ON VACATION--OUTER BANKS, NC.

Pictures, in no particular order:

Getting a personalized tour of the Field Research Facility in Duck, NC. This facility conducts coastal and estuarine research for the US Army Corps of Engineers. This pier is 1/3 mile long.

Corey, me, and Renee on the sound in Kill Devil Hills.

Renee and me on the beach first night. And no, I'm not drunk!

Corey and Renee on the beach, first night. Note: it is not dark yet, I just hadn't figured out where the flash on the camera was!

Corey and me.

Another view of the FRF pier.

A view from the FRF pier, part of the Duck, NC coastline.

Austin and me in the pool where we are staying in a condo in Kill Devil Hills, NC. The pool is more than 25 yards long, so I'm able to get decent swimming in there.

Beach condos, about 1 mile from where we are staying.


Austin, getting ready to swim.

Renee, deciding not to swim.

Austin, jogging along the beach.

We arrived here on Monday early afternoon, after driving 12 hours on Sunday and another 4 on Monday. The first thing we experienced was how hot it was! Hot isn't the word! It was 95 degrees with humidity in the upper 80% range. I was glad to be done driving, and after a quick swim, we had an early dinner and then headed to the beach before the sun set.

The next morning, Tuesday, I planned to swim in the pool early to avoid all the kids and others. The minute I walked out of the air conditioned condo and onto the deck, the heat and humidity hit me like a brick wall! It was just like walking into a sauna. At 6:30 am, it was already 85 degrees with 89% humidity. I was glad I wasn't running that day. The pool was refreshing for about 10 minutes, and then it was like swimming in tepid bathwater. The pool water temp was probably close to 90 degrees.

I had to quickly get dressed and eat breakfast after that because we were headed to the Field Research Facility for a public and later private tour of the facilities and information about the research they conduct there. I won't go into all the details, but it was very interesting, and getting a private tour of the pier was also special.

Then we did some quick souvenier shopping, ate lunch, and headed to the beach. The water was crystal clear and a light emerald green, due, I found out, to the warm water temperature (79 degrees) and little wave action. This was a big treat for us to swim in such warm water, when it is rare for our lakes or Lake Michigan to be anywhere near 79 degrees. We bobbed around in the water for a couple of hours, since getting out it was so horribly hot, 95 degrees.

That evening, we were invited for dinner at Ed's parents house, about 5 miles away on the sound. They live in a private community, and it is just a short walk to the water, where the one picture was taken.

This morning, Wednesday (already??), it was MUCH cooler when I got up and a north breeze was blowing, so I decided to head out for a run. While it was quite warm and somewhat humid, it was very do-able compared to yesterday, and I managed 45 minutes. My legs felt really good. After, I did another half mile swim in the bathwater pool, and then treated myself to half an hour of lounging in the pool chairs and dozing in the sun, enjoying the silence and solitude.

Now we are back to the beach and who knows what else today!