emerald isle, north carolina

the north carolina coastline was a place i'd only seen from a plane.  had i seen enough beaches yet?   no.  the trick was planning out where to sleep.   no free overnight stays were allowed anywhere in the outer banks. : (  i might have been able to find a place within the croatan national forest, and even went into the ranger station to ask about it.

without regurgitating what they had to say, basically they were incredibly vague about where i could sleep in my van.  however, there was a walmart an hour south of the outer banks, and another one an hour north of the outer banks.  i decided walmart was the best option. what would i do without walmart?

i verified the existence of my parking choice and still had a few hours of light remaining. i used that time to explore emerald isle...

marsh and geese

various house and condo styles...

i pulled over and sat out on the pine knolls shores beach, which was just beautiful...