other, and they have what looked like sand for soil. I have also never seen so many water tanks and electric poles. Everything was so cute.
Finally, we saw the sign to The Aquarium. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!
*********
PS. Hey, M took home a lot of shells. And Aris got to save a crying little girl from drowning!
14 comments:
Hi Che, enjoyed seeing your pictures and reading the fun you have. Reading your road trip is like reminiscing some of our days here, driving not seeing anything, hearing the ocean waves but not seeing the water unless you are already stepping on it ( which if this is the case we don't swim since it is dangerous if visibility is poor), and then to experience the fog just miraculously lifted for us to enjoy the sea and the sand. I shout too whenever we drive steep downhill, sometimes, i just close my eyes :) And if we were entertaining Khai's niece befre (when she was AJ's age ), everytime we left the beach, she would cry, even if she knew we would get back the next day, she would still cry. But it is always fun seeing them having fun and enjoying a time of their lives. I enjoyed your beach pictures with the boogie board, gosh, I have to do it too Che, got to ride the waves too :) Glad you had fun and thanks to Aris for braving to save a crying little girl from drowning.
Hi Che, nothing compares really to the joy of seeing our children havin' the time of their lives...the hardest phrase to say each time is "boys we got to leave"...haaaayyyy .....what did you say to AJ when he cried? and yah, you must have been one proud wife when Aris got to save the little girl! kisses to the cute kids! mmmwah!
by the way, i love your photo he he he!
Hello Cherie, you indeed had a great bonding day with your family. Kids are all the same, won't leave a place they had enjoyed much without a shout and or a cry :D... Your pictures are wonderful, Nice reminders of the day you had much fun (and bravery on your husband's part).
Pareho man an baybay da sa baybay didi ha? hahahahahaha (buang talaga ako) karaw lang tabi, Just to make you smile.
bethsky, i take it you know how to swim? inggit ako sayo. kita mo, wala akong picture dahil takot ako sa tubig, hehe. yes, yes, you described everything so well. oh, i forgot to mention, a storeowner gave me a gift - a beach bag, after we bought some stuff we needed for the beach(wink), haha!
zen, oo nga, haha, they enjoy so much tapos ayaw ng umuwi. i think i told aj we were going rest for a bit then go back (i'm a poor liar). yung little girl pala was swept aways by the wave, ang layo naman ng nanay, she was with bigger friends.
sol! ay amo, baba, pareho an mga batit nan an baybay, hehe...an bravery, hehe, expected idto, hahah...pero, seriously, in instances like this, i envy him so much for knowing how to swim!
manay, amo man kami nagkadto sa Aquarium of the Pacific, my gulay nahulug an cell phone ko sa pool, naraot, hahaha,
daragkuun na an mga batit mo.
i think any kid will cry once you take him out of the beach! My niece put a fit when we told her we had to go home too. The aquarium's good. Nice too see all those sea creatures.
Sin-o man baya na batit an dili ma-UKA kun pipahali na sa dianison na beach? Grabeng paglinga ada an ginibo ni manay mo nan mga promesa na mabalik man tulos didto, hahaha!
Anyway, glad to know you're with blogger now as well. Will the other blog be more for your writings? Because you really need to "showcase" that, madir.
may istorya ako dida sa celfone - na-washing machine ko an saakun, wara na, hahaha...
thanks for the visit, ayie...i like your blogs, and will be there as often as i can...
melodie! sabihon ko saimo, at this very moment - nasa salug ini na saday sige an surmaton, sabi, mom, i'm tired. sabi ko, namata ka pa lang, tired ka na naman...ay Diyos ko, kalbaryo, hahahaha! ikaw talaga - ayaw na pagde-deleta an mga post mo, ever, kay kasayang - i-showcase man tabi! may email ako saimo....
my pleasure cherie. thanks!
you're so welcome, ayie.
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