This was absolutely a last minute trip. Spring break had sprung upon us and I was determined to have a real vacation. When you wait long enough, the only place left to stay is a tent, so we decided to try it at Cape Hatteras KOA.
The Outer Banks has a thing for large adirondack chairs. This one was in the Walmart parking lot.
Our tent from the inside. This was our first time ever using an air mattress or a cot. So much better than the hard ground!! The added benefit of a cot is you can store stuff under it.
The infamous jumping pillow. This is the first place the kids would head to in the morning and the last place at night. If you stay at a KOA, make sure it has one of these. This time around, some kids invented a game called King of the Hill...the person that's "it" tries to push all the other kids off of the jumping pillow. It was dangerous, and I tried to put a stop to it whenever I was there, but the kids loved it.
The playground was fun when the jumping pillow got too crowded.
Not just for the kids!
We brought our hammocks, too...we now have three! Luckily, our site had this shelter because there were no trees. Isabela even slept out here one night!
Our first morning, we headed down to the beach early. A man told us there were dolphins and whales just past the waves, so we spent the next hour or so walking along the shore, just watching them surface and even jump out of the water. It was amazing and definitely a highlight of the trip.
I didn't get any pictures of the whales, but that little black dot on the water is a dolphin.
Even though we looked everyday, it was the only morning we saw them.
This KOA is fairly new. It was renovated a few years ago. We loved this place, and we only had two suggestions: a little more clean up of the bathrooms, and put a grill on the fire ring.
What does that sign say? Wow.
Across the street, there is a long pier to the sound. It was too windy over there, so we just visited quickly.
What is great in the wind though? A kite! The wind was strong, and I'm surprised this kite didn't snap right off its string. It took about fifteen minutes to get it to stay up there. I'd forgotten how to fly a kite, but as I was figuring it out, I realized it's a great way to simply live in the moment. Very relaxing.
Big brother carrying her back to our site. The tent sites are not separated from the RV sites like in some campgrounds...so be forewarned. But we decided, while RVs look like fun, they are so much more work than a tent!
Selfie with a pirate!
The boys and I had fun collecting shells each time the waves retreated. And Diego had an amazing time building a sand castle, then protecting it from the rising tide. He started with a wall around it, then I suggested a trench. He brought the trench up around the sides and fended off the waves for a good thirty minutes.
One morning, Isabela and I splurged on a great adventure.
The two-hour horse ride took us through a forest path, across three water holes up to our horses' bellies, and then on to the beach. We even saw a large black snake drop down out of the trees.
It was so fun, but Isabela and I had the two slowest horses (which was just fine with me). Shasta and Jack were not about to break a sweat.
I was still walking like a cowboy several days later.
Juan Pablo and Joaquin went hang gliding the next day.
We didn't get to see them, and I guess you can't take a picture while you're hang gliding. We were told Joaquin got pretty high, about two stories up off of the sand dunes.
While they were off flying, the KOA had an Easter egg hunt for the little kids. Our shell bucket for a basket.
Diego took good care of his sister, as they led the herd of kids away to the hunt.
Each egg had bunny bucks inside, and the kids were able to buy prizes with their money.
Our last night there, the girls and I decided to sleep in the back of the car. The wind on our tent kept me from sleeping well most of the time, so we opted for quiet over comfort.
But it sure looks cozy.
The campfire is always great entertainment. We had plans of having a fire on the beach, but ended up being too lazy to drag the firewood down there.
Our last morning sunrise. Easter morning.
Just the girls wanted to go, so we set the alarm for six am. There were a lot of people there who did the same thing, but the beach is large and there was plenty of room for all of us.
One amazing view.
And now it's time to pack up. It's always hard to set up and take down a tent in the wind.
One neat and tidy bundle. So every time we go camping, we always get ideas of how to make it better next time. (And it was funny to see the RV people trying to outdo each other with rugs and strings of lights and TVs.) Next time, maybe we'll do what the people beside us did and get two tents. One for the parents and one for the kids.
At the end of the trip, I had us stand in a circle holding hands (well, Joaquin and Diego refused to hold hands) and tell what was our favorite part of the trip. Juan Pablo said watching the kids play together and have fun, Isabela said the whales, Carmen said the jumping pillow, I said looking for shells in the water, Joaquin said hang gliding and looking for shells, and Diego said building his sand castle and digging a deep, giant hole in the sand.
Camping always has something for everyone!
