beach camping: hot, sticky, wonderful

Oh, Mama, it's hot here......

What a whirlwind trip little Claire and I took last week!  I am very (very very) proud to say that I did indeed get up at 4am and that we were on the road by 4:40am.  I quietly took Claire out of bed and got her into her car seat with ease.  She sat up a little and rubbed her eyes, looking dazed, then grabbed her doll and cuddled it up to her face and fell back to sleep.  I was one relieved and proud mama.  Most definitely the way we will be doing long road trips from here on out.  (I bet a lot of you more seasoned mamas already know all this, huh?)  Anywho, she slept for the first three hours of our trip and then we hung out at a rest stop near Durham and ate yogurt while watching the trucks on the highway.  After mounting back up I was happy to call on my borrowed DVD player and it kept Claire quite happy for hours as she watched a sweet little DVD called "That Baby".  We only made one other stop for her to stretch her legs and before I knew it we were at the coast.  And by lunch time!  We set up camp (and I started thinking that perhaps I really should have brought the enormous car-camping tent instead of the tiny MSR backpacking tent.....) then headed to the NC Aquarium in Manteo (and also to Ace Hardware to pick up extra long tent stakes so my little tent wouldn't blow away in the wind), where I figured she could fall asleep in her backpack in the air conditioning (it was 95 degrees outside and we had little shade at the otherwise lovely Park Service campground at Oregon Inlet) and I could sit around and read and watch the fish as she snoozed.  When we arrived, the big sign stating "Aquarium free today- no air conditioning" was a little bit of a downer but we (she) ran around looking at the fish and turtles for a while and then she ended up falling asleep in the car on the way back to the campground.  I took the opportunity to drive around Manteo a bit and stumbled upon the very cute and historic waterfront district that I hope to explore a bit more this fall when we head back out to the Outer Banks for our Ocracoke vacation.

bouncing up and down on an old produce scale
(when she stood still it read 24 pounds, not 35!)

scene from a sweet little town we drove through on our way

old buildings in Manteo

old boat at the Manteo Maritime Museum

Back at the campground I set up our shade tent and was excited to see Heather walking up to the campsite.  She had just done a bit of writing for her blog, The Botanical Hiker, and enjoyed a cold beverage at the Oregon Inlet Marina across Highway 12 from the campground.  It had been a couple months since I had seen her and here she was, only 14 miles away from completing the Mountains-to-Sea trail.  My drive out to the Outer Banks was about 450 miles, but the trail had zig-zagged her across the state for a grand total of over 900 miles!

We relaxed a bit, enjoyed the beach in the evening, and then fought the mosquitoes as we prepared to hunker down in our tents for the night.  It was a hot night and Claire and I slept very little, but still, it was fun to be having a little adventure with her.  Of course taking a 17 month old camping on the beach in the middle of a very hot July isn't the most practical thing and was full of several challenges, but we still made it work with as little grumbling as possible. (Though be sure, there was definitely some grumbling and crankiness, from both she and I)

The following day went a bit more smoothly, with her napping on my chest in her carrier as I walked on the beach for an hour or so in the morning, followed by a little exploring and then us meeting up with Heather at Jockey's Ridge State Park to join her as she finished the last 1/2 mile or so of the trail.  Jockey's Ridge State Park is where you go in the Outer Banks if you'd like to go hang-gliding.  There are a few huge sand dunes (now around 100 feet, but ever-shifting) that seemingly supply the perfect conditions and wind for the sport.  It looks a little like something out of Star Wars, when they are cruising around in the desert.  It's like nothing I've ever seen.  And that sand is HOT, about 25-30 degrees above the air temperature, which, on the day we were out there was close to 100 degrees.  I strapped Claire onto my back and off we went up into the dunes under the bright summer sun.  I was shocked that she fell asleep out there, hot as it was, and honestly was a little nervous about having her out there for long because of the heat.  Turned out I didn't have to worry too much because a friendly park ranger who Heather had been in contact with via email as she neared the end of the trail ended up driving a little ATV out onto the dunes to take pictures of Heather as she finished and to bring us strawberry slushies.  And then she offered to give us a ride back down.  Which we most gladly accepted.  Now, a 1/2 mile hike is nothing, but a 1/2 mile in deep HOT sand on a July day..... well, that's no fun.  I held onto Claire tightly as the ranger zoomed down the dunes (a little quick, I thought... but perhaps I'm just getting old and boring.  And protective.  There is that.) and before we knew it we were back at the air conditioned visitor's center where all the rangers congratulated Heather on being one of a handful (less than 30!) of people who have completed the entire trail, and to ask many many questions about her experiences.

We had a delicious lunch at Tortuga's Lie in Nag's Head, a great little place that I have always enjoyed.  The blackened tuna sandwich that I ate was wonderful- very fresh with a watermelon-basil salsa, goat cheese, ripe tomato and lettuce.  Sounds like an odd combination perhaps, but it was amazing!  They also make their own chips and salsa and it is all great.  I highly recommend stopping there if you're ever in Nag's Head.

We then returned to camp and had a lazy afternoon followed by another cool evening on the beach and a bit less trouble with the mosquitoes before bed.  We all slept much better that second night, but poor Claire woke up with about 2 dozen bites on her leg where she'd slept with it up against the tent netting.

how she LOVED the water!

our lil' home away from home

no more sleeping up against the tent netting!

passed out after night two

We were on our way by 8am, with a quick stop at a coffee shop in Manteo and another in Columbia so I could pick up some seafood to take home.  We had another uneventful drive, with my little lady passed out for a solid 3 1/2 hours in the back (looking like she was surrendering to the AC and familiarity of being in her car seat) and were home by early evening.

total Savasana

I learned a lot about beach camping with a little one, for sure.  I will definitely take the enormous tent next time, will not ever do it again in the middle of July (unless of course I promise another friend that I'll pick them up) and will most certainly purchase a sunshade for the beach so that we can take advantage of the cooler waterside temperatures and breeze during the hottest part of the day.

All that aside, it was still a sweet little adventure.  I found myself awake that second night, watching Claire in the moonlight as she slept, grateful for the the cool ocean breeze, and feeling very blessed and content.