The Quiet Water, a Dog Party and a Lighthouse.

It's pretty clear that the ocean holds a special place in my heart.  But I'm also fond of more still water.  Our vacation place (We don't own this place.  We just think of it as ours since we go there so often.) is on a barrier island so there is a large shallow sound on one side and the Atlantic ocean on the other.  The ocean side was pretty wild during our visit and while we were on the beach everyday it wasn't they type of place where you wanted to just sit and read a book.  The wind was strong for most of the week.

But over on the sound side (and, in fact throughout the town itself) the weather was very pleasant.  So we made several visits to the sound side beach located within Jockey's Ridge State Park.  The sound is so shallow that you can walk out for at a long long way and never get in water over your thigh.  The bottom is sandy and the water clear.  Seamus likes this place a lot also since he can get wet without being ambushed by the waves.  Here he is "retrieving" a tennis ball:

 

There is a special dog store at the beach called Outer Barks.  Once a week these nice folks host a get together for vacationing dogs and their people.  They call it "Yappy Hour".  There are treats for the dogs and things for them to play in and with.  The people usually talk about the dogs and maybe the dogs are talking to each other about their people. Who knows? My favorite activity is paw painting.  The dogs are assisted by one of the owners and they "paint" a picture.  Here is Seamus' creation:

And, finally in my continuing fascination with lighthouses, we visited Bodie Island Lighthouse.  It was just opened this spring to visitors.  This lighthouse was built three times.  The first one was poorly engineered (early 1800s) and tilted beyond repair in just two years.  The second one was destroyed by Confederate troops to keep it from providing navigation aide to the Union Army.  And the third still stands and was recently renovated.

And as an added bonus, there was a bird blind near the lighthouse with quite an assortment of water birds to watch and photo: herons, a variety of ducks, geese, and more.

Next we take a special trip to the mountains for an even more special event.  The fall colors should be beautiful.  And hopefully there will be fun things to tell about.  And then, I promise, no more vacation photos for a long time!