The Outer Banks – June 2013

In early June of 2013 the Frey Family flew to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for our summer vacation.  We rented a house in S. Nags head with Jeff’s Parents and Grand Parents.  There were a bunch of storms and a front that came through the night before we planned to leave.  When I woke up in the morning the weather didn’t look good at all and I wasn’t sure if we would be able to fly that day.  As I continually checked the weather and looked into my options I decided I could get to the north of all the real bad weather but we would have to leave quickly.  We were already packed so we headed to the airport, efficiently loaded the plane and were off the ground in no time.  The family has really gotten to a point where we can get the plane loaded up and ready to go in no time.  Despite some light to moderate rain, the flight was very good.  I planned to stop in Huntington, WV (KHTS) for fuel in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.  It was windy and gusty when we landed there but nothing that I couldn’t handle.  The kids stomachs were a little uneasy but we were all able to get lunch at a restaurant in the terminal.  After departing Huntington we had to dodge a couple of buildups and storms.  We usually get an earlier start to avoid these but with the late departure I ended up having to navigate around some of the weather.  The new Stratus 2 and my XM Weather on the Garmin 496 both came in handy and helped me get around the small cells relatively easy.

Flight to the OBX - 06012013 - 01 - Rain
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Flight to the OBX - 06012013 - 01 - Rain01-Jun-2013 09:14, Apple iPhone 4, 2.8, 3.85mm, ISO 80
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01-Jun-2013 14:08
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OBX Vacation - June 2013 - 08803-Jun-2013 06:26, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3200, 6.3, 36.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 100
 

We landed at Dare County Regional Airport (KMQI) in Manteo, NC.  We had planned to get a rental car from Enterprise but they didn’t drop off the car as expected and were already closed when we arrived late Saturday afternoon.  Luckily the FBO at the airport had a rental car for $60/day but we didn’t have any other options so we had to rent it.  I ended up using it for a couple of days and then dealt with Enterprise on Monday morning.  We arrived at the house that was just across the street from the beach on the south end of Nags head.  The view was beautiful.  From the front of the house we could see the Atlantic Ocean and from the back of the house we could see the Albemarle Sound.  It was great to see the family and after getting settled in we all went to dinner at the Lucky 12 Tavern.

We had a great week spending time with family and enjoying the good weather.  Many of the group took daily long walks on the beach.  Sunday was a beach day and the weather was beautiful.  Later in the afternoon we all drove through the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and took a hike on a walking path in the middle of the refuge.  Monday it rained pretty hard but we ended up using the time to run some errands and get some things done that we needed to do.  We had lunch at Awful Arthur’s, which is one of our favorites in the Outer Banks.  On Tuesday Jeff, Hannah, Peggy & Jeff Sr. went out to the Bodie Island Lighthouse.  We were able to climb it as it was recently opened to the public for the first time.  In the evening Jeff, Hannah, Bryan, Peggy & Jeff Sr. went to dinner at the Outer Banks Brewing Station and then went to see the Outer Banks Daredevils baseball game.  Wednesday was a very eventful day for everyone.  Jeff, Bryan, Peggy & Jeff Sr. went on a flight tour of the Outer Banks.  We flew all the way down to Ocracoke, around all the lighthouses and even landed at First Flight Airport (KFFA) in Kill Devil Hills where we climbed up to the monument for some pictures.  During this same time Lori & Hannah, went up to Corolla where they went on a tour to see the wild horses out on the beach.  That evening everyone in the family including Jeff’s grandparents went to see “The Lost Colony”.  Thursday was another relaxation day where we spent time on the beach and in the pool.  Tropical Storm Andrea ended up hitting us and the weather Friday was very windy.  We spent Friday afternoon inside at the North Carolina Aquarium and then had dinner with everyone at Pamlico Jacks.  The week flew by but as you can see we did a lot and had a wonderful time.

Bodie Island Lighthouse - 06042013 - 14Bodie Island Lighthouse - 06042013 - 14
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Bodie Island Lighthouse - 06042013 - 1404-Jun-2013 09:36, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3200, 9.0, 26.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100
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Bodie Island Lighthouse - 06042013 - 4604-Jun-2013 10:23, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3200, 9.0, 18.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100
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Outer Banks Flight - 06052013 - 07705-Jun-2013 11:04, SONY NEX-5N, 22.0, 29.0mm, 0.013 sec, ISO 100
 
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Outer Banks Flight - 06052013 - 04005-Jun-2013 10:10, SONY NEX-5N, 22.0, 18.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 500
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Corolla Wild Horses - 06052013 - 1605-Jun-2013 10:05, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3200, 9.0, 26.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100
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Carolina Aquarium - 06072013 - 0207-Jun-2013 12:19, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3200, 3.8, 20.0mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 2200
 

Fortunately by Saturday morning the tropical storm had already passed.  We departed Manteo early and ended up having to fly in more weather than I had expected on the way home.  Some of it was even in moderate rain with a couple of good bumps.  We stopped in Beckley, WV (KBKW) to get fuel and were surprised the airport restaurant closed and no courtesy car.  We had a quick snack and then just decided to jump back in the plane and push to get home for the last 3 hours.  After getting bumped around in the clouds for a while we made it home mid-afternoon, quickly unloaded and put the plane away.  Another successful adventure for the Frey Family!  The drive to the Outer Banks from Illinois would have been about 16 hours but the flights were just over 6 hours each way.  We are looking forward to using the plane a lot more this summer and Jeff & Bryan are even making plans to go to Oshkosh for the first time.

As always we took a lot of pictures on this trip.  Click here to see the photo albums.

Click on these links to see the flight track data:  KCMI-KHTS-KMQIOuter Banks Tour (KMQI-KFFA-KMQI), KMQI-KBKW-KCMI

 

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