Back aboard... vacation from ER (?)

[dory36]

I'll be going to NC for my grandmother's 101st birthday, and then taking a few days to cruise from Norfolk VA down the Elizabeth River, through the Great Dismal Swamp, and down the Pasquotank River to Elizabeth City NC and back. This is the northernmost part of the trip we took each year down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Norfolk to southern Florida and back when living on the boat.

The guy I sold my boat to a few years ago is letting me borrow it for the trip, and will be following along in another boat. (Beats the heck out of owning a boat, when you are a dirt dweller!)

Here is an early morning photo from the same trip in December 1999, taken looking southbound just south of the NC-VA border. There should be much more foliage this trip. (Also mosquitoes -- I'll have to shower with Off!)

Anyone else vacationing from ER this summer?

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Man, that looks nice. Enjoy. Swamps and estuaries have become one of my favorite destinations for state parks. Never thought I would enjoy them after Brice, Banff, and the like but there is something haunting about them that I really love.

One and only time I visited the Great Dismal Swamp was in 1968 on a fraternity pledge trip from UVa. At the time there was a state prison in the swamp area, and our job was get a photo of us with a prison guard. One of our party was the girlfriend of my friend.

The guards refused to let us take a picture. The guard station was in view of the cell blocks. This young woman proceeded to wave to the prisoners, and then started dancing (not the waltz). The audience became progressively enthusiastic and the guards got antsy. One of them came out to escort us off the property and as he did so we snapped about a dozen pictures. Mission accomplished.

 

[TargaDave]

Dory- Your trip sounds fantastic and is on my to-do list if the Dismal Swamp makes it that long. No vacationing from ER for us but from work. Feels great but never long enough. This is looking due west this morning out on the Albemarle Sound from our ritual getaway spot in Kill Devil Hills (about 30 miles SE of your destination, Elizabeth City). Hot and sunny this week. Just need some of those winds to kick in for a couple of sailing sessions. Last nights dinner included the traditional crab catch the kids hauled in (from the dock . Probably take the boat down to Roanoke Isl later today.

 

[dory36]

If you're already ay the Outer Banks, a nice little excursion is to go north through Coinjock and the "Virginia Cut" until it meets the entrance to the Dismal Swamp near Chesapeake VA, then back down the route I described back to the Albemarle and to your starting point.

The locks and bridges that only open at scheduled times will probably make that at least a 3 day trip, but there is free dockage at Chesapeake, Deep Creek, the NC Visitor Center at the NC/VA border, and Elizabeth City, and several anchoring spots between Deep Creek and Elizabeth City.

Take the trip while you can! If the Dismal Swamp route closes (threatened with Corps of Engineers funding cuts that would close it every year for the last several years, and saved at the last minute each time) it will be too late.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

if you happen to see some bum hanging out on a seawall with his thumb out, that'll be me hitch'n a ride.

 

[justin]

Just found out my job is sending me on an all expenses paid trip to the beach this weekend (Southport/Oak Island, NC) if I want to go and watch cars for a few hours cutting through the Lowe's hardware store parking lot. If you see me standing around with a clipboard, honk!

Sounds like a pretty sweat deal (spelling intentional). Hope that new tropical depression doesn't complicate things...

 

[dory36]

I left out the timeframe -- I'm going in early- to mid-August.

 

[audreyh1]

Anyone else vacationing from ER this summer?

Huh? My ER is one big vacation! (That's why I live on wheels).

LOL! I thought you were going back to work for a spell - LOL!

Audrey