Early one Saturday morning, while the rest of the world slept, I put on a bathing suit and Chacos, grabbed my camera and a cup of coffee, and set out with a friend to drive down the Outer Banks. We had no plan, just a ticket for the Ocracoke ferry back to the mainland that evening. We crossed the Croatan Sound at Roanoke Island and with good music playing and windows down, headed south on highway 12 to begin our day trek down the islands.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

A little bit of dashboard and a whole lot of blue.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

With front row, top deck seats and plenty of wind in our hair we enjoyed the most beautiful of sunsets.

I was in that state of grace which can rightly be called happiness, when body and mind rejoice totally together. This occurs, as a divine surprise, in travels; this is why I will never finish traveling.”

-Martha Gellhorn in Travels with Myself and Another