Outer Banks, North Carolina

We recently spent a in Duck, North Carolina.

Transportation

If you drive in on Virginia 168, there is a short toll road that can be from $3 during the week to $8 on the weekends. A short detour avoids this toll road. We had no traffic on the alternate route. Take exit 8B and follow Battlefield BLVD.

Lodging

We rented a house for a week from Kitty Hawk Vacation Rentals. Things we liked was close to beach (but not on the beach due to price), had a pool and hot tub, and plenty of room for all. Pool was not heated, which didn't bother the kids. Heated pool was about $500 more. Only odd thing was while linens were provided, you had to put the sheets on the bed. Some places do not provide linens.

Food (North to South)

We brought groceries with us. We ate out just a few times, usually for donuts...

Donutz on a Stick

Interesting idea. They make donuts in shop, put whatever topping you want, then skewer them. You can also get ice cream. Tried the cinnamon roll, pancake, and tuxedo. Cinnamon roll was better. They do have gluten free, but a limited amount. If you get there late, they might be out for the day. You can pre-order them for the following day.

Outer Banks Popcorn Shoppe

It's just popcorn, but it's really good popcorn.

Duck Donuts

Same thing as Donutz on a Stick, minus the stick. Custom made donuts. I think my kids liked these better, but they were just about the same. No gluten free donuts.

Outer Banks Brewing Station

For a place that's only claim to fame is that they are powered by the wind, it's pretty good. Had one of their beers, the olsch, and enjoyed it. Ate the flounder for meal, pretty good.

Attractions (North to South)

Currituck Banks Reserve

2 trails here, we took the shorter boardwalk. About ¾ mile each way, with a viewing platform at the end overlooking the sound. Saw birds and heard frogs. Nice short walk. There is 

Currituck Heritage Park

Lots of cool things in the park. Fishing, crabbing, Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education, Whalehead, and the Currituck Lighthouse

Currituck Lighthouse

Saw it from the Currituck Heritage Park.

Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education

Small neat museum. Has a scavenger hunt for the kids.

Whalehead

Some old inn. You can take tours. We did not.

 Duck Boardwalk

A boardwalk runs along the sound side of Duck. Lots of shops and nice views of the Sound

Fishing on the Boardwalk

Fishing and crabbing is restricted to one spot, just north of the town park. 

There is a bait and tackle shop (Bob's Bait and Tackle) on the boardwalk. Picked up string and chicken necks and the kids had a blast.

Beach in Duck

There is no public access to the beach. Where ever you stay should have private access. Ours had a boardwalk over the dunes at the end of the street.

First few days we were there, a rainstorm was moving up the East Coast. The "No Swimming" flags were out. We went most days, but never were able to get into the water due to rip currents and high surf.

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Spent about 2 or 3 hours here. They have Junior Ranger program. Listened to a Ranger talk, walked to the top of Kill Devil Hill where the monument is, walked to the recreated hangers/workshops, saw where the first flight took place, and checked out the recreated flier with doubles as a playground. 

National Monument to Flight

Where the first flight took off from

Jockey's Ridge State Park 

Came out to explore the sand dunes and fly kites. Really cool place and the kids had fun.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Drove the seashore from the north to Cape Hatteras. There is no fee to enter.

Bodie Island Light House

You can climb the lighthouse

Haulover Day Use Area

Because of high surf and rip tide, we decided to not go to the beach on the ocean side and instead went to the sound side. We found this day area. It was small, but good for small children. Has bathrooms and washoff showers and changing areas. Kids enjoyed playing in the water and sand.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

We climbed this lighthouse. It was $8 for adults.

View from the top

That might not be the good news you were looking for

Several years ago I wrote a post called It Is Good! In it, a United Methodist bishop encouraged people to focus on good news in the world and not just the bad. He cited an example of a news commentator when he was young who opened the broadcast with "There is good news tonight!"

Yesterday, I decided to look into that line.

In World War II, there was a radio broadcaster by the name of Gabriel Heatter. One day, the United States Navy sank a Japanese destroyer. He opened his broadcast with "Good evening, everyone—there is good news tonight." It became an instant hit and his signature catch phase.

Probably not the good news the Bishop had in mind.

The Christmas Story

Ross King has an album called The Christmas Stories which surprisingly enough contains Christmas songs. One of the songs is called Song of Gabriel.



I find the song is in the same vein as Host of Angels. A beautiful song telling the life of Christ, each event concluding with a host of Angels reacting.

The song tells the story of Christmas from the perspective of Gabriel. It captures 3 events, the annunciation of the incarnation to Mary, the birth of Jesus, and the announcement to the shepherds.

In the annunciation section, in the Bible in Luke 1:26-38, Gabriel starts with his thoughts on hearing what he is to say to Mary. It is almost as if Gabriel is saying "what? Your plan is to go to earth as a human? You trust humans to hold God in the helpless body of a baby? This plan is insane."

The birth of Jesus, in the Bible in Luke 2:1-7, Gabriel starts with the threat that Satan played while Mary and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem. How vulnerable the Christ is, an unborn child in the womb of Mary, traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The angels in the song served as escorts, protecting Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Once in Bethlehem, the angels all gather to see the newborn child, while a song, unheard to man, is sung in Heaven.

The announcement to the shepherds, in the Bible in Luke 2:8-20, Gabriel recalls the 23rd Psalm, the LORD is my shepherd. He then tells the shepherds of the birth of Christ and how this is what we have all have been created for. All will praise the name of Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

What a beautiful song.

Within the Two Binders: Prayer of Thanksgiving for Easter

I found this short prayer than appears to be a prayer of thanksgiving for Easter.

We thank Thee for the beauty of this day, for the glorious message that all nature proclaims; the Easter lilies with their waxen throats eloquently singing the good news; the birds so early this morning, impatient to begin their songs; every flowering tree, shrub, and flaming bush, a living proclamation from Thee; O Open our heats that we may hear it too! Lead us we pray from the grave that is empty, into the garden of the Resurrection where we may meet our risen Lord. May we never again live as if Thou were dead! In Thy presence restore our faith, our hope, our joy. Grant to our spirits refreshment, rest, and peace. Maintain within our hearts, an unruffled calm, and unbroken serenity that no storms of life shall ever be able to take from us.

 From this moment, O living Christ, we ask Thee to go with us wherever we go; be our Companion in all that we do. And for this greatest gift of all gifts, we offer Thee our sacrifices of thanksgiving.

 

Within the Two Binders: God in History

Continuing through the binders, this 3 page introduction was found within a lesson on Joseph, son of Jacob.

Several years ago there was a cartoonist, who produced a Pulitzer prize winning cartoon. This cartoon showed an old man with a broom in one hand and a duster in the other. He was approaching an unoccupied pulpit, a closed Bible, and an altar, from which one could see cobwebs running in every direction. The caption under this cartoon read, "TIME TO DUST IT OFF." 

Today the average man in the street needs to dust of his ideas concerning history. our lesson this morning is entitled, "God in History." There are too many of us who do not believe that God is concerned with history, or that he can, or will have anything to do with it. It doesn't make very good sense, to go around preaching and teaching that God is concerned with the individual, but that he isn not interested in the great political and social currents of our world. If God is interested in me as an individual, I can't help but believe that he also must be interested in the current military, political and economic world. Further, I don't believe that he is powerless to do anything about it. But we who are followed of the lowly Nazarene, believe that God can effectively control the world through the voluntary co-operation of his people. To Joseph this might not have made very good sense, and he probably would not have been in full accord with this view. 

There are in the world today three different views concerning man, and God in history. There is the view point that believes man controls history and his own destiny. An illustration of this type of thinking was at one time expressed by Mr. Winston Churchill, when he heard that a group of men were unloading tonnage from a ship at a very strategic spot. He sent this message to them, "Tell them for me, that they are unloading history." Mr. Churchill is one of the great men of our time, I would not attempt to argue, or to criticize his viewpoint of history, for no other man of our time has made more history, or been involved in the making of more history than Mr. Churchill. But if you take his statement just as it stands, it could mean that it is man who "unloads" or "loads" or "stacks" or "stops" or control history. If this be true, then every person is at the mercy of some Napoleon, a Hitler, or a Mussolini, or some other little strutting dictator who crosses the stage of history. One after another of these men have had their little brief glory upon the stage, and they have left it strewn with broken hopes, ideals destroyed, and the dead and broken and twisted bodies of thousands of their fellow man. No man, not even, the best and the wisest, knows enough, or possesses enough virtue, or is destined to live long enough to be entrusted with the control of the world. 

The Italian statesman, Machiavelli, proclaimed the doctrine of economic control of history. This is the view of the Communists. Communism says that the world is in a continual conflict brought on by economic considerations. The conflict comes from that part of man's life where he is in a constant struggle to win the material things of life, such as food, clothing, and housing. Back and forth this struggle goes, until there comes a time when man will reach the "Golden Age." But the battle now is between the haves and the havenots. In this struggle the individual counts very little. It is the sweep of things, the blind force that moves on like a tidal wave sweeping everything before it. Things are the master. And so it is, that the Communist ruler can declare and he evidently believes that the nation or nations that stand in the way will be plowed under. He dogmatically, prophesies that our children will grow up under communism. It this system there is no God. 

The third view in history is that it is God controlled. That God started it, and that God will finish it, and that in between the beginning and the end, he has a hand in it. The Christian does not believe history to be sentimental or soft headed. We do not blink at defeats and tragedy. We do not believe, in fact we know it is not the be true, that day by day, in every way, that man or history is getting better and better. We accept the view, even tho we don't understand it, that often the best is in the hands of the worst. Just as Joseph suffered at the hands of his brothers, and just as Jesus, in the hands of the Roman soldiers. But we believe, that history does affirm that God can and does sometimes use that which is bad to chastise and discipline that which is less good than it might be. 

The Book of Isaiah says, "Thus saith the Lord, to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue the nations before him; I will loosen the loins of kinds, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut." We might ask, did God approve the cruelty and the brutality of Cyrus? The answer is no, God does not approve of the methods of Cyrus; God approves the methods of Jesus, and the methods of the two are as far apart as the north and the south pole. 

Yet, we contend, that God does use a Cyrus. Cyrus does not control God; God controls Cyrus. And he will use Cyrus, whether Cyrus wills it or not. Cyrus can do much damage; he can bring untold suffering. Much that is good and fine and noble will be at the mercy of Cyrus, but Cyrus does not control history nor does he control time. These are in the hands of a just and a merciful God. When Cyrus has been used of God, God will cast him aside. When an obedient servant has been used of God, he will be loved and cherished. 

God, not men, not blind force, is in control. The child of God lives by faith and not be sight. Without this faith, it is impossible to please God.

Day trip to Philadelphia

We live about 2 hours away from Philadelphia, so after church yesterday, we drove up for the afternoon with another family. Our goals were simple, cheese steaks and the liberty bell.

Two hours and $16 in tolls later, we arrived at cheese steak corner about 1:45. Parking is free along the street.

We wanted to try both Pat's and Geno's, so one family stood in line at Pat's, the other at Geno's.

Our friends stood in line at Pat's. They said that though they were concerned ordering food because the sign said "If you make a mistake, don't panic, just go to the back of the line and start over." However, despite ordering one provolone wit-out, their cheese steak had onions. Cheese fries helped to round out this healthy meal.

We stood in line at Geno's. When we got to the window, the cashier was quite friendly and helpful. After talking to him briefly about a couple items on the menu, he recognized us as first timers and walked us through the process. One whiz wit, one provolone wit, one american wit-out. He also gave us two free pens. French fries and cokes (both Pepsi and Coke products) washed them down.

Geno's is infamous for their speak English sign.

The cheese steaks.

One whiz wit

One provolone wit

The verdict on cheese steak? The whiz is amazing. You have to have it the Philly way, whiz wit. But Pat's or Geno's? Pat's had better tasting meat. If I went back, I'd be a Pat's cheese steak guy.

Then it was on to Independence Hall. There is a parking garage under the north visitors center.

To tour Independence Hall, you have to have timed tickets. You can get them free at the visitor center, but they tend to run out early. We bought ours online for $1.50 each.

Our tour was for 3PM, so at 3PM we arrived at the visitor center. We got our tickets and walked down to Independence Hall.

 

After walking, clearing security, and waiting in the tour line, we caught the 3:45 tour. The ranger checking tickets was pretty rude, seeing at 3PM tour and saying that we missed it pretty badly. When I told him we got out tickets at 3PM, he looked at me like I was an idiot. So, the time on your ticket isn't the time at the visitor center, but at the hall. Arrive early. Regardless, we got in on the tour and the ranger giving the tour was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about the place and the American revolution.

The tour first takes you into a briefing room in the east wing for a brief talk about the hall centered around a painting of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

We then went into the hall and started in the court side of the old statehouse.

Then to the more famous legislative side where the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution were signed.

You then exit out the back and into the plaza.

Commodore Barry, Father of the Navy

Then, the Liberty Bell.

The Liberty Bell does not require tickets. You just stand in line to clear security, then can walk around the exhibit where it is located. You cannot touch the bell. I did go at one time when you could and got a photo with my hand in the crack, but not any more.

Two hours later and $8 in tolls (there is an $8 toll to leave Maryland, none to enter), we were home.