The five days spent on the Outer Banks was, as you might expect, perfectly wonderful!  For those not familiar, the Outer Banks is a 200-mile (320-km) long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Each year, the GOAs (Girls of August) reunite for food, fun, and fabulous times, and this year our destination was Nags Head.

The 420 mile ride to the beach took me through the small town of Warrenton, NC, where, once they recovered from the shock of “it’s a girl under that helmet”, they pumped my gas for me.

I rode through rain for some of the trip (check out this blog post to read about riding in the dark), but it felt so good to be on the bike for a good, long ride that I didn’t even care.  It also felt great to be able to have time to use my camera once I arrived.

One of the reasons that I have always loved the Outer Banks is because it is a more low key, less developed beach community.  It is more about the ocean, the wildlife, and nature, and less about shopping and dining out (although you can find that, too, no doubt!)

Clearly, I need to purchase another lens (AFTER the election), but I very much enjoyed seeing this pod of dophins.

Each morning, after coffee and breakfast, we’d load up the cooler and head to the beach.  What a treat to put my chair right in the surf, and read my book (the first since starting the campaign!) with cold beverage in hand.

It wasn’t until the last day that we saw a few drops of rain, which of course allowed us to have fun playing Rummy and Charades.

The view of the sunset over the Roanoke Sound was pretty even with the power line.

Despite starting for home in the rain, once the sun came out I enjoyed the colors along the way.

After 30 weeks on the campaign trail, this short visit with dear friends was just the breather that I needed.

I’m so glad that I was able to find a moment to write a post.  With any spare time that I have this week, my goal is to visit all of you!