Thanks to the incentive of the OBX letterboxes, team BeMa traveled farther
down the Outer Banks than we had before (as a family that is, Da and Na
vacationed way down when Na was very, very pregnant with Be {so, was he
technically there?...} and stayed in a somewhat "rustic" beach home [read no
AC and mosquitoes as big as the wild horses themselves] It took years for
Da to convince me to go back again) Off in search of the Bodie box
(pronounced "body" -- it took me six years to learn that too. I learned
Corolla pronounced "Ca-rawla" after a mere two)

As I said, the Bodie site was no problem. The only disaster was my hair
which was suffering from chronic BBHS(Bad Beach Hair Syndrome -- you know,
the salt, the sand, the lotion, the wind -- eeeewwww!) But, despite
that...the day was gorgeous and we sat on a platform overlooking the water
to sign in. We soaked in the view and relaxed (not knowing at the time that
Sunvalleysu and company where pulling out their hair and probably
frightening the other tourists poking in all the bushes back on the marsh
trail....) This is a great series of boxes and we look forward to getting
the other two when we get more adventurous! We would humbly like to
recommend another be planted up in Currituck (actually pronounced just like
it's spelled -- imagine that). This is a lighthouse that is open and you
can climb to the top. It's a lot of fun, although it's lacking the merry
paint job of the Bodie site.

As an added bonus -- on the way to this lighthouse -- you pass some really
good restaurants!! Sit on the open air roof terrace at Rundown Cafe and
enjoy some great Jamaican food Man! Pick up some fudge in Duck at
Scarborough Faire. Walk around the shops or drive up and down admiring the
individually decorated Pegasus's that are being exhibited in honor of the
100th anniversary of flight. Hungry again? Pop virtually next door to Red
Sky Cafe... You want a restaurant recommendation?! Eating is what we do
best!!

Shameless food plug number three plus a recap of a shining moment!
OK -- one more place ya need to go to if you are cruising 158, hungry (and
there is always room in the tummy even if you're not). You gotta try the
frozen custard at Kill Devil. It's just this little stand on the side of
the road (no AC and only outside benches for seating -- so lick fast!). We
had noted their sign advertising coconut custard, but, alas, when we stopped
in, the flavor of the day was peanut butter. Coconut had been YESTERDAY'S
flavor of the day :-( Not to deride peanut butter (unless you have a
fatal allergy to it, that is) but it is a far cry from coconut on a hot
sunny day. That is when inspiration hit! I am so very proud of myself!
Rather than give up, slink away, accept defeat -- I had a brilliant idea and
asked if they had any hard packed coconut from yesterday that we could buy
today and pig out on for the next several days! Lo and behold, the angels
sang, the clouds (back in VA where they are permanently residing) parted and
the young woman behind the counter produced a quart of coconut all ready to
go! It just doesn't get any better than that! So, forget the meager scoop
-- we had Coconut frozen custard several times a day until we finished it
off the morning we headed back home. Plus, having hid the whole transaction
from the kids -- we hardly even had to share any!!! Makes me weep with
happiness just remembering.

One small note of remorse, (not the not sharing of the custard part -- we're
the parents, we have to have some fun to ourselves since the kids discovered
the two headed showers and insisted on coming in with us every time) while
on the marsh trail at Bodie -- we lost the cap to our special letterboxing
pen. I guess we should be very glad that it was just the cap and not the
entire Miss Ma who loved to lean waaaaaay over the reeds and grasses in
search of all the little critters below... What a vacation!

BeMa
P8F97

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