Weekend trip! Or, taking pictures with uncooperative children

We went to visit Dave's family last weekend, and decided to take a day trip. Where? Well, not quite the coast. I guess they call it the inland coastal region. The inner banks, if you will. We went to Washington, a town Dave lived in when he was Mabes' age (though he has always referred to it as Little Washington, and swears that the locals do, too. I only saw signs for Washington), and Bath, the oldest town in North Carolina.

They had lots of decorated crabs around. Annabelle didn't want to stay
for the picture, Mabes just wanted to dance.
Awesome. Thanks for humoring me long enough
to take a picture, girls!


Downtown Washington

Mabes was excited to learn that the Washington we visited was the first town to be named for George Washington in 1776. We walked along the docks, saw the cute old downtown, and admired old houses. We were going to get hot dogs at supposedly the best hot dog stand around, but it was a one-woman operation with about 25 people in line. Also, she was probably 72 and moving comically slow (I think she wanted to see how badly people wanted their hot dogs), so we quickly opted for an air conditioned Hardee's instead.

Click on picture to see the "you are here." The Outer Banks (the area
being evacuated due to Irene) are on the other side of the Pamlico Sound.

House built in 1795

House built in 1785. Love this house, and it appeared to be empty!

Bath was incorporated in 1705, and was North Carolina's first capital, and I can now say that I've been to all three capitals of North Carolina (New Bern in 2003 and Raleigh several times...if the airport or driving around lost count). It's a cute old town with a beautiful waterfront. We visited St. Thomas church, the oldest surviving church building in North Carolina. There were a cluster of old houses and buildings in the area, so we enjoyed walking around and looking in them.

I think the girls most enjoyed digging through the gravel/sand/crushed shells that were everywhere instead of dirt. Mabes was really excited to discover a shark tooth. She kept asking Dave how it had gotten there, and if maybe someone had put it there. He tried to explain how things get washed to shore, but I don't know if she got it.

Picking up more rocks

We've looked at houses that are "colonials." This is a true
colonial house, built around 1744.

This isn't old. Just pretty. It's a B&B in the historic
neighborhood, and it's for sale!

It was really hot, but it was a great weekend to go out. It was certainly better than this weekend appears to be, though Bath and Washington appear to be inland enough that they shouldn't have major damage. They might get more shark teeth washed ashore.