We also saw many fields of corn, but the most striking picture came just outside of Bethel, North Carolina, where we spotted this purple field of lavender.
North Carolina also has fields of solar panels that can go on for a mile in this rare territory without trees.
We got settled into our camping spot at Twin Lakes Camping Resort. This is another Passport America Campground that offers a half-price rate during week days. We certainly wouldn't pay the $52 rate they charge during the weekend, but we were glad to have the full hook-ups for $26. The people in the office reported that they had gotten "buckets of rain" as the tropical storm blew through right before we arrived, so we had to choose from the camping sites that weren't under water. Our site was very muddy, and we found out that the rain had filled up the septic system. So when we tried to do all the washing that had accumulated since our last full hook-up site, we overflowed the septic tank. What a mess! So besides the two nice swimming pools on site, we were disappointed with our stay at a "resort" and its $4/day resort fee.
But we were here because of the location. We were nestled in the Pamlico sound estuary. That means that we had canals running through the resort that flow directly to the Pamlico River, that flows directly to the bay, that flows directly to the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the people staying at the Twin Lake Camping Resort had sizable boats docked in the canals or parked in the grassy parking areas close to boat docks. The water in our canals went up and down in height depending on the ocean tides, and if we had more time we would have used them for a kayaking trip.
But instead we only visited our neighboring town, Washington, North Carolina. This little town has a river walk along the Pamlico River, and places for passing boats to dock over night.
Along that river, there is an estuary center that educates the public and gives boat tours up the Pamlico River. Estuary is another new word for people from land-locked states. Estuary is the lower course of a river where the fresh water meets the sea. So the river in front of us, like the canals within our campground, are a continually changing mixture of salt water and fresh water that changes in height based on the ocean tides. Crabs like to live in this environment, and there are decorated crabs all over town.
This day there were also large land turtles visiting the town of Washington.
A man with a trailer-load of turtles had pulled up near the Walmart parking lot. He was unloading his live cargo onto the grassy area near the street. People in the passing cars were almost stopping traffic in downtown Washington as they tried to see what was going on with this unusual trailer.
For a $5-10 donation, children could take a turtle ride. Most of the children we saw weren't as excited about this opportunity as their parents were.
Picking up these guys is no light task. The handler said that he had been doing this for over 35 years, and we noticed that he let the younger Dads in the area do most of the lifting to get the turtles in and out of the trailer.
We love being in this agricultural pocket of North Carolina. We drove through the town of Chocowinity to get to Southside farms to buy some fresh produce. We passed acres of vegetables in the field, and green houses full of tomato plants.
But we were sad to find out that we were between berry seasons. Strawberries have now quit producing, and raspberries, blackberries and blueberries are not quite at their prime. So Denisa was sad to leave berry-less today. It looks like this place will be a fun place to visit in a week or two.
After seeing the tiny wild blackberries on the trail, this domestic blackberry looked almost the size of a cluster of grapes to Denisa. It was all she could do to leave this one ripe berry on the vine after she took the picture.
We are enjoying this little piece of eastern North Carolina, but the real reason we are here is to visit the coast. So we will be hosting our friends for a whirlwind tour of the outer banks before we leave.
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