From the pagoda

In the last post is a picture of the pagoda strategically located by the Neuse river. The pictures below were taken from the pagoda.

 This past weekend the neighborhood hosted a triathlon. The first picture shows the boat collecting the race-around buoys used in the swim leg of the race. Being inherently lazy I watched the running leg of the race from the rocking chair on our porch, and I did it without shame. I did ride my bike down to the pagoda at the end of the race.

 Today a barge was positioned to build a fishing dock. There is a wedding scheduled to occur on the dock this Saturday. I will be impressed if the dock is completed in time; however, I may never know since we move down the road Friday.

Note both pictures are almost the same angle.

It was fun to watch the crew drive the piers 10 feet down into the river bottom. 

The neighborhood

Although exploring the inner and outer banks is fun, not every day is a travel day. De Anne and I still ride our bikes and get in some pool time and this is an ideal place for that. Miles of paved road with very little traffic are within the neighborhood.

As always, De Anne covers far more miles than I on the bike. As I rest from 5 to 6 miles of biking she doubles that and then launches her kayak from the community dock across the street. A mile of meandering paddling on Mill Creek takes her to the Neuse River.

Our cottage is the middle of 3 connected by a long front porch:

Community gazebo along the Neuse river. A good rest stop on a bike ride.

Neighborhood pool. Only once in 3 weeks have we had to share it with others.

Small towns

We visited a couple small, but picturesque towns in the surrounding area. Our first visit was to Oriental, NC - "the sailing capitol of North Carolina". It did seem to have a great number of good sized sailboats and a commercial fishing fleet.

The downtown fishing harbor.

The next field trip was to New Bern. We strolled the waterfront and toured the restored old town. Settled by a great number of Swiss immigrants naming the town was a reminder of Bern, Switzerland, and the word bern means bear - hence the many bears around town.

De Anne staring down a bear (or maybe window shopping).

Note the bear sticking out of the wall above the arch at City Hall..

Outer Banks

Two days of rain and wind left us with a bit of cabin fever, so when Sunday morning showed clear skies the unanimous decision was a quick trip to the outer banks.

Just a few miles down the road was a short cut - the ferry across the Neuse River. Thoughtfully provided by the State of North Carolina for the affordable price of zero, the ferry deposited us at Cherry Point after a 15 minute crossing.

We did a quick reconnoiter of Beaufort and Morehead City then headed to Atlantic Beach. As followers of this blog know I am wont to stop at historic forts. Fort Macon was a siren call to me. De Anne, as always, indulged me. It was our lucky day! It was cannon firing day!

 A trip across the dunes then I took her back to Beaufort where we walked the waterfront, and enjoyed lunch on a balcony overlooking the Sound.