Day 165 (Oct 28) – Sitting

We thought about Brad going to Nashville today to take care of our leaves and heater and car tags, but are not sure with the weather in the Smoky Mountains when he could get back to us.  So he went to the store instead and we are trying to take care of business long distance.  That is probably one of the trickiest parts of this trip.  It’s a small price to pay.

I started a fire while he was gone.  I think this is the first one that I have started on my own and actually kept it going!  The girls helped by gathering lots of twigs and even some pretty good sized logs and branches from the ground.  It is windy, cloudy and cool and was the perfect day for an all day fire.

Brad came back from the store with season 2 of the Brady Bunch.  Oh yes he did.  That was a fun after supper treat.

Day 164 (Oct 27) – Running from Sandy

We got up at 6:00.  It started raining lightly at 7:00.  We pulled out around 8:00.  Hatteras is a pretty long island and the village of Hatteras is at the south end.  NC 12 is the N/S road that runs up through the Outer Banks.  Most of it is in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  There are many places where you can see the sound on one side and the ocean on the other.  The land gets very narrow in spots.  As we were driving, there were places where sand was covering the road.  You could see where the tide had washed over the dunes.  Thankfully there was no standing water yet.  The wind was pretty harsh, especially along the narrow areas and bridges.  But we got off the islands and back to the mainland of NC without incident.

We found a lovely state rec area near Wake Forest, between Raleigh and Durham - Falls Lake State Recreation Area.  We are staying at Rollingview CG.  There are showers and water/electric hookups.  I think we are far enough inland to be mostly out of the wind and rain from the hurricane as it passes to the north.  We don’t really want to go farther west as there is a snowy cold front coming from that direction.  So here we sit.  We had planned to go on to Asheville on Mon, but they will be under a Winter Weather Watch Mon and Tue, expecting 2-4 in of snow accumulation.  We will have to wait and see.

Day 163 (Oct 26) – Hurricane Sandy is Coming

Today, Dad, Mom, Carmen and I went to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse to take pictures and for Carmen to get her Junior Ranger Badge.  It was starting to rain just as we got there and the museum was closing for lunch, but we accomplished our mission.  Then we went on a quick shopping run to get Mom her souvenirs.

Hurricane Sandy is heading up the east coast so we decided to leave tomorrow.  There is a danger of the one N/S road on the Outer Banks washing out or flooding or being covered with sand. They are expecting a LOT of rain and wind, so we are leaving early in the morning.  Therefore, we spent most of the day doing laundry and packing up.  It is amazing how much and how quickly we can spread out in 2400 square feet in 5 days.  It took a while to repack.

We got to have another movie night – “We Bought a Zoo.”  It was cute, but has too much bad language for PG.

Hoping we get out ahead of the storm tomorrow.  I guess tonight is my can’t-go-to-sleep night.  It’s 12:00.

Hatteras Lighthouse

Day 162 (Oct 25) – Beach Day

I am sort of stumped on how to blog today.  I don’t really want to remember it.   It started out as a lazy day.  We went to the beach around noon.  Dad, Brad, the girls and I got out in the water and floated and boogie boarded our hearts out.  I’ve never quite been in water like that.  The waves were big and the current was strong.  I floated out a little too far once and worked pretty hard to get back in.  We were all taking turns keeping very close to Carmen.  She and I eventually went in for a rest.  Finally Audra came in too.  The rest is sort of a blur, but basically, my dad had a really close call floating out way too far and Brad saved him.

We came in fairly early.  Kind of done with the ocean.  We did get to watch National Treasure tonight.

Beach Pics

Day 161 (Oct 24) – Ocracoke Island

This was a first on our trip. We took a ferry to Ocracoke Island.  It was the girls’ first time on a ferry.  They thought it was pretty amazing that our truck was on a boat.  We got to get out and walk around.  Definitely needed our jackets since it was early in the morning and pretty breezy.  The water was very shallow.  It’s a problem they have had lately.  They are waiting on a special “shoaling” boat to come in Dec and dig out (?) some of the really shallow places.  There were sand bars – even sticking out of the water – in several places in the sound.

Ocracoke is a small island.  It relies heavily on tourism, but is not overly commercial.  There are lots of small shops and restaurants.  Before we got to the village, however, we stopped at the pony pen (run by the NPS) and saw the Banker Ponies. They are supposed to have arrived here in the 16 or 1700’s from Europe, perhaps released as ships ran aground to lighten their load.  Once in town, we started at the tiny Preservation Museum and got a look at the island’s history.  The only mounted Boy Scout Troop was here in the 1950’s.  (They rode the Banker Ponies).  There is a lot of Navy history.  I discovered the source of our house owner’s thick accent: the Ocracoke Brogue.  It is a dialect unique to this island.  We also went to the NPS VC, the British Cemetery and the Ocracoke Lighthouse.  It is the oldest lighthouse in NC and you cannot go up in it, but it is pretty to photograph.  We stopped at Books to be Red on the way out.  Then we were on the lookout for food.  We ate at Jason’s Restaurant.  I had blackened fish tacos, which were very yummy.  We made one more quick stop at The Pirate’s Chest and then headed back to the ferry dock.  We got there with about 4 minutes to spare.  This ferry was not full like our first one.  It was a pleasant and peaceful (and warmer) ride back to Hatteras.

We dropped my parents off at the Wharf Shopping area by the ferry and we drove back to the house.  We are staying less than a mile from the ferry, so they just walked back when they finished.  The girls and I went to the beach.  I got in the water with them, but it was a little too cold for me that late in the afternoon.  We stayed about an hour and then came back for the hot tub.

Dad had started cooking supper, but was interrupted by a power outage.  After some phone calls we found out it was a 30 min planned power outage.  It lasted an hour and a half.  Our supper was delayed, but not completely cancelled.  Movie night was moved till tomorrow.  We sat on the deck and watched the sunset and read by flashlight as it got dark.  Some of us (I won’t name names) were frustrated by the change in our schedule, but you gotta be flexible people!  Life doesn’t always go as planned.

Ocracoke Pics