After visiting a number of big cities we were looking forward to the relaxed atmosphere of the coast. We left Washington DC on a Sunday morning with the plan to head to Ocean City in Maryland and then continue south. Our trip to Ocean City took us in and out of Maryland and Delaware and back to Maryland. There was a lot of traffic on the road but most of it was heading the opposite direction, fortunately. There is only one more week of school holidays so clearly many families were heading home. We had done little research into Ocean City - Bill and Cam had included it on our itinerary and we were looking forward to being on the coast again. However, we were not prepared in any way. As it happens, Ocean City was not our idea of a holiday destination. The roads were crowded, there were fast food outlets everywhere, a wide variety of hotels and other vacation accommodation, there were crowds of people, it was unbearably hot and humid, and after driving around for twenty minutes we could still not find a legal parking area (admittedly we were towing the caravan). From a road running the length of the beach there are narrow side streets leading down to the beach which had angle parking on one side and no parking on the other. Just perfect with the caravan, I must say. We had never planned on staying overnight but clearly we weren't going to spend much time at all in Ocean City. So while Peter waited in the car I wandered down to the beach to check it out then we swapped over. It was absolutely crowded in both directions with hundreds of beach umbrellas and beautiful sand and people enjoying their day on the beach. Our visit was short, not our type of beach environment at all, so we headed out of town and found an estuary where we enjoyed a picnic lunch before continuing south. Our journey south on the Ocean Highway continued into Virginia and we crossed an amazing bridge. It is the Chesapeake bridge/tunnel which was built in 1960 and is 23 miles long. It is one of only ten bridge/tunnel systems in the world (and three are in this area) and it saves motorists 95 miles of driving. Of course there is a toll but at $15 we thought this cheap but as we use an ezpass we are yet to know whether it was twice that cost because of the caravan - still very reasonable and a great experience. There are two bridges, one in each direction and each has two lanes, which part way across Chesapeake Bay merge into a one mile two lane tunnel, then back onto the two bridges again and then this is repeated. In all 20 miles of bridges and two tunnels. We had never seen anything like it. Part way across there is a rest area with restaurant but no parking for long vehicles so we had to keep going. Our next beach stop was Sandbridge Beach in Virginia. We knew that Virginia Beach was a very popular holiday destination and so that we didn't have the same problem we had with parking in Ocean Beach we booked into a camp first and off loaded the caravan. We stayed in Sandbridge Beach for a couple of days which is just a little south of Virginia Beach and found this to be a really beautiful long beach lined with holiday homes and lots of groups enjoying the sand and water, which incidentally was really warm. It was a lovely place and ideal family holiday spot as it didn't have heaps of shops etc. We visited Virginia Beach and found it no where near as chaotic as Ocean City, lots of shops and eateries but as it is getting later in summer no where near the crowds, and yet we were only a couple of days since our Ocean City visit. The beach was the typical East Coast beach, very long, golden sand, no real waves, and lots of people. There was a board walk and in addition a separate cycle way which made the area very user friendly. Our travels continued South and next stop was back in North Carolina and we headed for the Outer Banks. The Outer Banks is a string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina (and a small section in Virginia) 200 miles long. The islands curve out into the Atlantic Ocean and back again and shelter North Carolina's mainland coastline. The majority of the islands are joined by bridges (the Americans can certainly build bridges) with a couple requiring ferry travel. Again they are a very popular holiday destination with very long beaches. I had been to the Outer Banks with Cam back in 2010 but this was Peter's first visit. It was from Kitty Hawk in the Outer Banks that the Wright Brothers first flight in a powered vehicle took place in 1903. We visited the memorial and saw the replica of the "aircraft" flown on that day. We also visited the Kitty Hawk Monument to a Century of Flight which again was an interesting memorial. North Carolina is proud of it's flight history and many of the car number plates have the words "First in Flight" printed in them. All number plates have the name of the State the vehicle is registered in. Another interesting point about number plates is that they are only on the rear of vehicles although there is a recess marked on the front bumper for a plate to be installed. We stayed in Avon on the Outer Banks which is about sixty miles south of Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers Memorial is. This required us to drive through the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge area which is a particularly narrow section of the islands. Basically we had a tar sealed road with his banks of sand hills and then the beach on either side. Much of the road was actually shown as below sea level on our GPS. This area incorporates the Cape Hatteras National Shoreline and is all protected. Avon is again mainly a holiday area with the typical three or four storied holiday homes, many of which are built on stilts to allow any high tides or flooding waters to wash through. We can't imagine being in one of the houses when that happens nor when the wind blows and the potential swaying begins. We decided to visit Ocracoke which is another island in the string but this required a ferry trip. The ferry took about thirty cars and took 40-45 minutes each way. No bookings are taken, first in first on but locals and vendors get priority. We joined the queue, and ended up having to wait close to two hours to get on but the ferries left every twenty minutes or so. What we found really interesting is that the State charges $8 per person to visit the Wright Brothers Memorial yet we could take the State run ferry with the car for a forty minute trip for free - doesn't make sense to us! We loved Ocracoke. It had a very laid back atmosphere and there were golf carts everywhere. We have noticed that golf carts are very popular. Many campers have their own and drive all around the camp grounds with them. We have been in some camps where it feels that we are the only campers without a golf cart. So of course, with carts to hire we had to have one. After lunching at a lovely outdoor restaurant we spent the afternoon touring all over the island and had a great time. There are two other ferries that leave from Ocracoke to various other points in North Carolina - these have a small charge and we could have caught one of these ferries with the caravan on for about $45 for the nearly three hour journey if we had been travelling that far south in North Carolina. We have loved visiting the various lighthouses during our travels. We visited two of the four lighthouses on the Outer Banks. The Ocracoke one is not open to the public to climb but the Bodie Island one was but there was a two hour wait for vacancies in the time slotted climbs so we gave that a miss. As we drove back towards Durham we saw a smaller lighthouse and on enquiring whether it was still in use we were told it was actually just a replica of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. We had missed seeing that actual lighthouse as we passed the entrance on our way to the Ocracoke ferry and thought we would do it later in the day but when we returned it was dark and the lighthouse was closed. One of things that we find difficult when we travel for a few months is getting haircuts and we were both at the stage of needing cuts. Peter was reminding me everyday that he had to find a barber or similar. It really is a matter of hit or miss and take it by chance and as we don't make an appointment in advance we need to time it right. A stop in Williamston for lunch and we were in luck - no wait and two girls available. It is important to remember here that it is necessary to tip the hairdresser - we find it impossible to forget. When you hand over your card the machine prompts you to tip giving you options of 10, 15 or 20% or a specific amount. So haircuts complete and we were both happy with the cuts. On our last day of travel we visited with relatives of mine who live in rural North Carolina. One of my aunts had been a U.S. war bride who came to North Carolina from New Zealand in 1946 with her young daughter to meet up with her American husband who had been a marine based in NZ. She never returned to NZ and had brought up a family of five children. The aunt and uncle have now passed away but I had the opportunity to meet with three of my cousins for the first time. It was a very interesting day in many ways. So we have now arrived back in Durham and staying with Cam for the next ten days and enjoying some time with him. He is at work during the day and we are enjoying some time out from travelling. The temperatures are definitely cooler than when we were here in June and the humidity is lower and the chillies Cam planted before we left are growing well. It is still summer and warm but much more pleasant. Over the next few days we will explore Durham a bit more. Our travels north took 53 days and we covered around 7,000 miles (about 11,000 kilometres) and we have visited twelve States in the USA (North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland) and in addition we have been to Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia in Canada. Our travels next will continue on the East Coast heading south.