Outer Banks – Day Three
On Wednesday morning, we got up and drove down to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse for a few photo opportunities...
After our visit to the lighthouse, we caught the ferry over to Ocracoke Island... We stopped for lunch at Howard's Pub & Raw Bar (see my other blog entry) and then drove on down into Ocracoke Village...
We made a stop at the Ocracoke Lighthouse for some more photos...
After spending a few hours on Ocracoke, we hopped the ferry back to Hatteras and stopped along the way to spend a little time on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore... This was my first real trip to the Outer Banks. After visiting this place, I will probably never visit other beaches in North Carolina again unless I have some specific reason to do so... This place is beautiful...
Andrew McCutchen
I had the opportunity this evening to go to a Charlotte Knights (AAA Chicago White Sox) baseball game as they hosted the Indianapolis Indians (AAA Pittsburgh Pirates). I was hoping to get the opportunity to see a few friends who are alumni of the Hickory Crawdads (Low-A Pittsburgh Pirates) from the Indianapolis team, and my luck was good. Andrew McCutchen (pictured) is one of Pittsburgh top minor league prospects and was their #1 draft choice in 2005. Andrew played most of his 2006 minor league season with the Hickory Crawdads before being called up to the Altoona Curve team (AA Pittsburgh Pirates). I think Andrew could possibly get his first major league start with the Pirates later this summer. Here's a photo from Andrew's debut game with the Hickory Crawdads on April 4, 2006:
I also got to see Steven Pearce, Brian Bixler, Neil Walker, and Shelby Ford. Another surprise was a chance to see Brent Lillibridge playing with the Charlotte Knights. Brent spent most of his 2006 season in Hickory with the Crawdads as well. Brent made the opening day roster this year for the White Sox, but must have just been optioned back to AAA ball this week in Charlotte.
Outer Banks – Day Two
The weather was very nice on Tuesday, so we packed up the car and headed up to the Currituck Lighthouse. I decided to shoot a few infrared photos of this lighthouse with the Canon G9 and the Hoya R72 filter...
After the trip up to Currituck, we decided to visit Jockey's Ridge State Park. There were quite a few people here flying kites and hang gliding over the dunes...
After Jockey's Ridge, we drove down to the Bodie Island Lighthouse for a few more photos. This image is also infrared...
After that, we drove over to Roanoke Island for a visit to the North Carolina Aquarium. This aquarium was nice, but I didn't like it as much as the one at Ft. Fisher...
We took a stroll out on the Nags Head Fishing Pier and watched these guys cleaning and cutting filets from their catches of the day...
Outer Banks – Day One
We left Hickory this morning at about 7am. We didn't plan to move too quickly since our hotel had a 4pm check-in time. We stopped for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel and then set out for the 380 mile trip to Nags Head. It rained most of the trip, and was cold, windy, and rainy in Nags Head. It was not a total loss though... Our hotel has a heated indoor pool and a rather large hot tub, so we partook in the goodness of those amenities for a few hours.
Dinner time rolled around so we went out looking for a place to eat. We stumbled across a place called Bob's Grill. We couldn't pass up a place with a slogan like "Eat and Get the Hell Out!" After a Philly Cheese Steak and some fries, we rode down to check out the Bodie Island Lighthouse. It was operating but there are no lights on the lighthouse itself. We're planning to hit that tomorrow, as well as the Currituck Lighthouse and the aquarium. I'm not sure what else we are going to do tomorrow, but we might visit the Wright Brothers Memorial and Jockey Ridge State Park as well.
It’s time for a break…
This has been an absolutely wonderful weekend for me despite the thunderstorms that have rolled through here this weekend. It's one of the first weekends in a very long time where I haven't had to worry about an upcoming test or deadline for some school-related project. Graduation has passed, and it's time for a nice break.
My wonderful girlfriend Tonya is treating me to four days of R&R on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We're leaving in the morning for Nags Head. We'll stay in Nags Head, but we plan to visit areas between Currituck and Ocracoke. I'm hoping to spend a lot of time making photos and getting myself back into an 'art' groove that I have not had the opportunity to enjoy much for a long time.
I'm taking my laptop with me, so I hope to post a few photos while I'm away. If not, I'll see you guys Friday :)
What A Ride
Jeez... it's been a long hard road. Going back to college at my age has been a real ride if you know what I mean. A two-year degree in Radiographic Technology really takes three years to complete since they have prerequisites that must be met before entering the program. In my prerequisite year, I had to take two semesters of Anatomy & Physiology, which lays the fundamental framework for everything else I have done in this program. That, along with a couple other miscellaneous classes managed to land me a spot in the program at Catawba Valley Community College. The other minor hurdle was that this program only accepts 10 students each year. Since several hundred students apply each year, I had no idea if I would get accepted or not. Getting accepted into the program is largely based on academic merit, so having a 4.0 GPA put me in a position where failure to be accepted would have been for some reason other than my grades. Luckily, I did get accepted into the program on my first application.
After being accepted, I spent two more years working my way through the program. Being a part of this program was totally enjoyable. The workload was quite heavy and I haven't had a good night's sleep during the school week during this two years, but Friday is the big day. I'll be finished. I'm graduating with high honors and I'm scheduled to take my registry exam on May 19th.
In reality, I'm not finished. I have to, somehow, find a job in x-ray in this tough economy. Wish me luck :)
