We haven;t woken up this early all trip! Erin's 6:30am alarm did not feel like a vacation-esque element at all. It was necessary because we were booked for the 11:30am ferry to Ocracoke and it was a three and a half hour drive. Luckily I slept through most of it.
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| How does she drive with her leg like that? |
We stopped at a general store right before the ferry terminal. They had some interesting items for sale. I can't say I have ever seen many of them.
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| Toilet instructions. |
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| Larry the Cable Guy has chips? |
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| I guess you can deep fry anything. |
We waited in the ferry line for about 30 minutes before boarding and then followed everyone else onto the boat. The ferry was much nicer than I expected. I guess I'm used to the NY ferries.
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| Waiting to board. |
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| Here's the boat. |
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| Off we go! |
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| Sundeck. |
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| Nice indoor area. |
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| Our car "drives" for 2.5 hours for only $15. Not bad. |
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| Approaching Ocracoke. |
It was a 2.5 hour ride, so Erin took a nap and I read a book. Then we started to see Ocracoke!
We checked into our rather expensive hotel but I'm glad we had it because the entire island said no vacancy. That's probably related to it being a Saturday and a weekend getaway location for many in the Carolinas.
We started out with a walk around the area and noticed everyone else was riding bikes or in a golf cart. Those are by far the most popular ways to get around the island. We went to the post office to mail a few more post cards, but stopped at a few local places on the way to get a smoothie and some taffy from a store that looked promising.
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| They have quite a few shells here. |
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| Mail must take forever from here. |
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| Taffy store? |
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| Wow! (it was good too) |
We went back to the hotel to change for our exciting next activity!
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| Gearing up. |
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| Away I go! |
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| Up, up, and away! |
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| I'm floating off to space! |
I can honestly say I wasn't the slightest bit nervous. It was like sitting in a chair. You're strapped in and it's very smooth. Erin didn't allow me to take her phone up with me to get pictures of the island from above. It might have had to do with the part where they dip you down into the water and pull you up again. Very strange feeling to be gliding with your feet right on the water.
After flying, we went to the beach, which was rated #1 in 2008 by Dr. Beach. The rankings seem a little silly when it's not from a recent year and it's a source no one has ever heard of. Still, it was a nice place, although Erin liked Jupiter better because I having trucks driving around on the sand next to you isn't romantic.
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| Ocracoke Beach and its parking lot. (same thing) |
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| Classic Erin-on-the-beach picture. |
Then we explored the town before dinner to see where all the locals lived. It's a pretty small island. Less than a thousand people live here.
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| Coffee and smoothies. |
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| Florist. |
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| Art studio. |
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| Art gallery. |
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| Assorted gifts. |
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| Nice and old home. |
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| General store. |
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| Not sure, but the sunset made it look pretty. |
Dinner was at the Flying Melon Cafe.
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| Flying Melon. |
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| Local bluefish. |
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| Some kind of pasta. |
The food was pretty good, but the service wasn't.
After dinner we walked around some more, looked at the shops, and watched the sunset. It's a very scenic place with a slow pace of life. You can probably see that in some of the photos.
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| Harbor at sunset. |
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| Another angle. |
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| Last ferry of the day leaving. |
Tomorrow we have a longer day to get up to Virginia Beach with another ferry first thing in the morning to get to Hatteras. The map makes the drive look incredibly scenic with ocean views most of the way, so I'll be curious to compare it to the Pacific Coast Highway.
Oh, and there are chickens, ducks, cats, and dogs roaming the island. Here is one set of ducks, but there were even more!
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