Friday the 13th of May, 2005, was the day we reluctantly left Williamsburg and started our journey back to San Diego. But first we thought we'd explore a little bit of the Atlantic Coastline from North Carolina to Georgia.

We headed south toward the James River and took the ferry to Surry County and kept driving until we found the ocean.

We made our first stop at Salter Path which shares a barrier island with Atlantic Beach. We found a nice spot on the bay at a campground that stretched from the bay to the ocean, about a quarter-mile or so.

The beaches along the Outer Banks have to be some of the best in the country. Most of them are wide and long with fine white sand. Salter Path was no exception.

The next day we continued along the coast taking the Fort Fisher/Southport Ferry just south of Wilmington, NC. Southport was a very nice little town. Next time we go there, I'll actually take some photos of it.

That's the Oak Island Light on the left. Oak Island was our next stop. We stayed at the Long Beach Family Campground which provided us with easy access to the beach, although the campground, as most private campgrounds near the beach usually are, was a little tightly packed. The beach was great!

Wine Stop!

Yes there are wineries in NC, but we didn't think we would find any along the coast, but we did! The grapes are grown in the western part of the state and shipped here for winemaking. We met Ken and Tina, part-time wine workers there at Silver Coast Winery. I happened to see the "Make Mine Virginia Wine" and the OBX (Outer Banks) sticker on the back of a van in Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach!

Unbeknownst to us, The week of May 13th to May 22nd was "Biker Week" in MB. This is the second largest (next to Daytona) gathering of Harley Riders in the East. I believe it. There had to be a hundred thousand or more of them. We had a blast! Talk about people watching...

We stayed a a hotel on the beach...views of it.

The beach in front of our hotel. OK, I'm going to say it. The east coast has better beaches than California. No contest.

On Monday, May 16, we made our way to Edisto State Beach Campground, Edisto is another great barrier island beach and the road to get there was lined with live oaks draped with Spanish moss.

Beaufort, South Carolina

Beaufort was a beautiful little city. The streets of the Historic Area are lined with ante bellum dwellings saved from destruction during the Civil War (or simply "The War" as it is known in these parts) by the fact that it was occupied by the Union Army before Sherman had a chance to torch it. In the photo on the left is the bridge that Forest Gump ran across.

Some of the houses which were mostly built by wealthy plantation owners in the mid-1800's.

Hunting Island.

Yes, yet another amazing beach. The Viet Nam scenes from Forest Gump were filmed here.

I was interested to learn that the Hunting Island Light House survived a 7.2 earthquake without damage in the late 1800's. Earthquake? Here?

I kept that in mind as I climbed the see-through iron stairs. That's Lorri in the shadow on the right.

Views from the Light. I had to bend way low to get the crab. He was feisty and looking for a fight.