I think it was writing about how I get sea sick that made me wake up Saturday morning at 06:30 with Vertigo!! OH boy everything was spinning...I dragged myself out of the motel, no way I wanted to pay for another day so up and out I went barely able to stand up straight..I headed East on 264 slowlyyyy from Wilson I didn't get far till I Had to stop. I found Goose Creek State Park that sits on the northern shore of the Pamlico River ... the sign said sites 1 & 4 are open (small 13 site primitive campground)...so I parked in 4 got in my bed and fell instantly asleep. Awoke 2 hrs later feeling much better! Got up stirred around had some lunch and then drove up to the Ranger station to pay...
Them..."Site 4 is reserved"
Me..."Sign says its open"
Them..."Oh it must have been reserved last night, and the Ranger didn't mark it as Reserved"
(the online reserve thing won't allow a reservation unless its 24 hrs in advance, so there is no way it could have been reserved the prior night it had to have been done 24 hrs ago)
Me ..."so I will take #1 then"
Them..."sorry someone just came in and took #1"
Me..."So you got nothing"
Them..."we're sorry"
This reservation system, for me personally is a PIA--can't they keep at least half for walk ins? So its like this: if I screw up and don't reserve, Im screwed, If they screw up and don't mark it as reserved, Im still screwed..either way Im screwed?
I was feeling too poorly to argue so I left. Glad I took this photo of the campsite when I woke up... it was a pretty site...
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| site #4 Goose Creek CG |
LOTS of red headed woodpeckers this one surprised me, not a great focus but look at the perfection of red, white, and black.
| red headed wood pecker |
Mattamuskeet NWR was not too far up the road, I thought I had a 45 min drive from the motel I was wrong!! I had mis-calculated and it took me an hour and 45 mins to get there from the motel, and counting the 2 hrs I stopped and slept, and all the other messing around I got there at 3 pm. Mattamuskeet is located on Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula in Hyde County, NC. Mattamuskeet Lake is NC's largest lake and located in the NWR. Hwy 94 divides the lake into 2 bodies of water.
On the Wildlife Drive, which is only a couple miles, it was windy! Some Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis, Little Blue Heron, and Canada Goose, all present in the canals and in the mud.
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Immature Whiter Ibis
Fosters Tern, Red Winged Blackbirds, Eastern Kingbird, lots of common and boat tailed Grackles, and Osprey, are a few more of the birds I saw and was able to catch a shot of...
Red Winged Blackbird
Osprey
DEER
The wind got worse so I headed north on 94 to find Pettigrew State Park and hope for a camp site! Found a note on the board, site #10 and 12 are open SO I took site 10...
more on that in next post!
PEACE
Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.
