UM Vs NC State

Sun Life stadium in Miami. Wearing the Miami tee cause it was free. NY identifies me as a local (everyone here is from NY or NJ). I blend!

Picture of Mia in the stadium with the Canes clinging to a two point lead.

Getting schooled

Visiting Mia at University of Miami. While she is attending classes and going to work, I'll be busy too.

1:30 - study abroad info. Find out about the potenti for Mia to study in Madrid next year.

3:00 Health care panel discussion. Panelists to include Donna Shalala and Chris Jennings. If you know who they are you are over 40 and pay for health care.

4:30 Meet the Deans.

Here's is a pic of Mia in her dorm. And the spot on campus I'm posting from.

Aloha Jacksonvile

Got in to JAX around 3 today. After unloading the car, I drove East to check out the area. After reaching the coast, I drove south first through Ponte Vedra. Unfortunately there don't appear to be any easily accessible beaches right in Ponte Vedra, which is a long suburban neighborhood of what are probably very expensive houses which front the beach. But if you drive all the way south, there is a beautiful preserve.

Here's a view of the steps from the parking lot over the dunes to the beach.

From here I drove north up to Jacksonville Beach, which has parking lots pretty much every block. Here's the one I stopped at (picture taken from the stairs looking west).

Here's the short stairway to the beach, and the beach itself. There are some tall apartment buildings, occasional hotels, shops, etc fronting the beach. This is probably pretty typical of the Florida atlantic coast.

Jacksonville Beach, looking south.

Jacksonville Beach, looking north.

The beach is probaby 10 miles from the intersection of the 95 and 295, which is pretty much where the DB office is. With no traffic it's about 15 - 20 minutes. We'll see tomorrow what the traffic is like!

Aloha OBX

All packed up and ready to head south. Debi left at 8 to drive back to NJ. Here are a couple last images of the OBX that treated us to sun, surf, good food and great companionship.

The SUV and trailer.

Famous OBX sign.

Last surf session (posting this from the beach). It's always hard to tell the size of the surf without a point of reference. This wave is about shoulder high. The sets were a bit bigger and peeling like this one. Almost exclusively lefts. The beach was pretty much empty (maybe 4 or 5 other people on the beach, no one in the water). While I was out, some rays started jumping way outside. Then the biggest one I have ever seen launched itself about 10 yards away from me. I saw him come out the water, flip over and land on his back. His back was dark brown and his belly gray. Took me completely by surprise. I'd say he was about 6 feet across and came about 6 feet out of the water. Unbelievable.

Buxton Woods and Hatteras Lighthouse

Yesterday (Thursday) was also a bit cloudy and windy so we decided to try the Buxton woods hike. We did the Lookout Loop, which turned out to be pretty underwhelming. A bit of excitement when I came face to face with this little guy, who had stretched his web across the trail right at face height!

I safely relocated him to the side of trail.

The foliage was pretty dense and the lookout of the sedge was mostly obscured. The sedge has filled in so there is no open water to see. Here's the road back to the parking lot.

We decided not to invest the effort to try the other trails and instead drove over to the  the Hatteras Lighthouse and walked the self-guided trail. This one turned out to be pretty decent. There were alot of informative signs. Can't remember the name of this tree, but the colored bark was striking.

A nice little bridge over part of the sedge.

By the time we walked over to the lighthouse to use the facilities the sun  had come out. Tomorrow is Friday and our last full day in the outer banks. Should be sunny!

Ocracoke

Wednesday turned out to be a cloudy, windy day. I scored some early offshore, head high surf but the wind went North around 10:30. The water was pretty brown from all the rain overnight, but the swell was from the south so the rights were lining up.

Since it was not going to be a beach day, we decided to head down to Ocracoke after lunch. Unfortunately we got to the ferry at the same time every else did, but eventually we got on.

The tide was pretty low, and we actually briefly ran aground on a shoal in the channel. But with a little coaxing, we pulled off. Here are a couple of photos from the crossing.

Didn't take a lot of photos on the island. This one needs no introduction.

Here's a view of Silver Lake.

The crossing  home was uneventful. We didn't have to wait long and were able to catch part of the sunset on the way home.

Monday morning

Looks like another board meeting today.

Pea Island - Friday, September 14th

Friday was a bit of a rainy day, with passing showers mostly from Avon south. We got chased off the beach in the afternoon and after waiting an hour or so for the rain to stop, we decided to head up to Pea Island.

As many times as I've passed by, I've never stopped at Pea Island. It doesn't look like much from the road, and generally when we pass by we're either arriving or departing and don't really have time to stop. The visitor center is pretty small and was closed when we got there, but out in back was a bird feeder that had a few geese and this muskrat.

We headed out to the "interpretive trail" (as the Park Service calls it), and the first stop is the turtle pond. It is  full of turtles of all sizes and they come paddling up when they hear (feel?) you walk over the bridge. The water is pretty murky, but if you look close you'll see 'em.

From here, the trail goes trough some brush that creates a little bit of a tunnel. It's kinda nice.

Coming out of the brush, we spotted a small raccoon patrolling a tide pool. And a little bit later, a deer crossed the trail ahead of us. There were numerous birds of all types.

You finally come to an observation tower. It's about two stories high and gives you a great view over the island. In fact, it is mesmerizing to just stand and gaze out over the landscape. The picture at the top of this entry is from there. Here's another.

As we stood looking out, flocks of birds started flying by (coming from the south and going north towards Oregon Inlet). Here's a link to a video of a fly by http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDlXnuzF1Qw&feature=youtu.be. What's neat is that you are just about at the same height as the birds as they fly by.

Anyway, after all of that it was time to head back to the car, just in time for the sunset.

And that was our Pea Island experience.

All roads lead to the beach?

You can probably imagine what lies at the end of the boardwalk. Here's a hint: blue/green ocean, white sand beach.

:)

Monday, September 10

Can't complain about this Monday. Ok, I had to get up late, go surfing, check out the Hatteras lighthouse and watch MNF. But why complain? Yes, I could have gotten up at 5, commuted in the dark, parked in the Jersey City garage, ridden the PATH, walked to Wall Street, etc., etc.

:)


Here's a pic from the lighthouse. I'm the little guy in the front.

T0 = September 8

Here's a photo that marks my official promotion to the "steering" committee. Debi took it around 8 am this morning. All packed and ready to roll. First milestone: the outer banks!

Here's a picture from an iterim milestone:the Chesapeake bay bridge. We were in and out of showers all day, but it was a relatively easy drive. Got to the rental agency before 6; cars unloaded by 7. A quick outside shower and now parked on the couch watching the Orioles and Yankees (3-2 O's in the 6th). So we are on schedule.

It appears that Hurricane Leslie will also deliver as scheduled. The first board meeting is expected to be tomorrow, as long as the wind and tides cooperate. Surf's up!

Dirk is preparing for another trip

Counting down to the start of another trip. T minus 5 days and preparations are well under way. Really well underway. Townhouse is nearly empty. Kids are off to college. Bike has been broken, fixed, broken and fixed. Basic itinerary is set. This time there are participants (smile) and presumably everyone knows what they're signing up for. We'll see.

For now, here's a pic from my training grounds in the NJ Pine Barrens.