I’ve got answers!
I’ve had a lot of questions pour in recently about my travels and Blue Lollipop Road in general. Keep them coming! I will be posting an FAQ spot soon. No questions are off limits, so bring them on!
BEACH OR BUST!
As I mentioned in my last post, it was clear a few days ago that the Honda Facebook poll and all of you readers here had voted in the winning place for me to visit by a landslide (Statue of Liberty.) I looked at the two runners up (Kitty Hawk, NC and Cape Hatteras Lighthouse) and thought- why not go to all three? So North Carolina or bust!
Just rolling in, I am one Happy girl:
(Great face I have right where YouTube froze me in this video, right? If you can’t laugh at yourself…)
Kitty Hawk welcomes me and the loaned BLR-Mobile!
(Have I mentioned how much I love this Hybrid Civic and the fact I am getting on average 42.9 mpg? You know I love saving $ on gas and being thrifty in general. This car rules on saving me and helping me afford this trip! I can’t believe I only have 5 days left on the road. Tear…)
I went straight to Jockey’s Ridge State Park:
…to hang out on the sand dunes for a while:
The endless dunes don’t even look like they could be real! From the top you can see the ocean and the sound- which feels surreal:
See those long skinny white things on the bottom-left of the photo? Yep, those are for hang gliding lessons that are available to take on the dunes. How cool and fun does that sound?
I sat and stared at the ocean and the sound for a while just taking it all in. The sun started to set:
…and got more and more pink:
Jockey’s Ridge is a must do and the sunset in person is so much better than any photo or video could be! Next time you plan a beach vacation put OBX, NC on your list of to-go-to’s if you haven’t been here before. This undoubtedly my favorite beach area in USA. There’s something to be said for how clean it is, the fact that it hasn’t been taken over by a million neon lights, and that there’s mile after magnificent mile of uninterrupted sandy space for relaxing and playing. I heart OBX forever!
After sunset, I finished my day at the Outer Banks Brewing Station:
…with a pint of their Olsch:
…and a fresh veggie press sandwich on homemade bread. (Oops! I gobbled it up and forgot to take a photo. I guess you’ll just have to trust me that is was delicious. So delicious that I forgot about my camera.)
WIFI, microbrew, and eats recommended by a local was the perfect night office  I needed so I could get some of my work done. (Thanks Steph!)
Tomorrow it’s more beach exploring: Kitty hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, and making my way to Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The weather is supposed to be even more warm and sunny than usual in September here so perfect timing…
Thanks for all the votes to send me here!
***Total miles driven today, day 12: 215
***Total miles driven since trip start (9/2/11): 1,960
***Total blue lollipops gifted/left behind since trip start (9/2/11): 20
Announcements all around! Guess where I am headed?!
Surprise! I know that the winner by a landslide on the Honda Facebook poll page is the Statue of Liberty (so I will round out the trip and go there on my last day- next Monday) but I also thought; How fun would it be to go to all three voted on spots?! This is how I roll on my road trips. Why not?
So I made my way through Virginia today, snapping photos of random stuff, and mostly on back country roads:
I love how there are always chairs outside convenient stores in the country so regulars can sit and shoot the sh*t. Nightcrawlers for sale inside too. Score!
I found the Center of the Universe; Ashland, VA:
…and was reminded that Virginia is for Lovers:
I have love, Virginia has love, I love Honda, I’m loving life- it was a love-fest around the state today. Tomorrow it’s off to hit the beach. Coastal Carolina here I come!
***Total miles driven today, day 11: 142
***Total miles driven since trip start (9/2/11): 1,745
***Total blue lollipops gifted/left behind since trip start (9/2/11): 20
To the Great Grapes, Wine, Art, and Food Festival I went today. Always interested in how people make a living and how new products are born, this giant sandwich bus The Yellow Submarine Sandwich Corp. caught my eye:
…so of course I asked Owner Clay if I could video tape him and ask a few questions:
I love his hat. What a total character Admiral Clay was. So genuine, that in itself made me want to buy sandwiches from him. (Which we did and they were fresh and delicious!) My favorite thing Clay said after the camera stopped rolling was that when people asked him why in the world he wanted to do what he does, he answers: “Where else can you look out and see five or six thousand smiling face?”
Amen to that and thanks Clay! It was nice to meet you and I will indeed look your daughter up in Chicago.
How fun would it be to have an old school bus as a food “truck”?
Meet Michael (left) and Max (right), the sandwich makers:
…of course fully Beatles branded to complete the Yellow Submarine package:
I continued to wander with the festival crowd:
…had a sip of apple dessert wine:
…and some rose’:
Erik (above left) was wandering and offered me a glass so I accepted. This was after I was already talking to Ken (left) about his fancy shirt he had on. (Robert Graham I learned.) Why not bring two strangers together with me to take a picture? (They happened to know common people by the way because turns out they were both Army guys) Good times with random strangers once again.
I met these friendly sisters of Ms. Lillian’s Original Sauce too:
Debbie, Mary and Pat have been in business about a year, making the secret recipe bbq sauce their Mom (Ms. Lillian of course) used to make:
These sisters were sweet and I could tell love working together. It made me miss my sister!
Who else was at this festival? The Whoopsies ladies! Meet Partners Berkeley and Marcia:
These two are the definition of sassy and fun, and oh what delicious whoopie pies. (The three of us might have an exciting announcement soon- so stay tuned for the love of chocolate!)
I enjoyed my time at the festival, but also had other things on my mind all day being it was September 11, so I wanted to wrap the day with an important message here:
Here’s to living the life you want to live and never being afraid to say I love you because you just never know…
***Total miles driven today, day 10: 41
***Total miles driven since trip start (9/2/11): 1,603
***Total blue lollipops gifted/left behind since trip start (9/2/11): 16