There is a ferry you have to take from Cape Hatteras to Ocracoke, it's free and takes about 40 minutes travel time. The ferry runs every half-hour, so it's usually not a long wait. We left the house at about 9 AM, and were going to try and make the 10 AM ferry. Everyone else was going to stop at the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, and take pictures from the top of it. I thought if we could fit that in on the way back, we would, but otherwise, I wanted to concentrate on our day together. We did end up making it to the ferry with about seven minutes to spare, but since they were only running one boat - - no dice, we got in line for the second one. Rachel got out, took Allison to the bathroom, and checked out the tourist trap of a t-shirt shop by the landing. So, 10:30 rolls around and they start to load the next boat. We ended up one car short of making it onto the boat ... if we were driving a compact car, they would have let us on. So, we're first in line to make the 11 AM ferry. I now get out, and take a bathroom break. I grabbed a Queensryche t-shirt to wear for the day, not only because the band is still mind blowing, but because I wanted to look like a bad donkey (edited for content). Black sunglasses, metal band t-shirt, and shaved head equals bad mother. Well, I start peeing, and this jackweed starts talking to me, "So, Queensryche, huh? I saw them once in San Francisco about 16 years ago. My brother bought me the tickets, and ......" Trust me, it kept going the whole time I was peeing. I just wanted to start barking at him or something. I just left and went to the t-shirt tourist trap and found the girls these adorable pink and black tie-dyed t-shirts. They have a skull and crossbones on them, but the skull is wearing a pig-tailed wig. Pirates with a twist.
We made it onto the 11 AM ferry, while everyone else was still at Hatteras. I just waited in the car and snacked on some of the stuff we brought, while Rachel took a few pics of our van from outside the passenger lounge.
We landed on Ocracoke, and it was still about 12 miles to the city. For those of you who care, Ocracoke was voted 2007 winner of "Best Beaches" by Dr. Beach - so they have celebrity endorsements, which I require of all my vacation destinations. We snagged a map of the tourist stuff while waiting for the ferry, and found a few of the places we wanted to see. First stop was Teach's Hole, a pirate museum/Pirate souvenir shop. The museum was pretty small, but I love stuff like that. They actually charged us for the kids to go in, which kinda peeved me, but rules are rules. It was more of a general history of Blackbeard, and pirates in general. I loved it, and read every single placard on the wall, watched every video, and scared the girls by talking like a pirate (call our voicemail and listen to our new outgoing message for an example). Once we were done, we were dumped into the souvenir shop. Ryleigh wanted a pirate hat and hook, and Allison wanted a bag of pirate jewels and coins from the big chest. Oh, and a do-rag makes me look even more menacing - I have 3 now, picked them up down the street in the discount pirate shop.
After we left there, we pulled out the map to navigate our way over to the Ocracoke Lighthouse. Well, let's just say the map of the city makes everything look spreadout, but it's not. Things are very compact, and I whizzed right by the parking for the lighthouse. Granted, there was only space for about 4 cars and one handicapped space, so it's not like I missed a huge lot. We made our way around and parked. Ocracoke Lighthouse is still in use by the US Coast Guard, so it's not accessible to the public. It's also one of the plainer lighthouses we saw.
We went to a few more spots, but it was starting to get late and we were going to head back to see the Hatteras Lighthouse and go to a very funny store we had seen billboards for. We were stopped at a general store, when we saw Ben drive by on Main Street. We chased after him, but by the time we were able to turn onto the road, we missed him. I decided to guess that he was going to go to the Lighthouse, but wrong again. We did find Mom, and the rest of the family who had just pulled up. We hung with them for a few minutes, but they were going into town and we were pretty much done. We made it right onto a ferry heading back, and scooted down the road. We stopped at trymynuts and picked up a few items to try. We then stopped at Dirty Dick's Crabhouse so I could get a t-shirt, and headed home. We did stop at the Hatteras Lighthouse, and then went home to get ready for dinner. Wednesday night it was decided that all of us were going to go out to eat, so we met at this restaurant at 6:30 PM. They had seating for our large group, and I took great pleasure in pissing off some of the other patrons by being very loud and having fun. Good food, not stellar, but I'd go back for the Carolina BBQ if noting else. Wednesday night we also did our Gag Gift exchange, but that's a story for another night.
On a final note, Ryleigh didn't take off her pirate hat or hook except at the dinner table from the moment we left Teach's Hole until bedtime. She started affecting this pirate growl, and I heard her muttering as we got into the house. I listened closer, and I hear, "I'm the meanest Pirate" and "Arrrrr, Matey". I start with "Shiver me Timbers" and "Walk the Plank" and sure enough she's copying me. Very Cute! I tried the rest of the week to recreate that, but all I got was "Daddy, I'm not wearing my costume." Shucks, what a doll.
Love to all.
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