Va. Beach/Outer Banks XLR Trip May 3-9, 2015

[Crimson Pearl]

More Outer Banks adventures!

We went on the Outer Banks Wild Horse tour this morning. First is a photo of our guide, "Wiley". He is a lifelong coastal resident. He was a carpenter for many years and driving the tour Hummer is his semi-retirement job.

Next is a photo of a couple of wild horses on the beach. When the spanish visited this area 500 years ago, they left the Spanish Mustangs behind. The horses adapted and learned to live in this upper area of the Outer Banks. They often come near the houses to graze on the grass.

 

[Crimson Pearl]

Outer Banks Adventures continued.....

One more wild horse photo.

After lunch, we visited the Currituck lighthouse. Here is photo of Mike (Victor-V) doing what he does often, taking photos of US!

Several of our group climbed the 220 steps to the top.

Last photo is at our hotel. The wind is pretty strong today and knocks over our Cadillac XLR Parking signs and cones!

 

[05 GRAND DADDY]

Got some morning shots of our XLR's all in line @ hotel

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Dan & Wendy
"05 GRAND DADDY"

 

[XLRATING]

We had Dan & Wendy (05 Grand Daddy) join up with us for dinner last night, & Steve (sschooley) got in late last night. Today Dave & Cindy (Chicago Dave) will be leaving us, so we hope they have safe travels.

We are still dodging the rain! Can't believe this is the last full day of our trip - time has flown by!

 

[Cadillac Tech]

Great pictures! Thanks for posting! Time flies when your having fun with GREAT friends.

 

[hawkeye372]

Great pics. Maybe next fall think of having a gathering in the Florida/South Georgia area


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[XLRATING]

What tropical system??!! We managed to make it the whole week with just one brief sprinkle - how'd that happen!

Here we are high & dry at the aquarium.

 

[05 GRAND DADDY]

Wendy and I had such a great time with the group and for you all that could not come you missed some great memories! Last night for our farewell party we have a musician in the group the plays the guitar and sing! And all joined and sang along to some old favorites!

"GOOD XLR TIMES" We love spending this time with all of you! Safe travels to all!

KUDOS TO AMY & MIKE FOR MANAGING TO ORGANIZE A GREAT XLR TRIP!!!

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Dan & Wendy
"05 GRAND DADDY"

 

[XLRATING]

We had the shortest trip so we are back home already. Hope everyone has safe travels!

THANK YOU to all who came on our trip. It is your participation that makes these events special. We had a great time spending the week with everyone, & caravaning in a group of 10+ XLR's is always the best.

We also owe a thank you to Bruce (Cadillac Tech) & Dave (Harrisburg Hat) [really wish you guys could have made it & know you do too], and Cubby for help & advice on planning the trip. Thanks too to Bob W for getting the dash plaques for all of us. Finally, thank you to the many people who paid for many of our lunches & dinners - you didn't have to do that as it was our pleasure to set up the trip, & we really appreciate it. We hope we haven't left anyone out!

As Mike once said, the XLR's can be an expensive hobby, but without them we wouldn't have gone to do some of the things that we've done, & met the people from all over the country that we have. Thank you guys for coming to "our neck of the woods," wish we all lived closer together & hope to see all of you again soon!

 

[ChicagoDave]

Home Sweet Home - Chicago!

After dropping Cindy off at Norfolk Int'l - I proceeded to sit in hour or so bumper to bumper traffic, getting out of Virginia Beach (one accident on I64, after another). Eventually got out of Virginia and drove about 10+ hours ... spent a quick night in Ohio and was back in Chicago, safe and sound, by lunchtime. (Cindy's flight in Charlotte was delayed a couple of hours, but she still beat me home - last night ).

I want to thank Mike and Amy for a FABULOUS trip - we could not have asked for better weather ... everything was just great. We know these events are a lot of planning and it really shows the commitment to the group, when people take the time to plan/arrange such an event for those of us that were able to travel down there and enjoy their hospitality. It was a wonderful group - you all made my wife, Cindy, feel so welcome ... I think she is starting to "get it"... how special these cars are.

Everyone else - safe travels home!!!

 

[sschooley]

Short but Awesome

Wow! Always enjoy the moments and memories with this terrific group!
Arrived home in Florida this evening and already looking forward to the next get together!

Amy and Mike really did a wonderful job inviting us to their "neck of the woods."
Although, I was only present for a short while it was awesome!

If you have never done an XLR trip give it a go. They are so much fun!

Steve

 

[Crimson Pearl]

A few photos from the Wright Brothers Memorial

We visited the Wright Brothers Memorial on Friday. There is a nice museum there, recreations of their "Camp Shack" and hangar, a large stone monument on the hill and some other nice memorials. We lined up the cars with a view of the memorial behind them.

We also placed the card for the required "Red, White and Blue" XLR photo. This is mandatory when Schooley is with us, as he has the only Alpine White XLR in our group.

 

[Crimson Pearl]

Kill Devil Grill

After our visit to the Wright Brothers Memorial, Chicago Dave had to leave in order to take Cindy to the airport in Norfolk. We hated to see them go, but we all enjoyed meeting Cindy and were glad to have them with us.

We left the memorial for a nice lunch at the Kill Devil Grill. It was a more intimate place and quite busy! We had to break up the group into smaller groups to be seated. The food was great and the service was too.

There was no room to park all the cars together so I spoke to the folks at the motel across the street and asked if they would mind if we parked there. I had stayed at this motel before when working in the area. They were very nice and agreed to let us park most of the cars there.

If you are ever in the area, be sure to eat there!

 

[05 GRAND DADDY]

We rolled into our home driveway safely last night about 5pm! After enjoying the stop & go traffic delays at about 3 different times throughout the trip home! I do believe we lost a good hour and half in those delays! Looking at the weather today looks like we picked the right week to plan our trips, we had excellent weather for our Myrtle Beach stay to before leaving for Kitty Hawk. On Wednesday evening Amy sent me a message asking us to have safe trip up to Kitty Hawk and to please don't bring the rain with us! So Thursday morning it was light rain in the morning before left, so Wendy and I brewed up a spell to put on the rain storm! Well I guess it worked!........ Lol
We have booked a room and registered for the July 10-11 Dublin Ohio Arthritis Show! As Cubby mentioned rooms are hard to find and we booked a room about 2 miles and 20 minutes away! Hope to see some of you there!
XLR - GOOD FRIENDS! GOOD TIMES! GOOD MEMORIES!


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Dan & Wendy
"05 GRAND DADDY"

 

[Crimson Pearl]

A few more photos

We had to be separated into smaller groups for lunch at the Kill Devil Grill. Here are Bob and Gayle (BobW) with Mike and Amy (Victor-V and XLRating), Bob and Marianne (Fireduck) seated with Chad and Rogene (Popbigguy), Marion and Kevin (Cubby 558) next to Dave and Kathy (Quinn) and Steve (sschooley). The last photo is Ken and Alexis (Crimson Pearl) and Nils and Elise (Nils).


I hope I got all the names right!


Sorry that I don't have a photo of ChicagoDave and Cindy, but they had to head out before luch.

 

[XLRATING]

We had to be separated into smaller groups for lunch at the Kill Devil Grill. Here are Bob and Gayle (BobW) with Mike and Amy (Victor-V and XLRating), Bob and Marianne (Fireduck) seated with Chad and Rogene (Popbigguy), Marion and Kevin (Cubby 558) next to Dave and Kathy (Quinn) and Steve (sschooley). Ehe last photo is Ken and Alexis (Crimson Pearl) and Nils and Elise (Nils).


I hope I got all the names right!

And Mike had his eyes closed as he does for 99% of all pictures ... So you know it's him!

 

[Crimson Pearl]

Heading for home and final thoughts

As is often the case, we were the last to leave the hotel on Saturday. We walked out with Nils and Elise and they headed for Memphis as we were loading the car. Let us know if you see Elvis!

We stopped in Manteo to visit a friend who is as every bit as much a fan of the 1966 Pontiac GTO as I am. His current GTO is a resto-mod with brilliant paint and many mechanical upgrades. He lives just a short distance from the NC Aquarium. After a nice visit, we headed for home. I am posting a photo of his 66 GTO.

We ran into several light showers and one heavier one before we arrived home. After unloading Crimson Pearl, she gladly slipped into her garage for a well-deserved rest.

It was a great trip with fabulous weather. Mike (Victor-V) and Amy (XLRating) did a GREAT job of planning our trip, as well as leading our convoy of XLRs. Mike would lead and Amy would bring up the rear. Along with our radios, we all kept in line and arrived safely at every destination.

We ate at a lot of great places. My favorites were lunch on Wednesday at Hurrricane Mo's and Friday at Kill Devil Grill! Each of our restaurants offered their own unique menu and a chance at culinary adventure. We ate a lot of fresh fish and seafood, though the only frozen drink I got was a cherry slush at the NC Aquarium snackbar!

It was so nice to see old friends again, meet new ones and get better aquainted with some we met in Bowling Green.

Tropical Storm Ana was off the coast and starting to push in some rain on Saturday for our trip home, but it was near-perfect for the trip in and our week in Virgina Beach and the Outer Banks.

We were sorry that some of our regulars couldn't make it, but we'll see you again on another trip.

Bruce and Kathy, we missed you so Mike and I tried to take as many photos as possible in the hope that we would get a few good ones.

I hope you have enjoyed the posts and photos and felt like you were able to share the fun with us.

Looking forward to the next one, but first, Crimson Pearl gets a good bath.

 

[XLRATING]

Mike would lead and Amy would bring up the rear.

And it is true the view never changes when you're bringing up the rear, but when it's behind a group of XLR's it's all ok!

(Waiting to get in the Wright Bros. Memorial - with one "intruder" - & Crimson Pearl in front of me!)

 

[Little Woman]

Thank you

Thank you Amy and Mike. Great time with great people.

 

[Lola's Mom]

Gosh .... I really enjoyed reading the posts and seeing the pictures - looks like ya' all had a really full and fun weekend - one we would have really loved to have been at! The best part was hearing that the guitar made it all the way from WalMart, WI .... .... See you guys in August, 'can't wait ..... hope you've made your reservations ..... I'M READY!