On The Road To Normalcy

When Hurricane Irene went through this area, the ocean wiped out a substantial portion of Highway 12 that links Hatteras Island to the mainland. The section of Highway 12 that was totally washed away was just North of Rodanthe.

On Monday 10/10 just prior to 6PM, the new temporary bridge was opened to traffic and once again Hatteras Island was linked to the mainland.

An 8 man crew put in 30 days and 15,000 man hours to build 662-foot engineering feat spanning a 200-foot channel just north of Rodanthe.

Jerry Jennings, an NCDOT engineer, said the project cost an estimated $11 million to $12 million. Though temporary, the bridge is expected to last a decade or more.

For additional information on the damage done by Hurricane Irene and the building of this new temporary bridge, please read the following articles:

PilotOnline.com

USAToday

In the USA Today article, you can see a photo taken of the washed away highway that effected the entire are from Rodanthe South including Hatteras Island.

This road should help those effected by Hurricane Irene in returning their lives to some sort of normalcy.

The Return Of Our 4 Legged Friends

It had been several weeks since we last saw the deer that used to visit outside our back window on almost a daily routine.

They have been absent ever since Hurricane Irene had come through here. Can't say that I blame them for leaving.

From what I could tell, the deer used to live off and on in the marshy area that is behind our place.

This is the same marshlands that got flooded out when Hurricane Irene came through the sound.

The deer were smart enough to move to higher ground and haven't really returned since.

That was until 2 days ago when out of the blue we saw 2 of those deer come slowly walking up to the rise that leads to a flat portion of land right outside of our 1st floor computer/extra storage room window.

Sure enough they were 2 of the 3 deer that used to pay us a visit rather often.

The youngest of the 2 slowly walked up the rise and started looking around and smelling the ground where I usually put out piles of cracked corn for them.

Since I had not seen any deer in our immediate area since Hurricane Irene, I stopped this routine of feeding the deer.

This young deer slowly walked up to the mesh screen that is on the outside of the window and began looking inside.

There is no way that this deer could not have seen us. I sit about 2 foot away from the window and Veronica sits about 7 feet away.

It was not sunny out when the deer was looking through the window so we knew that it could see inside. This deer moved its head a little to one side and then a little to the other as it looked inside our place.

I swear I could see that deer moving its mouth and lips as it looked inside. Being the deer whisperer and expert deer lip reader that I am, I could see the deer asking me where their corn snacks had been moved to.

Without actually saying a word out loud and doing my best to only move my lips, I told this young deer that I was sorry that I had run out of corn just prior to Hurricane Irene arriving and to come back in a couple of days and I would have some fresh new cracked corn awaiting for their return.

This young deers' ears perked up and both deer headed into the marshland behind our place via one of their trails that they have made.

A couple of days later, I went to Walmart and picked up a couple of large bags of cracked corn that they sell there.

Upon returning home I put 3 large piles of cracked corn outside of that back window.

Those piles have been sitting there for a couple of days now without anything getting into them.

I guess that young deer wasn't old enough to have learned how to lip read a human because I have not seen him/her back since that last visit.

At least I knew what it was saying to me and I did my best to fulfill it's wishes. Maybe next time he/she will bring its older human lip reading brother so we won't have these communication problems in the future.

Hey....that's my story and I am sticking to it!

It's Never Too Early To Make Plans Or Reservations

In September of 2012, Veronica and I will be going on another adventure.

We will be on the Norwegian Cruise Line(NCL) Sun for a 14-Day Norway, Iceland & Faroe Islands Round-trip from/to Copenhagen cruise.

Hard to believe that our cruise will begin in 11 months and 15 days. When I really think about it, it does seem like a long ways off still but it is not too early to book certain aspects of the adventure.

Although we still are a couple of weeks out from starting to shop for a reasonable flight to Copenhagen...if such a thing actually exist, it isn't too early to book a pre-cruise hotel room at the Copenhagen Marriott or one of the many ports of call excursions that are already being offered for this cruise.

Upon landing in Copenhagen and a full day before our cruise sets sail, Veronica and I will have to find our way to the Copenhagen Marriott. Hopefully we will be somewhat well rested from our long flight especially since we will be trying to sleep during most of the flight.

we definitely do not want to have the same jet lag problems that we had after our very first international flight to Heathrow. After landing in Heathrow, those heading for the cruise terminal had to board a bus for about an 1 1/2 hour bus ride. Then we had to go through the check in process and get aboard the ship. We were on the NCL Sun for that cruise too....a 12 day Baltic Capitals cruise.

Without realizing it jet lag had kicked in and we ended up sleeping for the first 23 hours or so of our cruise. Luckily that first day was a day at sea, with no ports of call scheduled.

We don't want to do that again because we want to go out and about once we get checked into the hotel.

We have plans to go visit Tivoli Gardens during the late afternoon and throughout the evening. I have read that it really looks different and nice at night when they have all of the lights on.

Another thing that I have done is make reservations for one of the shore excursions being offered for Reykjavik, Iceland.

Veronica and I have decided to do our own thing in all of the other ports of call. We have done this many times before and have always enjoyed ourselves and found many beautiful and interesting things to see wherever we have gone and had a port of call.

Because there are so many different things to see in Iceland, we could have chose one shore excursion and spent our day mainly seeing one site in depth or we could walk around the city on our own and utilize their public transportation to get wherever we wanted to go or we could do what we ended up choosing for our shore excursion.

We chose to do the excursion called "Iceland Through The Photo Lens". This excursion will take us to many of the known sites and other sites that most people would not normally be able to see, much less photograph.

Here is the shore excursion description as it is written on NCL web site:

Iceland Through The Photo Lens

Discover one of the best kept secrets in the world of photography – Iceland! Whether you consider yourself a keen amateur or a dedicated professional, there is no doubt that Iceland's fascinating photographic terrain will set your pulse racing. If you are an enthusiastic nature and landscape photographer, you know that there are precious few places left in the world that offer a dramatic and accessible landscape that has not been over exposed. Iceland is a visually exciting place for those photographers seeking inspiration for a new and challenging location to explore. You'll be able to take in some of the best photographic locations in the region. Through your photo lens, discover wonderful panoramic views over vast lava fields, hot springs, mountain ranges, lakes, unspoiled nature, bird life and picturesque fishing villages. Enjoy a buffet lunch at the famous Blue Lagoon complex. Note: Participants must be 16 years of age and be in good health. Most venues are not wheelchair accessible. Guests must be able to step in and out of the vehicle rather quickly to take advantage of the photographic opportunities. This is a special interest tour for photography enthusiasts - no equipment is provided.

This excursion will give me an excellent opportunity to put that new camera through it's paces. I should be able to get some remarkable photos, movies and even some panoramic photos during this day full of seeing what Iceland has to offer.

I booked this excursion earlier than I normally would book one because I wanted to make sure that we would not is out on signing up for this one.

It will be one of the many highlights of our cruise I am sure.

Now if only I can find that "reasonable" airfare from the States to Copenhagen.