Just Call Me Curious Terri

You know like Curious George. Only I don't get into nearly as much trouble as he did. Thank goodness.

So what did you learn today?

A life lesson? A new skill? Something about yourself you never knew before?

C'mon there has to be something...

Every day is a new day. That means, a new opportunity to learn.

I am a seriously curious person. I love to learn.

For example, today I went on an off road jeep tour in search of wild horses, and I could not stop myself from asking the tour guide a ton of questions.

 We saw a lot of horses taking drinks in the many puddles. Notice the hitch-hiker bird?

I was really curious. I have read many books that take place in North Carolina's Outer Banks (OBX). Stories of crabbing in the Sound, of sea turtles, of sailing, of pirates, of family beach houses....and I just wanted to "know," you know?

Okay maybe you really don't, but I always seem to want to know.

Turns out our guide (he was just a kid) was originally from Kitty Hawk and was happy to answer all my questions. I learned that the Sound that far north in NC is fresh water,  not a combo of salt and fresh water like I assumed, and the fresh water is fed by two Virgina rivers. There were islands that I could see in the distance and Mike, our guide, said that you could walk all the way out to them, the water might only be knee high, even though it looks like it could be as deep as a lake from our elevated dune view. (It is full of snakes and crabs and other unmentionables, so there is no way I'd brave going into it). Ever.

 See, from on top of the dune, it looks like the Sound is a big ole' lake.

We traveled to find the horses via Highway 12 (which is really not a highway at all, but a long flat stretch of beach) that people drive on like a road. Now that is something to see. People park their lawn chairs in the middle of the highway and set up camp. What?

Two of my housemates thought I should try to take my minivan out on that "road" yesterday, but I am pretty sure that off roading is not in my van's vocabulary, remember my Parking 101 fiasco, so I smartly declined. I wasn't about to risk needing a tow way out here in the OBX.

 This is a picture of Highway 12 taken from my seat in the moving jeep.

Mike, the guide, said people used to be able to travel Highway 12 north from NC all the way to the Virgina line, but now that is illegal, unless you lived here before 1978 and are grandfathered in. Then you can take Highway 12, aka the beach, the short distance to Virginia. Once in Virginia, Highway 12 becomes a nature preserve, and if you get caught trying to cross the border into it, you are fined.

I could go on and on about all my newly gleaned knowledge, but suffice it to say I learned a lot.

To get back to the point of this post.... every day is a new opportunity to learn.

Think about that. So true. You need to pay attention to every opportunity that comes your way, take advantage of every chance to ask questions, be curious and open to whatever comes at you. Just in case.

Because you wouldn't want to miss "it".

"It" might be your new direction. Your passion. Your path. Your new opportunity. So pay attention. And learn something new every day. Just one thing. Who knows, it could change the course of your life.

P.S. I have been using my time here in OBX to learn to use the manual setting on my camera. It is not easy, and some parts feel a little like math to me. Ick. But I am so lucky to have this beautiful place and this week all to myself to just practice. And learn.

 Playing around with my camera at the beach.

So what did you learn today?