PazTripReports: Lookout, the coast is clear

Goodbye MCNB. We will (sort of, but not really) miss you.

We have briefly decamped from North Carolina to South Carolina to investigate some Revolutionary War battle sites (and NPS units). But don’t fear faithful blog readers, we will return to North Carolina soon and resume our quest to “really get to know” the central and western (Piedmont and mountain) regions of the state.

So, I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity (i.e. a good wi-fi connection) to post several photos from our fantastic three-day trip to the 18-mile long, half-mile-wide “North Core Banks” of Cape Lookout National Seashore.

But before I get to that I want to diverge briefly from travel blogging to give a major shout out to two “Friends Of The Blog” who are sitting for bar exams in Illinois and Tennessee Tuesday and Wednesday. Rock it kids!! Furthermore, I want to extend major “blog-congrats” to Rachel Simon for her recent selection for a prestigious, two-year clerkship with the staff attorneys at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. You go girl!! (and good luck to Tex in trying to keep up with her).

Now, back to our trip to Cape Lookout National Seashore.

After getting a new tire in New Bern we drove to the tiny hamlet of Atlantic (which can safely be described as an “out-of-the-way” place) where a small ferry transports visitors across the sound to a collection of rental units clustered at a place on the island known as Long Point.

For folks interested in semi-rustic, relatively affordable accommodations and secluded, pristine beaches Long Point on Cape Lookout NS may be your kind of place.

10 and 2 baby. You never know when someone might dart out in front of you.

A couple of hundred miles and a ferry ride from the nearest tow truck...what could possibly go wrong?

There are no motels anywhere close to Atlantic but we lucked into finding a small apartment that the ferry service rents. So we drove from New Bern in the afternoon and were the only customers for supper at the decent, and very affordable, restaurant adjacent to the ferry landing. I walked back for breakfast in the morning and the drive from the apartment to catch the first ferry of the day took about 15 seconds.

On the island we “splurged” for a unit with air conditioning in a two-building fourplex that we shared with three families, two dogs and lots of kids.

Home sweet pod.

Utilizing the truck’s four-wheel-drive features we drove nearly the length of the island to its northern tip hoping to be able to visit the historic village of Portsmouth. However, when we got within a mile or so of the village there was at least two feet of salt water over the “road” that is the only route through the tidal flats to village; so we turned around. We would have walked the last mile but the bugs on this part of the island have been described as “epic” and a few seconds outside the truck confirmed that assessment.