uncommonly feeble and random thoughts

 The trip to OBX was interesting. Harrowing at times. But upon our arrival, we unpacked and scouted around a bit. Then it was time to get all touristy!!!  Firsr up, travel to the Hatteras and Oracoke lighthouses (Hatteras High is the name of the condo building in which we stayed): Sept. 27, the iconic Hatteras Lighthouse. All of the other folks took phone photos of one another, but on the dark side of the structure, below:   I had the entire light side, that is, the one getting the sunshine, to myself. I could not get a "far"shot for context, but I did get a closeup:   The next stop was Oracoke, an island requiring a ferry ride, for people and vehicles. We asked what the fare was... nuthin'. Whaaaaat? Works for us!!!! Oracoke is home to one of the two herds of wild horses - we chose to skip it because we were going to visit the herd on the northern end of the Outer Banks. So we took the ferry and chanced upon the Oracoke lighthouse, which it turns out in addition to...

 We chose "no freeways", which Google and OnStar call "no highways", so it was mainly two-lane roads. The first leg was 444 miles in nine hours and forty-six minutes. DeWitt MI to Bridgeport - Clarksburg, W VA: Day two was 322 miles, eight hours and twenty-two minutes, through the mountains, to Williamsburg, VA:   Note that we did stop at the the Germany Valley Overlook... gorgeous and the picture does not capture the sense of the topography: And the last leg, to Rodanthe, NC, 166 miles in four hours thirty-three minutes: I find it hilarious that Google timeline records all the stops... the hilarious part is McD, McD, Potbelly Sandwich, Burger King, McD... we are so high class!!!! The Chick-Fil-A was dining-room-closed so we had to find... a McD!!!! Posts: Outer Banks One Outer Banks Two Outer Banks Three

We stayed in Rodanthe, to be precise. Sort of in the middle of the island chain. Ro-DAN-thee, we found out, is how to say it. A quick look at October beach life... Starting with a sunrise, of course, shot from our balcony:   I noticed some short (walking) distance away, a bit later that morning, that, lo and behold, there were actual surfers! I brought a chair and proceeded to shoot them... learning along the way that I should have been using a different setting for my autofocus. Many photographer errors are unlikely to be repeated. We call it "learning". Anyway, here's one shot from the surfer series:     After an hour or so trying to get the perfect surfer shot, I walked back to our rental condo, and liked the colors and the framing of the Rodanthe Fishing Pier:   And my eyes at night were scanning the sky, hoping to catch Orion. That constellation contains the James Hecker Star, deeded by cousin Kurt as a gift in James' memory. I tried to catch a little bit of the...