The first thing I noticed in the motel bathroom was that hot water came from both taps. Normally the color blue on the tap denotes cold water, and red tells you hot water will come out. Not here! The next day Lise went to the office to tell them we had no cold water. The explanation was simple, but we have laughed at it ever since. It seems that for convenience they heat ALL the water during the winter. In the summer, they have to cool the water.

I wish I had been there to see Lise’s face. I know my jaw would have dropped, and I would have asked if everyone had to take a cold shower during hot weather. Isn’t that the logical conclusion? Surely water is heated for one set of pipes and cooled for the other, but that’s not the way they said it.

Two days later I washed my hands in a restaurant restroom. Looking at the faucets, I wondered what temperature the water would be from the cold side. It was cold. I turned on the other tap and the water was also cold. Perhaps if I had let it run long enough, it would have gotten warm, but I’m not at all sure. That crazy town did not operate with the conventional rules for water like the rest of the country.

We got up early to see the sun rise on our last morning at the Outer Banks. Magda and Lise walked on the path through the dunes and waited on the shore. I took the easy way out and watched, with camera in hand, from the balcony of our room. I was lucky that I saw it at the same time they did, with the break in the dunes letting me see water and sun together. What a glorious sight it was!