26 July 2003, 07:30 - 14:00
Our first goal, the Bodie Island lighthouse at sunrise, accomplished, we spent a little while hanging out at the deserted beaches of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Many parts of the coastline, including Kitty Hawk, Virginia Beach, and Myrtle Beach, are getting quite built-up and commercialized, but the government set aside this stretch of the Outer Banks as a national seashore, so it's still quite natural and peaceful. By this time, though, we were really starting to feel the effects of our sleep deprivation. Unfortunately, the hotel wouldn't let us check-in before 3pm, so I spent the rest of the daytime drunkenly toddling after Kenneth as he went shopping for all sorts of lighthouse-related trinkets and souvenirs.