Another hurricane is heading towards Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Although it is a world away from where I am now, reading the news stories on Isabel reminds me of a hurricane I was closely watching about 8 years ago.
I had joined two of of my best friends from college, Andrew and Susan, and Andrew's family for a vacation to the beach at Kitty Hawk, just north of Hatteras. As we settled in to our beach rental, the hurricane was approaching us. The waves got bigger and bigger as the storm inched closer. The sheer power of nature frightened me a bit, at least enough to convince me to stay out of the water. To Andrew's college-aged brother, Adam, however, the big waves were an invitation to take part in the best body surfing ever.
One of my favorite pictures that I ever took was snapped from the safety of the beach house balcony. On the right side of the picture is Andrew's face, with his mouth wide open laughing in disbelief at his younger brother. In the background are what must have been 15 foot waves and Adam's little small head halfway up one of them. Seconds later the wave came crashing down over him and a few seconds after that he would pop back up again and swim out for another wild ride.
We didnt get it too bad here.
Just small limbs down mostly.
Lots of cleanup, but relatively minor damage.
Watched it from my front porch (I told you I bought a house right?).
Colin, glad to hear that it wasn't too bad in Raleigh. I remember one hurricane that came through there when I lived there was pretty bad.
Watching hurricanes from the front porch is fun though. My family and I watched Hurricane Fredrick tear through Pensacola back in 79. It was quite a sight (and sound) to watch/hear the neighbors tall wooden fence fall and to see all of the electrical transformers blow up. Wheee!