It has been a few days since I crossed the Cameron Langston Bridge to Emerald Isle.  I am looking forward to getting back on it.

It is one of my favorite spots on the Southern Outer Banks.  The view from the top is beautiful and dangerous.  Many tourists get caught up in the view and end up running into the car in front of them.

I never mind the traffic.  In fact I look forward to stop and go traffic on the bridge so I can take pictures.  It is almost as good as winter time when I can stop because there is no traffic.

The bridge crosses over the Intracoastal Waterway and Bogue Sound.  If there is a pulse to our area, it a combination of the traffic on the bridge and under the bridge.  You can pretty figure out what is going on just by driving over the bridge.

On a great summer day with lots of visitors, you will see them out on the Intracoastal or beached on some of the islands in the sound.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings during the summer, you see departing visitors streaming across the bridge on their way home.

In the afternoons on the same days, the bridge can get a little plugged up if everyone tries to come at the same time for check-in.

When you drive across the bridge and see lots of sand bars, you know we're having some low tides.

If you see lots of large boats headed south, you know the hurricane season is over.  If the Intracoastal Waterway is packed with small fishing boats, you can reasonably assume the fall spot run has started.

When the Intracoast is full of boats and a lot of them are jet skiis, it is a good guess that we are having a sellout tourist weekend.

Of course if you cross the bridge, and it feels like you are about to be blown off of it, we are likely having a storm.  If it is winter and the winds are strong, the odds are that it is a nor'easter.

I like riding across the bridge just before and just after sunset.  Sometimes I will wait to get gasoline just so that I can ride across as the sun is beginning to set and come back just after it has set.

That is often when everything is beginning to slow down for the day.  Except in mid-summer, the boats are usually at home by then, and the traffic on the road is beginning to die down.

Sometimes there can be a wonderful sunset like the one that I call The End.  Other times it is hard to tell where the water ends and the sky begins.  Crossing the bridge that time of day is a good way to wipe the slate clean and get ready for tomorrow.

I feel fortunate to live where I can be on the bridge in six or seven minutes. It is a quick way to gain a little perspective on the world along the Crystal Coast.