Monthly Archives: July 2016

Come, Ride With Us

Motor Man and I are taking an early morning trip to the beaches of Corolla, N.C., and we would like to invite you to join us. Hop in the back seat, and buckle up: we never know what the condition of the sand will be. It may be a rough ride at times.

Since we “slept in” a little this morning, we won’t be there right at sunrise, but we can promise that the beach will be beautiful anyway.

stumps sand and sun 7-24-2016 7-01-17 AM

Look!  This is what we like to see in the distance: horses down by the ocean. At this point we say: “At least it won’t be a zero (horse count) day”.

horses ahead 7-24-2016 7-03-24 AM

Although we are happy to see the horses anywhere, the ocean usually provides the best backdrop.

horses at sunrise 7-24-2016 7-04-39 AM

Since we don’t see any other horses further up the beach, let’s drive over the dune and see if we can find some on the “sand roads”.

Aha – seems we aren’t the only ones to have slept in this morning.  (As always, although it looks as though we’re close to the horses, there’s an ordinance requiring humans to keep a distance of at least 50 feet.  So our “zoom” lens gets a workout at the beach, then I often crop the photos once uploaded to the computer to bring the images in even closer.)

morning nap1 7-24-2016 7-52-33 AM

A cattle egret is hitching an early morning ride (and probably enjoying a nice breakfast of insects off the horse’s back).

horse and cattle egret 7-24-2016 7-57-37 AM

It’s always a thrill to drive over a dune and spot a gorgeous stallion standing on another dune. Zoom lens in action again. Now you know why the camera is in my lap the entire time we’re on the beach. You never know when you’ll have a photo op.

horse on dune 7-24-2016 8-26-23 AM

And lucky you: we don’t often see the resident mule, Raymond. Seems we caught him munching on a sea oat stalk.  And did you spot the dragonfly that photobombed Raymond’s picture?

raymond and dragonfly7-24-2016 7-20-39 AM 7-24-2016 7-20-39 AM

Wow, those couple of hours sure flew by. Let’s cross back over the dune and drive along the ocean as we leave the 4-wheel drive beach.

dune and ocean 7-24-2016 9-47-31 AM

It was a nice horse-viewing morning: we saw a total of 29. That’s about average; we’ve been a few times and not seen any, and the most we’ve ever seen was around 75.

You’re welcome to join us anytime – we love having company on our trips to see the horses.

~These Days Of Mine~