Since my birthday was on a Wednesday this year and since Rachel was going to be at camp during this week also, my family decided to take me on a little birthday trip the weekend before my birthday this year! We headed to Harkers Island, NC on the NC coast.
The first afternoon we were there Brent found a grill on sale, put the entire grill together from pieces himself and grilled us chicken and corn on the cob for supper on that grill! Thankful he is so good at so many things!
These girls liked lounging in the beach chair together.
We got up early the next morning and headed to the ferry. Harkers Island is the ferry point to Shackleford Banks, a nearby barrier island with wild horses and awesome shells, and it is also one of the only ferry points to Cape Lookout National Seashore and Lighthouse. Brent and I had taken several day trips to this area while we were in college but had never been here with the girls.
We started off first by taking the ferry over to Shackleford Banks with plans to take a ferry over later in the day to the lighthouse.
Right behind us along the land are the wild ponies. You get a picture while you can because the ponies may be on a completely different part of the island and not be seen again. I love their excitement when they spotted the horses for the first time!
Usually when we find lots of conches and whelks on Shackleford Banks when we go earlier in the spring. We saw more scallop type shells this time but Rachel did manage to find a beautiful conch!
We went walking to look for more shells. You can see the lighthouse from almost every point on Shackleford Banks.
We found lots of tiny shells,and even saw a baby horseshoe crab!
While we were walking, we also came across the wild ponies closer by. These ponies are descendants of horses used by the Spanish several hundred years ago.
We walked back down almost to the ferry dock and found another group of horses that had come out almost onto the beach and were grazing.
This girl was excited about her first view of the horses.
I have a picture of Brent and I from college with the wild horses on Shackleford as well.
Because they are wild, we did not get too close, but I did pull out my zoom and take a few pictures. Thus one was one of my favorites! They are beautiful horses.
After lunch, the ferry picked us yet and transported out to the barrier island that contains Cape Lookout Lighthouse. This lighthouse is only accessible by boat. We didn't get to climb this one yet because Allie and Bethany aren't tall enough but it is a beautiful lighthouse to see!
We took the ferry back to Harkers Island and headed back to our campground. The girls still wanted more water fun so they asked to stop by the pool (it did rinse the coating of sand off them...)
One of my favorite action shots of these two! She knew her Daddy was going to catch her!
After we got back to the camper, it was time for some coloring and rest while Brent and I got supper ready.
He grilled us some gooood hamburgers that were a great ending to a great day!
The next morning it was time to head back with some beautiful shells, a bit of extra sand and some beautiful memories!
Thank you, Brent, Rachel, Bekah, Bethany and Allie for making my birthday trip such fun!
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