Nancy and I were married at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, 2003, at Providence Presbyterian Church in Salisbury, Maryland. After the ceremony, we spoke to the guests by row, hung around the church for group photos, then headed to the reception at the Ramada Inn on Route 13. At the reception we ate a few bites, kissed, had a toast, kissed again, said a few words, kissed some more, talked to some people, cut the cake, kissed, tossed the bouquet and did the garter thing, then left for the Honeymoon! Woo-hoo…
We headed south on Route 13 at about 5 p.m., headed for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. We stopped for dinner at a Pizza Hut somewhere south of Pokomoke City, Maryland, which is just a little ways south of Salisbury, then continued south. Of course, Nancy’s daughter, Lauren, and Lauren’s boyfriend, Ryan, had “decorated” the minivan (yes, we took the minivan on our honeymoon) so we got a bit of a reaction from the women working in the toll booths at both the Bay Bridge/Tunnel and the toll road a bit south of Suffolk, Virginia.
We arrived at the Cypress Moon Inn around 11 p.m. The Cypress Moon Inn is a Bed & Breakfast and doesn’t really have a reception area or front desk. I’d let the proprietors know that we’d be arriving late, and they had the room ready for us. Greg Hamby, co-owner along with his wife Linda, even waited up to help us with our luggage! After cleaning up a bit we realized just how exhausted we were, so we climbed up into the antique bed and were soon fast asleep.
We woke up Sunday morning rested, refreshed, and hungry! Not to worry, however, since Linda had coffee waiting on the balcony outside our room (see photo at right; the balcony runs all the way across the back of the Inn and is accessible from the main upstairs corridor as well as both guest rooms), and as we enjoyed the coffee Linda appeared with a freshly cooked breakfast – which was delicious! In talking to Linda we discovered that not only is she an excellent and creative cook, but she is a strong Christian, which was an added bonus.
Much of our honeymoon was spent sleeping late and then wandering around the Outer Banks looking for unique and interesting things, as well as stopping frequently for coffee and crab dip at the many roadside cafes. One of the “unique and interesting things” we noticed was that in many places there were horse statues that had been painted or decorated in some way. I don’t think we ever found out who put them there or why, but they were pretty fun.
One of the two things we really wanted to do while in Kitty Hawk was to visit the site of the Wright brothers original flight. It hadn’t really occured to us that December, 2003, would mark the 100th anniversary of that historic event. When we visited the site, we found that preparations for a big celebration were in full swing. One of the “exhibits” during the celebration was to be a recreation of the original flight, in a very faithful replica of the Wright Flyer (see photo at right). We were able to walk into the hangar where the replica was being worked on and get an up-close view of it; a truly awesome experience.
Since Nancy and I both like lighthouses, the other thing that we really wanted to do was to see the lighthouse at Cape Hatteras. The road to Hatteras had just been reopened (remember Isabel?) the day before we arrived, so we were able to drive down and visit the lighthouse. The devastation and destruction along the way were still very evident, even after a couple of months of recovery. We arrived at Hatteras late in the day, and were able to enjoy the view of a sunset that beautifully silhouetted the lighthouse.
For the most part, though, our honeymoon was exactly what we needed – a welcome respite from the seemingly endless wedding planning! We got plenty of rest and relaxation, along with lots of good food. On the last night we were there, we had dinner at a restaurant called Penguin Isle. It’s on the sound side of the island, and it was excellent. The food and service were both outstanding, and we highly recommend it if you’re in the area.
The sunset photo at the right was taken from the pier at the back of the Cypress Moon Inn, and seems a fitting way to end our honeymoon travelogue. Hope you enjoyed it!