THE VACCINE HONEYMOON, PART II

Jockey's Ridge, North Carolina

I've been trying to appreciate what's close to home as part of my post-vaccine honeymoon period. The US is not post-pandemic, with stronger variants seeking out the unvaccinated.  But I feel post-pandemic, having navigated my life without fear since my second shot on February 4. I hope you feel the same.  

 

Still, I don't want to fly anywhere. And I don't want a chocked-full schedule. Some changes are worth keeping.  So, we settled on visiting the dunes at Jockey's Ridge State Park just 3 1/2 hours from home.  Oh my; we felt like we were on the moon. No picture does it justice.  

 

It made me think.  Each of us lives where there is something nearby that we may have ignored, but which is magnificent.  When we lived in London years ago my husband mentioned to his barber, who liked to chat, that we went to Stratford-on-Avon.  Pregnant and tired, I nevertheless had made great efforts to see where Shakespeare lived and was buried.  "Is it nice?" the barber said. 

 
Maybe I've been like that. Neglecting what's close to home.  Have you?

 

Walking the dunes, Jockey's Ridge, NC

Jockey's Ridge is the tallest living sand dune on the Atlantic coast. Sand temperatures are 30⁰ hotter than air temperatures.  The view arcs from the Roanoke Sound through maritime shrub thickets to the Atlantic ocean.  I felt like we were in parts of Zion National Park in Idaho, it was that otherworldly.   I read that at times the dune can be as high as 60 feet.  Maybe it was the day we were there.  The winds come from the southwest in the summer and the northeast in the winter, so the dunes are never blown completely away.  They just keep shifting.

 

It's quite desert-like, but still there are brackish marshes along Roanoke Sound.  Also rabbits, foxes, lizards and migrating birds.  We didn't see the foxes.  I can't believe how long it took us to make this short trip. It's been kind of a running joke; if my husband is out of gift ideas he gives me a card with the promise of a trip to Manteo, the nearest island town to Jockey's Ridge.  I have a stack of these.  Finally, post-vaccine, I called his bluff. This week we're also at the beach, Pine Knoll Shores on Bogue Banks, where we come as often as we can.  Also a 3 1/2 hour drive.  Eastern North Carolina is a string of islands just off-shore. More deserted and not nearly as touristy as other places.  No one wants to be told what to do, but . . . if you have a choice, come.

 

I know, if you live in Portugal, or the UK, South Africa, Scandinavia or Vietnam or a host of other countries, a drive this short takes you to places that for much of the world are a dream-come-true.  World Heritage sites even. If that is you, rejoice. But if that is not you perhaps, like me, you're finding that a smaller compass is also to be treasured.  

 

We're taught not to be trite.  Who wants to be "lacking in originality and freshness?"  But I can't think of another way to say it:  My world is a wonderful place.  I bet yours is too. 

                                                           Nina Naomi  

 

One more picture, swirling