How to get to coastal North Carolina

After a very fun birthday layover in Seattle, it was time to continue eastward to pay a visit to the Wind-Lass in coastal North Carolina.



So, how exactly does one get to North Carolina's Outer Banks?

Well, unless you're familiar with the area, it's easier said than done. Not that it's hard, because it's not, but there are enough small towns and small regional airports that make picking the right one akin to a geography lesson!

Scotty and I were flying standby on Delta, so we had plenty of options to get to Beaufort, NC. Almost too many, as I quickly found out.

Flying standby involves picking the flight that seems most likely to have enough seats. It also is important to pick a destination that you are likely to be able to fly out of and in this, the closest airport to Beaufort in New Bern was not it.



Without going into all of the boring details, we threw the dice and decided to fly into Richmond, Virginia, which left us with a four-hour drive south to the boat. In retrospect, we probably should have flown into Norfolk, VA, and shaved almost an hour off the drive on both ways, but Richmond worked this time.

And we got an unexpected road trip out of it. We're used to that, though.

On the way we experienced the Chesapeake Bay and the Norfolk area from land, versus from water as we saw it only a few months earlier. It was actually pretty interesting to see it from the opposite perspective, though I have to say I prefer the water-based view. :)

This totally reminds me of Jabba the Hut's lair in Star Wars...

Alien landscape in Norfolk, VA

After the industrial-looking Hampton Roads area, the landscape quickly changed to countryside.

Finally (almost) there

We'd started out on the road late in the day. As the sun sank in the horizon, jet lag combined with the crazy hours we'd been sleeping hit us hard. Because we didn't want to show up at the boat yard after midnight, we stopped for the night in Greenville, NC.

 Full moon

Which brings up a (barbecued rib?) bone I have to pick with the South. Could you please come up with some original names for your towns? I mean, there's nothing wrong with Greenville, but there's another Greenville in South Carolina only an hour away from my mom's house and when I told her where we were this created some confusion, even thought we were a good nine-hour drive away. And Beaufort, North Carolina also has a twin with Beaufort, South Carolina. Ironically, they're pronounced different: NC says "BO-fort" and SC says "Bue-fort". Lovely.

There are other examples like this ridiculousness such as Jacksonville, NC and its more well-known buddy in Florida. I know it's an old area of the country, so I get that. But that doesn't make this doppelganger naming style any less confusing.

We stayed at the Hilton in Greenville. It was NOT much like the Hilton at SeaTac, even if the price was. Some places get updated less than others and this one was in need of some TLC, minus the nice-looking bar area.

The next day, we continued the drive south to Beaufort and to the Wind-Lass. Here's the journey in photos:

And at long last:

Next up, the rest of our trip to NC!