Exploring Beaufort

So, is it “bew-fort” or “bo-fort” . . . we’re not sure, but it is a cute little town.  On Monday, after Bryce got caught up on his reading for English, we decided to take a drive up the coast – through Morehead City, to the little coastal town of Beaufort.

There are a few shops and restaurants, and old houses overlooking the water,    

 

 

as well as a Marina.  We walked through some of the shops, and then along the dock at the Marina, admiring the boats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a lot of really big sailboats!

 

 

The Marina area is really pretty,

and there is an old boathouse that is still in operation.  It looked really cool inside!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked past a rack of cute rental bikes,

and this memorial for the Pilot of the Space Shuttle Challenger, who was from Beaufort.    

As we walked along the Marina and through the shops, there was another couple that we kept running into.  They were from North Carolina, and frequent visitors to Beaufort.  We asked them which if they had eaten at any of the restaurants, and they responded, “All of them!”

We asked for a recommendation for lunch, and they sent us to Clawson’s . . . with the advice to definitely try the onion rings and seafood bisque.

 

 

 

We made our way over there,

and thoroughly enjoyed our dinner!

Tom tried BOTH the seafood bisque, and the onion rings!

Another nice day playing tourist!!

One more trip to Ft. Myers Beach and then it was time to get back on the road

Our friends from home were going to try to get their motorhome in shape to come down to Ft. Myers for Spring Break last week, but it proved to be too big of an undertaking.  At the last minute, though, they were able to find a rental house on the beach for the week.

They arrived late in the afternoon on Easter Sunday, so on Monday we took a drive out to the beach for dinner and sunset.

The house they rented was really nice . . . and probably could have fit about 3 families!  Todd grilled burgers and sausage, and we enjoyed dinner on the balcony overlooking the beach.  There was a nice sea breeze coming off the beach . . . making for a very comfortable afternoon!

After dinner, we walked along the beach waiting for the sun to set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful night for a sunset!

We had to put some pressure on Josh to take off his shoes and walk in the water with us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally convinced him to join us!

 

We collected a few shells, and found quite a few nice sand dollars . . . but they were all still alive, so we couldn’t keep them.

We continued walking as the sun sank closer to the horizon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watching the sun set over the water is one thing that I’ve really missed seeing on a regular basis this winter.

We stayed until it was completely gone . . .

 

Kylie entertained us with some of her gymnastic moves . . . and I just missed getting a picture as she fell in the water!!

 

Once the sun set, we walked back to their house, and then decided to go get some ice cream at Truly Scrumptious . . . and we weren’t the only ones who had that idea . . . there must have been 40 people in line in front of us!

 

We finally got our ice cream, and it was yummy!

The rest of the week was spent getting the RV cleaned up, packed and ready for the road . . . and wrapping up a few projects around the RV Resort.

On Saturday, it was time for us to hit the road again.  We just a had a short drive to make – 150 miles across the state – and it was a pretty easy one.

We drove through the middle of the state, past lots of orange groves,

a few sod farms,

 

and cattle . . . lots and lots of cattle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our destination for the next few days was Vero Beach, and pulled pulled into the Sunshine Travel RV Park around 12:30.

We got set up on site #73  (Passport Rate $17.50 + $4.00 resort fee),

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

got hooked up, and had some lunch.  After lunch, we decided to take a drive down to check out the beaches in the area.

The Atlantic coast actually looks nicer than I expected it to look!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think we’ll definitely have to get some beach time in while we’re here!

Back to a Normal Routine

While so much of the country has been experiencing utter chaos due to the severe winter weather, we’ve settled right into our post-holiday routine.  No snowdays for these boys – they are back to work! 

We took down all of our Christmas decorations, and even burned our Christmas tree.

 

We’ve had some really great sunsets here at Lake Pleasant, but I was getting a little tired of the same view from our campsite, so tonight after dinner Tom and I took a drive to the Sunset Ridge Picnic Area for a new view.

 

There weren’t too many clouds tonight, so the sky wasn’t as dramatic as other days, but it was still pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the sun dropped below the mountains, the lake began to reflect the pink tint from the setting sun.

Looking to the south, it looked like there was a pink haze hanging over the mountains.

Before it got completely dark, we decided to drive to the north end of the park to see if we could find any of the wild burros.  The park was home to a small herd of burros, who quickly multiplied to over 900 roaming wild in the park!  We haven’t seen any in the campground lately, but still see the evidence they leave behind . . .

As we reached the north entrance gate, one was running down the road toward us!

We saw several more as we continued into the park, but they kept running away and hiding in the brush.  It was a little hard to get photos of them in the dark . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back outside the Main Entrance, we saw a large group grazing on the side of the road . . . I hope they watch out for cars!

We’re still working on our list of things to do around Phoenix, and have quite a bit coming up in the next couple of weeks, but we’re also looking ahead to the spring and summer to determine our travel plans when we leave here.

I plugged a few key locations into Streets & Trips last night, just to see what it looked like . . . not too bad . . . almost 6000 miles.

We’ve still got quite a bit of research to do to pick our actual stops, and time it all out to get us back in Michigan around mid-summer, but at least it’s a start.  If anybody has any recommendations for things to see and do, or places to stay – especially in California, Oregon and Washington – we’d love to hear them!