NC Trip Days 1-2: Traveling & Cape Henry

Holy cow, you guys. Sorry that it's been over a month since I posted last. One of the reasons why is that the trip we went on in the middle of June was completely exhausting, and also we took 1,400 pictures over the week and the thought of blogging them has been too overwhelming.

So I am going to try hard to pare down to a non-obnoxious amount of pictures.

Mark's family had been planning a Yoder reunion for the past five years. Even though his parents live close to us here in Utah, North Carolina is pretty much where they raised their kids. Mark was born there and moved out west when he was about 19. They lived on the Outer Banks and it has always been a special place for them.

Frank and Kathy (Mark's folks) rented out five beach cottages in Avon, NC so all 60-70 of us could come and stay. It was incredibly generous of them and we couldn't have made the trip without their help! So a huge thank you to Mom and Pop Yoder!

 

 I bought a Moby Go carrier for Isabelle and it was a lifesaver at the airport!

It is no joke traveling 2,500 miles with three kids, I can tell you. Madelyn had flown once before when she was little, but it was a new experience with all of us going and trying to juggle 14 pieces of luggage. (A suitcase and carry-on for each of us, plus two car seats, a stroller and a pack and play.) We got up super early, drove three hours to Las Vegas, flew to Chicago, and then flew to Virginia. It was intense.

We stayed overnight in Virginia Beach because the beach house wouldn't be open for us until the following afternoon. When we first stepped outside after arriving, Madelyn started to cry. It felt like a SAUNA. It had just rained and was so muggy and hot. Well, get used to that suffocating feeling, dear! Welcome to the east coast! (Something else unique to Virginia was that everything is made of brick. You just don't see that out here.)

The next day, we had time to kill and I suggested that we check out the lighthouse nearby in Chesapeake Bay, VA.

 *We thought we were getting a rental Chevy Equinox, but they ran out and we ended up with a Nissan XTerra. Mark has always wanted one, so he was stoked.

The Cape Henry Lighthouse is located on a military base (Fort Story) and as such, we had to get clearance and have the car searched by guards.

 We were surprised to find out that there are actually two lighthouses side by side!

 For a fee, you could climb up the "Old Cape Henry" lighthouse.

 

The first lighthouse officially built by the United States--it was commissioned by George Washington and overseen by Alexander Hamilton.

 The climb up was nice and sweltering--the kids did it twice and it is 191 steps! My hair (which is naturally curly) started going totally nuts in the humidity and I gave up and just let go wild until Mark poked fun at it for the 45th time and then I kept it pulled back with multiple clips for my flyaways.

From the top, you can see the site of the First Landing in Chesapeake Bay by the Jamestown settlers back in 1607.

 

 "New Cape Henry" lighthouse (even though it's "new", it's been around for 134 years) is still actively used for military training out in the bay. It is made out of cast iron.

 We drove around back and got this unique view of them side by side.

We started driving south to North Carolina and stopped in Currituck (Mark used to live there) and ate some real southern pit BBQ. Isabelle loves pit BBQ. It is one of her favorite things.

 After about 3 hours of driving, we made it. FINALLY.

 The beach was only a minute walk from the house--how awesome is that!