Kill Devil Hills to Greensboro and Home

 September 21, 2024

We were up and since we were already packed were ready to go quickly and left by 7:30. I did manage to get one early morning beach shot.  

 We stopped at McDonalds and then at Duck Donuts.  Duck Donuts are evidently "the thing" on the Outer Banks with numerous shops up and down the coast.  You order from an extensive menu and they make them to order.  They are a cake type donut.  Ben had blueberry something and strawberry something else.  Jane had maple bacon.  They were good but very messy to eat.  Good but we both prefer the less cake type donut. 

The only thing of interest along the drive was the very clear water along the roadway.  Mirror quality water.

Not much traffic until we hit Raleigh where it was as you might expect for middle of day on Saturday.  We drove on through the metro area and finally stopped at the Mebane Mall area.  We had a BBQ sandwich at a Smithfield BBQ and Chicken Shop.  Then Ben had a little rest reading a book while Jane walked quickly through the mall.  The two things she had bought there in the past were no longer there.  Many people, lots of young adult clothes!  We soon headed on to Greensboro for a quick overnight in a brand-new Comfort Inn.   We split a strip steak and bake potato at a Longhorn Steakhouse.  They had excellent salads.  They had an on-line sign-in, so we put our names on the waiting list, left the hotel when we got a 15-minute text and were seated immediately as we got there.  Nice.  Now I am on their list to get emails!  So far, we have gotten a free appetizer so maybe worth the emails. 

Slept well, got up, ate another quick Comfort Inn breakfast - very similar to the ones in Kill Devil Hills.  I believe their cost cutting efforts must be in the breakfast category.  We left about 8 and had an uneventful drive through Winston Salem, over the mountain and down I 81.  Traffic was light most of the way.  Home about 11:30. Just as we had hoped - an afternoon to get rested and caught up for the week ahead.  Ben has 3 inspections and a root canal on the calendar.  Jane has two projects to finish at First Pres and the Kingsport Archives, end of season gardening work, and a doctor appointment - so much for lazy days!  

Finally A Day of Sunshine

 September 20, 2024 - 

We work up to overcast skies but soon the sun came through as the weather forecast predicted.  The flag changed today to yellow - Dangerous Currents.   We had had enough of Comfort Inn breakfasts and walked across the street for breakfast at Millers.  Their special thing is blueberry hushpuppies.  The were more flour than cornmeal hushpuppies and did indeed have a blueberry or two and powdered sugar on them - tasty.   Jane had scrambled eggs and biscuits, and Ben had French toast and bacon.  Nice for a change.  

Only one Blueberry Hushpuppy Left! 

We spent the morning in the sunshine on our balcony.  So relaxing watching the waves.  

We wanted soup and a sandwich for lunch - searched a bit and found Henry's.  Jane had the crab bisque and Ben had clam chowder.  We split a club sandwich.  This was a regular old time family restaurant.  Everything was good - nothing fancy but good.

For some reason we just enjoyed the sunny beach from the balcony again in the afternoon.  Had thought we would go walk on the sand but guess we were lazy.

Lifeguards and Sunshine - flag dangerous currents

Got our "stuff" all organized so we can get an early start tomorrow morning.  We plan to drive to Winston Salem if we can so we will be home early on Sunday.

We got cleaned up and headed to Awful Arthur's Oysters for dinner - huge crowd - 1 3/4 hour wait - no it can't be that good!  We went back to Henry's which was nearby and had steamed shrimp; Ben had fried oysters and Jane had clams.  It was all a bit over cooked - it was good but would have been great if not a bit over cooked. 

Very green green beans! They were good. 

Overall, we like Kill Devil Hills better than Nags Head.  Better choices of restaurants, just a simpler vibe.  We will have to come back as there are 3-4 restaurants we have not tried!  

Overcast - Visit to Wright Brothers Memorial

Good night's sleep in our new room. Need to speak to the breakfast here at this Comfort Inn – good but identical every day. Scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, toast, muffins, bagels, cereal, waffles. Lots of choices but exactly the same everyday. Usually they alternate the hot offerings occasionally. Maybe tomorrow we will go across the street to Millers – we got a coupon for breakfast when we ate there the first night.  Cloudy but looks like it might clear up later in the day. Jane spent the morning watching the sea from the balcony and writing the blog through today. Even transferred the photos such as they are.

We are off to the Wright Brothers Memorial. We looked for somewhere for a quick lunch as we drove up the main drag. We stopped at Chili Peppers because there were lots of cars in the parking lot. It was a good sign as it usually is – Jane had a Taco Salad and Ben had She Crab Bisque. Both were above average and very tasty. 

 We then headed a few miles down the road to the Wright Brothers Memorial. We have been here at least twice before – once probably after senior year in High School when Jane, Margaret and Steve came with the Harris family for a week. Then we also came maybe 10 years ago on a trip here but the visitor center was in a tent. Very nice visitor center now and great exhibits. 

 Ben may have told this story before, but I only remembered the part about his dad getting a very bad foot infection from kicking a crab… today I got to hear the rest of the story. When Ben’s family first came to Nags Head it was in late 1940’s or early 1950’s – would need to drag out his mother’s books to know for sure. Anyway, one of the days they had a fishing guide for a day – his name was Johnny Moore. This guide who was probably in his 50’s at the time had been present at the first flight of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. Ben recalls meeting him but not much else as he would have been 10-12 years old. About the age of Johnny when he was at the first flight in 1903. Sure enough, his name is in the materials at the memorial! So, I know someone who met someone who was at the first flight! Nice exhibits. Sun finally out so I got some decent photos.

Photo of first flight

The model inside the Visitor Center

The memorial 

Part of Sculpture - this is probably Johnny Moore

The first flight

 The last ones are of the memorial sculpture done in 2003 for the Centennial Celebration. It included the 4 bystanders – one of whom was Johnny Moore. We are making the assumption he was the youngest looking of the statues. After the nice visit we headed back to the hotel, walked a bit on the beach and rested to get ready for our 5PM reservation for dinner at Collingwood Café. We had two choices for a reservation 5PM or 7:45 PM. We arrived at Collingwood Café about 5 PM and were seated promptly by a window. There are 4 dining rooms – each one had about 5-6 tables. Most 2 and 4 person in our room. So it is a fairly small restaurant. I had a salad and shrimp/scallop napoleon – sautéed in a light sherry sauce. Ben had flounder with lump crab meat in a light sauce. We don’t recall the name of sauce. Both were excellent. They brought out a fantastic dessert tray but we were way too full! It was really not much more expensive than other places we have eaten. Maybe a couple dollars – but definitely more up scale. Waitresses were all older and it seemed at least half the folks in our dining room knew the staff so they were local. We would definitely come back.   Back to the hotel and watched 4 guys surfing for about an hour.  Looks like a lot of work!

Collingwood Cafe

Shrimp and Scallops Napoleon

Flounder with Lump Crab

To the Hatteras Light

 September 18, 2024

Slept well but after eating breakfast we spoke with the desk about the air conditioning.  After a visit from the maintenance guy, they determined it would not be fixable. There was some water in the floor near the window and air unit; so we think that was what shorted out the unit.  So, we moved down the hall about 4 rooms and settled in.  The sun was trying to come out and we decided to head south to the Hatteras Lighthouse for lunch and a stop somewhere along the way for Ben to get a touch of the “wild” coast.

 

The water had washed sand across Rt. 12 not from the ocean but from standing rainwater along the road.  The heavy equipment was out pushing sand off the roads – I bet they move that sand around every time there is a storm.   

Trucks, bulldozers clear the road 

Numerous places with standing water

Nice drive to Buxton and surprise there was scaffolding around the entire lighthouse!  They were sandblasting it, would point any areas in need of care, and will then paint it.  They are 9 months into the project according to a workman Jane spoke with.  Looks like they are ¾ of the way down with the sandblasting and expect to continue work for 2 years longer.  Very interesting to see all the scaffolding on the lighthouse.  

First View of Lighthouse

View from the museum side

We visited the gift shop and museum before heading to locate the good restaurant we remembered from our last visit here. But we did not recall the name and it did not pop up on Jane’s Trip Advisor.  We finally found – Diamond Shoals – minute we went in the door we remembered it!   Jane had crab – tomato – basil bisque and some fish bites.  Ben had an oyster basket.  Very good food.  

excellent crab soup

fish bites

 

Driving back north we stopped at one of the beach access sites and climbed the dune to see the “wild” ocean as Ben calls it.  Very hard going up the dune in soft sand but we made it.  Nice beach but a steep climb to see it.  

Climbing in soft sand is hard

Wild beach

As far as the eye can see...

We headed on back to our hotel for some beach viewing.  Day cleared up nicely.  Ben likes his status with Comfort Inn's.  He has a spot right next to the door for parking and has a great discount on rooms.  His points all come from his stays while on the job with his inspections - this year mostly in West VA. 

Jane made 3 restaurant selections for our next 3 nights.  First one Collingswood Café -very highly rated – got there all reservations full so we made one for tomorrow night.  Second one Awful Arthur’s Oysters -closed on Tuesday and Wednesday – so moved on to third – Beachcombers TiKi Hut which was at the Ramada right next to our hotel.  It was interesting as it was outdoor beach view informal bar type place.  We were seated and ordered some duck Rangoon for starters.  Good but not excellent.  Then Ben had crab cakes and Jane had shrimp tacos.  The tacos were good, the crab cakes not so much. 

Fish Tacos

Crab Cakes

It was a fun evening people watching.  Next to us was a table of two young couples with 7 children all under the age of 7 or 8.  They were all remarkably well behaved until they weren’t.  Guess they had their limit.  Have to hand it to those parents to come to the beach with that group of children! 

A Day of Rain

 September 17 

We got up to rain and pounding surf.  Ate breakfast and caught up on email etc.  Managed to get ourselves out for lunch.  The next door hotel had a restaurant that sounded good but when checking it was not open until 4 PM.  We drove a couple blocks and found Bob’s – Jane had a hamburger and Ben had a Sloppy Bob (like a steak and cheese sub).  They were both good.  Interesting place open only breakfast and lunch.  Their pancakes were plate sized!  

We managed to get by without getting too wet.  Back to our room for a nap and more nothing for the afternoon.  Just watching the storm was interesting.  We could tell from the weather reports that it would be gone by the end of the day.   They closed the ferry to Ocracoke and there was water over Rt 12 in several places. 

Our view most of the day

The Comfort Inn has a limited menu in the bar in the evenings so we chose that as our dinner option.  Had fish and chips and a salad.  I was not expecting much but it was really quite tasty.  The storm was not as strong, a few spots of blue in the sky, and even a faint rainbow. 

Faint rainbow towards the end of the day

About 10 we heard a big “thump” a couple times.  We did not have the air conditioning on and when Ben tried to turn it on – nothing.   So glad it was not warm – so we slept the night without air and it was fine.

Durham to Kill Devil Hills

 September 16

We slept so well we missed breakfast so ate at a nearby Waffle House.  We thoroughly enjoyed the Senior Special which was listed for $6 on the menu.  When the bill came it was for $9.95.  Seems they had not understood our order.  We did not make a big stink about it; but won’t be going back there again soon.  It was a good breakfast though!  We headed east under cloudy skies with off and on rain.  We knew we were headed into the edge of a tropical storm that was going to give us one day of bad weather.  After the good breakfast we were not hungry when we reached where we thought we would eat lunch.  When we got to Columbia we found a gas station and then began to search for lunch.  Choice #1 closed on Monday.  Choice #2 also closed.  Went back to the service station and had some unexpectedly good fried chicken.   

Driving through off and on rain showers we finally made it to the Outer Banks about 2:30. We had wanted ocean view room so went to a Comfort Inn we had not stayed in before – it was in Kill Devil Hills. Very near the Wright Brothers Memorial and Jocky’s Ridge.  Rain was definitely arriving off and on so we checked in rested a bit and walked across the road to a branch of Miller’s Seafood.  Millers in Nag’s Head had won our Hush Puppy Contest several years ago when we tested Hush Puppies along the way from Morehead City to Nag’s Head.  Ben had fried flounder and Jane had broiled flounder.  Both were good – the fried probably better than the broiled. Jane was not a fan of the seasoning on the broiled flounder.  Nice that we did not have to drive in the rain.  Hard rain most of the night.  The red hazard flag and another for no swimming were flying and the waves were really pounding the beach right outside our balcony.

Not a sign of good weather!

Kingsport to Durham

 September 15 Sunday

Leaving Kingsport at about 9 AM on Sunday September 15^th we headed to a short visit with Jeff, Robin and Daniel before heading to the Outer Banks.  We had an uneventful drive stopping at a Jersey Mike’s for a quick sandwich. It was freezing cold in the sandwich shop and very windy in their outside dining area so we ate out subs in the van!  Arrived in Durham to enjoy an afternoon of catching up on Daniel’s college visits and viewing his recently completed Eagle Scout project. 

Then we were off for a Birthday Dinner to celebrate Jane’s Birthday a few days late.  She chose Rasa Malaysia where we enjoyed excellent food.  All the dishes were very good – Ginger Beer, Pad Thai, Beef Rendang but the star was Robin’s choice of Lemon Fish.  Then a stroll across the village green to a grocery with excellent desserts that were enjoyed by most everyone.

The Famous Lemon Fish

Ben and Jane had Ginger Beef

Jeff had Beef Rendang

Daniel's Pad Thai

We headed to the close by Comfort Inn to spend the night since Sara was out of town.  She unexpectedly had gotten back that day, but we did not know it in time to cancel our reservations. Missed seeing her. We had an uneventful night’s sleep and were up the next morning ready for the drive to the coast.

Biltmore and Chihuly Exhibit

 

June 18 and 19, 2024

 Part of our 60^th Wedding Anniversary was a delayed trip to Biltmore to visit the house and the special Chihuly Exhibit that was showing this year.  We were scheduling between Ben’s two major inspection jobs this spring/summer.  We got up early to be on the road by 7:30 to arrive at Biltmore by 9:00 according to their instructions to allow 45 minutes to get from gate to the front door in time for our 10:00 AM tickets. 

Pleasant drive to Asheville after stopping for Ben’s regular travel breakfast – Pal’s Ham Biscuit and Cheddar Rounds.  His special accommodation to me was not adding extra salt to the cheddar rounds!   We arrived right on time – in fact a few minutes early.  Parking in lot C very near the trolley pick-up shelter.  They have a new trolley system since our last visit that runs between all the parking lots and Biltmore House; dropping us off right at the front door.

The house tour was great with a handheld recorded narration to start at points throughout the tour.  Funny how few of the areas I remembered from previous visits.  These photos will showcase a few highlights.  We toured the main floor including two room that had been decorated in recent years. One being the room that held national treasure paintings during WW2 when there was concern for them at the large national museums.  One area we did not see during our Christmas time visit years ago was the outside loggia.  The views of the mountains was spectacular.  

We then went up the grand staircase to tour the second-floor bedrooms and sitting rooms, then another set of stairs to one of the servant bedroom floors.  We came back down to the 2^nd floor and were able to catch a ride on the elevator – original to the house. 

Then we went downstairs for the tour of bowling alley, pool, and the working areas of the house – kitchens, servant dining area, and many storage areas.  In all my fit-bit told me I had done 4 flights of stairs.  I would have thought double that but I guess it was the 2-3 sections of stairs in each flight!  Overall, it was a great tour and we enjoyed it all.  There were always people with us but never what I would consider crowds….very pleasant. Just about 2 hours in the house as we entered at 9:45 and came out right on time for our 11:45 lunch reservation in the Stable Café. 

The Stable Café was located to the right of the front entrance where we exited the house.  I was not sure where it would be when I made the reservation; but, it was a perfect location as we were really ready to sit down!   For lunch Jane had a Chicken Salad Sandwich and Ben had Brunswick Stew and Hushpuppies.  All were good but Ben felt for a NC facility they needed to change their recipes to better reflect the actual contents of Brunswick stew.   He felt he had a bowl of very good beef stew!

After lunch we looked around the shops a bit and then walked over to the other side of the house to catch the trolley back to our van.  Interesting they have built a covered facility where we attended a Beach Boys Concert some years back.  Imagine this allows them to have a longer season and avoid issues with rain.  We waited only a few minutes for the trolley and were taken back to lot C. 

Our tickets for the Chihuly Exhibit were at 2:00 so we drove that way not knowing exactly how long it would take us to get to the DeerPark area.  We were there in about 15 minutes and enjoyed a few minutes in an outside area where they served drinks – but few people were there and no one ordering drinks.  The bartender was bored to be sure!   There are 3 large buildings in this area and the Carriage Ride and Trail Ride headquarters.  I believe these buildings are all exhibit halls.  When the Chihuly exhibit was done some years ago at Biltmore it was outside.  He wanted to come back and provide a bigger exhibit when they had this indoor facility available.  One of the current exhibits was designed especially for Biltmore – the various colored items were above a glass ceiling with beautiful reflections on the walls. Very unusual. I will include photos of several of the glass exhibits. Fantastic shapes and colors.  There was also a 10-15 minute film about how Chihuly designs and makes his art. Not a large exhibit - 5 or 6 rooms but it was well worth the visit. Tried a video which turned out pretty good. 

The Indian Blanket collection was amazing. 

After this viewing we found our way out of the Biltmore complex and found our hotel.  After a bit of a rest.  Ben called and made reservations for our dinner.  Last year for Christmas Jeff and Robin gave us a gift certificate for Zambra – a tapas restaurant in downtown Asheville.  Not a fan of downtown driving we considered an uber, but Ben located an on street parking lot only a block away.  With the high clearance van parking garages which abound don’t work for us!  We only had a block to walk - straight uphill!   The food was definitely interesting – maybe Spanish- middle eastern – African leanings.  I am not sure I can note everything we ate – a roasted red pepper and walnut spread with pomegranate molasses served with pita – very good.   Seared Hokkaido Scallops with corn risotto – very good.  House gnocchi with basil and sweet potatoes – also very good.  PEI (Prince Edward Island) Mussels in some sort of broth – well Ben loved and Jane thought OK glad she had but would not order again!  Also enjoyed some summer sangria!  Oh, and Ben had some sort of fancy Chocolate Torte “to go” and enjoyed it after we got back to the hotel.

Pita with Pepper, Pomegranate Sauce 

House Gnocchi

PEI Mussels Before

PEI Mussels After 

Needless to say, the bed felt very good after all the walking – stairs – and uphill climb.  Jane’s back was really ready for a rest.  Some reading and a good night’s sleep.

 

A fair breakfast at this Sleep Inn.  We usually stay at Choice Hotel chain hotels where Ben maintains Gold or Platinum status with all his work stays.  One of the hotels in West VA he stayed at was a Sleep Inn and it had a great breakfast.  This one not so great but it was OK and we were off back to Biltmore for the rest of the story.  Our ticket gave us entry to the grounds, winery, village etc. the next day.  We drove past the house for Jane to get a better photo and down through the gardens.  We had thought we might walk around but we were able to drive right around the main garden area and nothing really sparked our interest for a more intense viewing.  The drive was beautiful – about 5 miles to the Antler Hill Village and Winery area. There are 2 major hotels, the winery, village, and a working farm to view in this area.  It could easily take an entire day to see it all.  Lots of walking and biking trails in this area which is near the French Broad River. 

We found out the attractions did not open until 11 so we had 20 minutes to wait.  We walked through the Legacy history of the Vanderbilt family and watched the movie. Then chose to opt out of the winery – ate lunch at the Creamery and hit the road for home.  Ben had found out he needed to make a last inspection visit to West VA so wanted to get home to rest before he left early tomorrow for West VA.  Drive home was pleasant – weather was perfect with sunshine and clear sky. 

Biltmore House

The son and daughter in the photo manage the Biltmore Estate now. 

Another Chihuly from a distance