Outer Banks 2013: Day 1, Friday June 7th

5:00 AM

We left for the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I woke up at around 3:45 this morning, which is way up early for people to be up.... But who cares! We are going to the Beach!! :) Right now we are on our way to Chapel Hill. Today we were planning on going to the Asheboro Zoo, but we got rained out :( So instead we decided to make my dad happy and go to the NC Tar Heels College Campus!

 Whooooo Go Heels!

We aren't going to be going to a game today, we are planning on visiting the planetarium  then heading on over to the Basketball museum, and then probably going to the campus store and a few other places like that. Well I think that I am going to try and go back to sleep now... Check back in with you all later :)

9:15 AM

Goodmorning Beach Babe's :)

We just got out of Cracker Barrel where we ate Breakfast, it is almost a tradition for my family to eat there on the way to the Beach. I had French Toast with apples and whipped cream on top and I am stuffed! Guess what else me and my little brother got at the Cracker Barrel Store! MegaLoads Candy!! 

They are Reese's Cups with Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oreos, and M&M's on top. We got them the last time we came to Cracker Barrel and they are soooooo good! :) 

We will be in Chapel Hill in about an hour, I am exacted to get this vacation started!!

11:05 AM

Just got out of the Carolina Basketball Museum! Which is one of the greatest places, EV-ER!

 A jersey the player's got to sign

The museum is set up like a basketball court, and they have these boxes all over the floor that are filled with the players memorabilia. The boxes are placed in the court according to where the player took a shot from :)

If you were a walk-on or if you played every game that season you get to sign this board, I took close up shots of some of our favorite players

My Dad met Bobby Gersten at the 100 year ceremony, Gersten was talking to my dad while he signed this!

He used to be my dentist when I was little :) I have pictures with him

My mom took care of him at the hospital. and then he saw my parents at the 100 year ceremony and brought them down onto the court with the players!

Pleas tell me I don't have to explain why Dean Smith is important? ;)

The present coach of the Tar Heels :)

I think this is hilarious! It is the letter Duke sent Michael Jordan after he refused to come there ;)

The Voice of the Tar Heels :)

700 victories... can you imagine?

The mask Hansbro had to wear during the game after he broke his nose. He wasn't able to do anything with it on, and half way through the game he rips it off and throws it into the stands! :)

 And now we are on our way to the Planetarium :) 

It is definitely a day for ducks!

3:40 PM

Oh my goodness....... I have never been in the rain so much in my life!!!! I have water dripping down my forehead I am so wet!
But anyway...
We went to the planetarium and watched Magic Tree House Space Mission and Dynamic Earth. The movies were projected onto the planetarium's domed ceiling, and I wasn't able to take any pictures during the movie, but I did take a few before!

If you have read the Magic Tree House books before you know Jack and Annie's story, well this movie was a whole new story created to be shown in this planetarium! It was about Jack and Annie searching for the answers to their questions about space and the stars. The Dynamic Earth movie was about the climate and pollution. I liked the Magic Tree House movie the best, Dynamic Earth was just a little too "save the world"-ish to me. Don't get me wrong! I think we should take care of our planet, but I don't take it to the extreme that some people do. After the movies we went to an area where they had interactive things that my little brother, Elijah, could do. They had models and exhibits,

But then we found this wall with questions, and sticky notes you could use to answer them. Let me show you an example...

Personally, I think that is a pretty great answer ;)

After we left the planetarium we wondered around campus lost in the rain for a while until we found a Wendy's (where we ate lunch) and then headed over to the student bookstore to look around. Carolina is just an amazing place :) Everyone just loves the team and the school and the fans. It is just a cool place to be :)
Well now we are back in the car and on our way toward the Outer Banks! Our Condo reservations don't start until tomorrow at 4:00, so tonight we are planning on getting a hotel room somewhere between where ever we are now and Atlantic Beach. Wish us luck! :)

5:45 PM

Almost in Warsaw now, about an hour and a half from Atlantic Beach. We are getting close! :)

8:15 PM

Well that took a little longer than expected...

We ended up in Morehead City instead of Atlantic Beach, which isn't a bad thing. After a few tries we finally found a Hotel! We are staying at a Holiday Inn Express. But wanna know something pretty cool? The German Army is staying there too! They are here to train with our Army in Cherrypoint. It is interesting to hear them all speaking in German :)

10:30 PM

We finally made it into our hotel room! 

It's nice, I really like it because instead of the regular hotel brand mini shampoos and conditioners, they have all Bath and Body Works brand ;)

Since the last time I checked in with you we went out to eat. We ate at a waterfront restaurant in Beaufort called Clawson's. 

I had a chicken ceaser wrap with fries. What I think is really interesting about that restaurant is that it was originally a bakery, and since then it has been a general store, a hat shop, a dress shop, a post office, and a few other things before it finally became a restaurant. And it is decorated all in memorabilia from the different shops.

It has been an extremely long day, so I think I am going to take a shower and go to bed. Goodnight to you all and Thank you for spending the first day of my vacation with me! :)