Outer Banks, North Carolina- Day 1 and 2

Day 1- My friends, Cat and Rachel, invited me to join them on their four day trip to Outer Banks, NC. At first I didn't want to commit to something a couple of months in advance because I didn't know what my job situation would be at the time. Once it got closer, though, and no jobs had come up to keep me from going, I let them know I could go. Thankfully, they were still willing to let me go, although I gave them not as much notice as I should have. 

We drove from Virginia to Duck, NC (where we stayed the whole time we were there) on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. 

When we arrived, we couldn't check into our resort yet, so we went and got donuts at a place we saw on our drive in.

Can I just say that these maple bacon donuts were sooooo good?! :) Honestly they were the best food I had on the whole trip. Not to say that the other food on the trip wasn't good, but this donut just so happened to be the best. 

They made the donut fresh after I ordered it. The donut was warm and fluffy and delicious and I loved the thick chunks of ham on the donut. I've had other maple bacon donuts before and this one was definitely the best (in my opinion). :)

Near the donut shop was a boardwalk and this was the view. I ate the donut on the beautiful boardwalk.
 

Donutz On-A-Stick, the place where I got the delicious maple bacon donut.  If you're ever in Duck, NC, I highly recommend this donut shop. :)

 

Rachel, Cat and I went back to check in to our room. When we got to the room, we realized it was much bigger than we anticipated and we were definitely happy about that. It had a full-size kitchen so we went to Wal-Mart and we each bought ourselves groceries so that we could eat breakfast at the resort.

For dinner the first night, we ate at Steamers. Either Cat or Rachel found this restaurant. It had good reviews and had food that all of us were willing to eat. 

I had the Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Roulade. It was tasty!

 

 

Day 2- Our first stop on Sunday was Duck Donuts. How could we resist?! We had to eat Duck Donuts in Duck, NC. :) (It was rainy for the first half of this day, but thankfully the sun came out later.)

 

 

 

 

 

I also got a maple donut at Duck Donuts to compare to the one I got the day before. Although they were very similar to each other (freshly made, warm, and fluffy), I slightly liked the donut at Donutz On-A-Stick a little bit better because of the thicker chunks of ham on it. I still really enjoyed my Duck Donuts also, maple bacon and s'mores.

 

 

Duck Donuts was near the boardwalk again so I had to go and take a picture there. I loved that boardwalk. (Later I'll show pictures from when we walked a long the boardwalk for a mile or two.)

 

 

 

The place I was most excited about visiting while we were in the Outer Banks was the Wright Brothers museum in Kitty Hawk. 

 

I read The Wright Brothers by David McCullough a few years ago and really liked that book and learned so much about Orville and Wilbur Wright. Although my memory about the details of the book were a little fuzzy, I still really enjoyed the museum and seeing where the Wright Brothers had many test runs and then where they eventually took the first flight.

 

 

Cat and I inside the museum.

 

 

I liked this sign. Wilbur and Orville failed many times in their attempt to get a plane off the ground. But they never gave up. They thought outside the box and believed they could do it.

 

On bottom of this sign (the yellow line), it shows how far they went on their first time airborne. They didn't get very far, but each time they tried after that first time, they went a little bit farther. On the fourth time even farther. The finally had made it into the sky!

 

 

 

This stone commemorates the spot where the Wright Brothers made the first successful flight of an airplane.

 

 

It's hard to tell from this picture, but where the lady in the light blue top and white pants is standing is where the first flight landed. Although it may look far in the picture, it wasn't really that far, but it was a major breakthrough for the Wright Brothers. They brought the plane back to the start and tried again and got a little bit farther the second time.

 

See that metal bar next to the stone, well that was to help the plane move along the sand. Even though now this area has grass, back when Wilbur and Orville were testing the planes it was only sand and was hard to get the planes to move along the sand without the metal track.

 

 

This stone shows approximately where the first flight landed, the next stone you see shows where the second flight landed, the stone after the second one (a little hard to see) is where the third flight landed. The fourth flight went even farther (close to the tree line in the distance). 

 

 

 

This is approximately where the second flight landed. 

 

This is approximately where the third flight landed.

This is approximately where the fourth flight landed. It's hard to capture the flight distances in these pictures. Even if the first flights weren't very far, it was still a big deal. The plane lifted off the ground multiple times, the first time in history!

Walking up to the Wright Brothers memorial on the hill. 

 

The Wright Brothers used this hill for some of their testing. At that time the hill was sand, so a lot harder to get up (especially with a plane) than now.

 

 

 

I really liked this place!

 

The view from the top of the hill was pretty!

 

 Another view from the top of the hill!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were on the hill, we noticed this mini airplane below and decided to visit it. It was kind of fun to walk around. It's a sculpture depicting the first flight and the people who were there.

 

Yes, they had a photographer there on the day that they took off for the first time.

 

I decided I needed to take a picture from this perspective so you could see what he's looking at. :)

 

 

 Some more statues watching the plane!

 

 

 

 

Looking from the front of the plane to the statues behind.  

 

 

A pretty view of the hill and memorial again!

 

 

After we finished up at the Wright Brothers Memorial and Museum, we went to eat at a place that was recommended to either Cat or Rachel, Pigman's BBQ. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed my food! I would eat here again.

I used the restroom at Pigman's BBQ and this sign was in there and I thought it was kind of funny!

 

 

After we finished eating, we went mini-golfing. Thankfully at this point, it had stopped raining. 

 

For some reason, as soon as we got here, I started to get an aura migraine. I was seeing wavy lines in my vision and I couldn't focus on any of the signs to read them. Usually when I've had these migraines in the past, I've needed to go into a dark room and close my eyes for awhile, but I couldn't do that here.

 

I didn't mention the issues I was having to my friends, but I was able to continue playing the game since I didn't have to read too much. I did try to close my eyes as much as I could though. (I had briefly lost my sunglasses in the car and couldn't find them before we started playing mini-golf otherwise that might have helped my migraine a little bit). Eventually my migraine left.

 

 

 

After we finished mini-golfing, we went back to the resort and went to the beach for a little while.

 

It had turned into such a nice day that it made me really happy. (According to the forecast before we left for NC, it looked like it was going to rain the whole time we were there).

 

 

The water was cold!

 

 

 

 

 

We spent some time at the beach and then went back to our apartment and got ready to walk on the boardwalk and find a place to eat.

 

I really liked the boardwalk. It was really pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was also somewhere around here that one of my friends decided to say something rude about my appearance and it made me super self-conscious about that thing for the rest of the trip. I honestly have no idea why she decided to say it since it's not really something I can change, but she did.

I did respond to what she said at the time, but I don't think I was able to portray how hurt I felt by what she said.

 

Despite that incident with my friend, I still enjoyed the boardwalk walk!

We ran into this awesome chair with a beautiful view!

Isn't it pretty?!

We ate at NC Coast Grill and Bar this evening and I thought it was sorely disappointing. I think it was the most expensive meal I had on the whole trip and the food ended up not being that great (at least in my opinion). I still ate it all because I was hungry and it cost a lot, but I didn't really enjoy it. 

I think Rachel also didn't love her food, but Cat enjoyed her food. Maybe I just ordered the wrong thing, but it was still disappointing.

To make up for the disappointment at dinner, we got ice cream at Big Buck's after dinner. There was a bit of a line when we got there, but it went pretty fast. I enjoyed my ice cream from there!

Overall, the first two days in Outer Banks was good! I really enjoyed all the stuff we got to see and do.

May Happenings

I barely was at my apartment in the month of May. My friend, Diana, asked me to dog sit/house sit for her for two and half weeks in May. The day after I finished dogsitting, my sister, K, flew me out to California to watch four of her kids while her and Andrew went to visit a potential out-of-state university for Andrew to attend in the fall (Tom was out-of-town for work). 

The day after I returned home from California, I went on an outing to Washington DC with my sister, Lara, and niece, Ellie (who were visiting from Utah). Then two days after that I drove with two of my friends to Outer Banks, North Carolina for four days. (I'll blog about NC in a later post). I returned home from NC a few days ago and I am exhausted.

I dogsat Daisy part of last month and she was adorable! She's a sweet and cuddly dog. I walked her three times a day and I liked that she gave me reason to get outside and get some exercise multiple times everyday. :)

I babysat my adorable nephews, Isaiah, Manuel, and Jesús for a few days in California! Madeline was there too, but I didn't get a picture of her (she's a teenager and didn't need to be babysat). It was fun being there with my niece and nephews and I'm glad I got to spend time with them! They're adorable!

I spent two extra days in California so I could spend some time with K and Andrew also. K and I accidentally wore the same shirt but different color this day. :)

 

The day after I returned home from California, Lara, Ellie and I went on an outing to Washington DC. We hopped on the metro and visited Hillwood Estate, Museum and Garden first. Hillwood is about a mile from the closest metro stop but the walk to the museum is through a beautiful neighborhood.

I love Hillwood! I've been there multiple times, but I never get tired of it, because it's so awesome! It was Lara and Ellie's first time to visit there. 

After Hillwood, we hopped back on the metro and went to the Hirshorn Museum and saw the One with Eternity exhibit by Yayoi Kusama. I had also been there before, but I thought that they might like it too, so we went there. I had to get timed tickets the day before to go to this exhibit and thankfully we made it in time (because I wasn't sure that we would). :)

 

The second room of the One with Eternity Exhibit. So cool!

 

Another cool room in the Hirshorn... the whole room was painted by one artist. The artist painted on all of the walls and the floor basically stream of consciousness thoughts and drawings. (I'm sure there was some planning in the room.) I really liked this room, it was fun to look around and see the random things she had on her mind as she was painting or planning or both. 

 

 A little preview of my Outer Banks, NC trip. The donut in this picture was my favorite food I had on this trip. (I'll post a separate post for this trip later.)

Although May was a bit busy, it was a good month! I'm grateful for the time I got to spend with family and friends. (My mom was actually in town for about a week and half in the middle of May and I got to hang out with her for a day or two. I didn't get any pictures with my mom though.)

 

Embassy Days

Beware this is a long and boring post and is really just for me to remember... but feel free to read it to get yourself to sleep. ;)

Every year, several embassies in Washington D.C. open their doors to visitors without needing a passport. It happens two Saturdays in May. One Saturday is non-EU countries and the second Saturday is EU countries. Not every embassy chooses to open their doors (which is completely understandable). I've been to Embassy days multiple times over the years and I've enjoyed it every time I've gone! 

I think one thing about going is knowing what to expect when visiting. There will be lines, some lines are short and some lines are really long (but there will always be lines). Some embassies are not super exciting and that's okay but maybe a little disappointing too. Sometimes there's free samples of food and sometimes you have to pay for the food. Also, seeing multiple embassies in a day will require a lot of walking. Sometimes you might only get to two embassies in one day (and that's okay) and sometimes you might get to five embassies. It all depends on the lines and the distance the embassies are from each other. 

It's really interesting to visit the embassies and try their food (when they have it) and talk to native people from that country and see the beautiful buildings and grounds where the embassy is located. Make sure to go with good friends and it will make the day even better. (I don't know why I'm mentioning all of the details about going, but I guess for future reference I wanted to write it down).

I invited two of my friends, Heather and Sandy, to join me on the first Saturday to visit some non-EU embassies. Our first stop was the Indonesian embassy. The building was pretty! Look at that staircase and the window on the ceiling, so pretty!

There wasn't much going on at the Indonesian embassy, but the building was cool!

Next stop was the South Korean embassy (I actually think it was the Korean Cultural House). I, of course, had to visit South Korea with my love of Korean dramas. :) It was cool to walk around but not much was happening here.

I think after South Korea, we went to the Haiti embassy. The Haiti embassy was super crowded (with no way to get out except to stay in line) and there wasn't much to see. I didn't take a picture there and it took a long time to go through. (I say this to say that sometimes going through an embassy is not all that exciting. I think our biggest problem here was that we still had to wait in line even though we knew we wanted to leave pretty quickly after getting inside but couldn't because of the crowd. It was a bit overwhelming).

After we got through the Haiti embassy, we made our way to the Ukraine House. It was a little bit of a walk to the Ukraine house, but we got to walk through some pretty neighborhoods along the way.

A cool elephant statue we saw in one of the neighborhoods we walked through.

 Another unique elephant statue we saw on our way to the Ukraine House.

 

We made it to the Ukraine House! I really liked this place! As you probably know from previous posts, Ukraine has a special place in my heart.

Click on this picture to make it bigger to read about the slide in the picture below. 

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This slide was taken from a playground in Ukraine after Russia invaded Ukraine and then used the playground (where this slide was located) as a killing ground. (You can read the sign from the picture above this picture to read a little more about it.)

The Russians need to get the hell out of Ukraine. Russia has no reason to be invading there.

A shirt that Volodymyr Zelenskyy wore! Read the sign from the picture below to learn more about the shirt.

I think Zelenskyy rocks!

 

Outside of the Ukraine House, they had tables set up of Ukrainian books, souvenirs, and food that you could buy. All of the proceeds goes directly to Ukrainian people or businesses. I bought a bracelet with the Ukrainian flag colors and I bought some delicious Ukrainian caramels that I remember eating when I lived there. 

 

After we finished at the Ukraine House, we made our way to the Norway embassy. 

I forgot to bring water with me this day. As we were waiting in line for the Norway Embassy, I mentioned how thirsty I was and some lady walking by heard me say that, so she stopped and asked if I would like an unopened bottle of water that she had. I took it and was thankful for that little bit of water that got me through the rest of our outing.
 

I honestly don't remember what we saw in the Norwegian embassy. (I am writing this post about three weeks after we went there, although I'll back date this post to earlier than when I am writing this). 

All of us who were on our outing to Embassy Days this day. Me, Nancy (a friend of Sandy who joined us), Sandy and Heather. I'm really glad we got to go to Embassy Days this year. Thanks Sandy, Heather, and Nancy for joining me for Embassy Days!

 

I wasn't planning on going to the second Saturday of Embassy days this year, but one of my friends who had never been before asked if I'd like to go with her. I was available to go so Cat and I headed downtown that Saturday morning. We only made it to two embassies this day, but we enjoyed it. We went to the Italian embassy first. 

The inside of the embassy was pretty cool looking! There were a lot of people there. 

There were a few lines inside the embassy that we weren't quite sure what they were for at first (because they all kind of seemed to be mixed together), but we finally figured out that one was for free chocolate samples, one was for pizza slices to buy and another one for drinks to buy. We waited in line for the free chocolates. They were good!

We decided to wait in line for gelato in the courtyard of the Italian embassy. :) I got pistachio flavored and it was delicious! 

It was pretty warm and humid this day and it was supposed to rain the whole day, but thankfully it only rained a little bit.

After the Italian embassy we went to the Danish Embassy and both Cat and I really enjoyed this embassy. 

They had awesome pictures hanging up on the fence in the courtyard. There were all different kinds of pictures but I particularly liked this one. Legos were actually first made in Denmark (which I didn't know until this day at the embassy).

Waiting in line to tour the Danish ambassador's residence. A tour guide took us through the house and he told us that the inside was designed in Danish style and the furniture was made by Danish furniture designers. I really enjoyed this tour. The house was beautiful and the grounds were lovely too! And we got a free sample of cheese and piece of chocolate at the end of the tour. 

 

The courtyard was pretty!

Cat and I were kind of hungry at this point, so we decided to get some food at the Danish embassy. The hot dog had a curry, turmeric, and tartar sauce on it as well as crunchy fried onions and cucumbers. (I added ketchup but I didn't realize until too late that I should have eaten it as they gave it to me without the ketchup. Oh well). Even with the ketchup, I still really enjoyed it! I thought it was good and I liked eating a hot dog like a Danish person would eat it.

In the courtyard of the Danish embassy they had a bunch of booths set up where we could talk to Danish people about certain aspects of their culture. Cat and I visited the hygge booth and chatted with one of the ladies there for about 10 minutes. It was an interesting conversation!

After the Danish embassy, we were trying to decide if we should go to the Irish embassy or the Portuguese embassy. We decided to try for the Portugal embassy but we didn't make it in time. We actually stood in line for quite a while but they ended up cutting us off saying that we wouldn't make it to the embassy before it closed. It was a bit of a bummer, but we were happy that we made it to the Italian and Danish embassies. :)

I'm grateful to live close to Washington DC where such cool events happen every year and I'm grateful for my friends willing to explore with me!