DeLaWho? DeLaWhat? DeLaWhere?

On Wednesday, 20 people (including myself) from Denison University’s Geology and Geography (or DUGG) Department , piled into three Ford F-350 white vans and headed down to North Carolina at mind-blowing slow rates of speed due to a Van, that we, the inhabitants of Van Gogh, later known as Van Damme (the most bad-ass van known to man) dubbed Van Slow. After traveling through West Virginia and Virginia, we finally wandered to a hotel in Western NC for the night. The next morning, we set out for Pilot Mountain, which is composed of quartzite (metamorphosed sandstone and in this case represents a beach environment). After a brief stop at Pilot Mountain, we began our trek down to the Outer Banks. Before reaching the relatively young geologic formation that is the Outer Banks, we stopped at a State Park to take a look at a transgressive (rise in sea level) sequence represented in the exposure of a bank. We then traveled down to the Outer Banks and dropped off our stuff at the Caribe Inn. The Caribe Inn, the motel with a little bit of character, was quite unique. After a night on the beach, we retired to our rooms to rest up for the upcoming days of geology. On Friday, we explored the southern most reaches of the Outer Banks. We saw the variety of environments that are present on such a barrier island like the dunes, inlets, marshes, tidal “streams” and so on and so forth. On Saturday, we left the Caribe Inn at 5 am and headed off to OI, NC. After cruising around the island, two of the three vans missed the ferry to Hatteras. So, Van Damme and Van Nawhite sat in the line for the ferry in heavy rain and winds with nothing to do. With skills in kung fu and turning lighted letters, both vans managed to scrounge up a little fun sending some of their occupants into puddles for delightful prizes as well as deploying occupant’s odd skills in imitating a Raptor (the dino) for a wave of attacks concentrated on Van Nawhite’s hood. When the ferry arrived, we cut through 60 mph gusts of wind in order to make it to Hatteras. When on the northern most barrier islands, we visited the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the Killdevil Hills. After jumping off the sides of the dunes of the Killdevil Hills, we began our trek back to Denison stopping in Durham for the night and completing our trip on Sunday. It was quite a trip.