Ocracoke Island in The Outer Banks

Since Dave has been sick and unable to fly but well enough to still venture out on day trips, we decided to go to Ocracoke Island which is the lowest island in The Outer Banks here in North Carolina. I have always wanted to visit the strip of islands between Kitty Hawk and Cape Hatteras which is the next segment north of where we went but I think I am going to have to settle with our two day trip and call it good. The drive/ferry ride out there and back was a bit much for Brenden who has trouble falling asleep in the car as it is - then add two hours and fifteen minutes where it rains and we have to roll the windows up in the stifling heat and you can start to see where I am coming from. In other words, we had to work pretty hard to get there.

Once there though, we were quite pleasantly surprised by the town. It definitely had a San Diego small beach town feel to it. Think Encinitas or Solana Beach. The locals ride around on their beach cruisers and there are no chain restaurants, hotels or shops. All Mom and Pop places. Very nice indeed.

We stayed at the Pelican Lodge which is a bed and breakfast with four rooms. We rented the Sweet Suite on the top floor because it had a jacuzzi tub and a wet bar! Actually it was because it had an extra room so we could put Brenden in his pack and play and not have him staring at us the whole night giggling and wanting to be picked up but the other reasons sound more fun don't they?

I didn't take too many pictures because we were only there for the late afternoon and the first part of the next day and it was HOT HOT HOT. We walked the little town and tried to duck into the air conditioned little shops when we could to cool off. The mosquitoes there are wickedly large as well. Brenden got bitten under his eye and it swelled up for three days. Come to think of it, this trip was two weeks ago today and he still has the bite...can you say allergic? This first picture is when we finally got him to go to sleep with thirty minutes left on the fairy. The plus side of the ride is you don't have to have him in his car seat as the car isn't actually moving. The negative side is you don't have to have him in his car seat as the car isn't actually moving. It's both because he got so excited that he could stand up and run around in the car that putting him back in the car seat was apparently pure torture for him and thus us. You also can't have your car idling which of course means no A/C. Not pretty... The Pelican Lodge B&B - that top deck was right outside our suite - a lousy Internet photo:Dave standing on the top deck of the Lodge at sunset: "The Ocracoke Lighthouse is North Carolina’s oldest operating lighthouse. In 1798, a 54 foot wooden tower was built on the point of Ocracoke Inlet to mark the channel. Soon afterward, the inlet shifted, rendering the lighthouse ineffective. It was replaced by a light vessel in the inlet in 1820, but by 1822 this structure was rendered useless yet again by shifting sands, and Congress authorized the funding to build the present tower, which stands 75 feet tall and shines 14 miles out to sea. As a harbor light, it emits a constant fixed beam.Not open for climbing." I like this picture of my two guys: