More details from our vacation.
Deanna's class was studying homonyms the last two weeks of school. They learned weather and whether, due and dew, sew and sow, deer and dear, fairy and ferry, etc.
"Mama," Deanna asked one morning on the way to school, "what's a 'ferry'?"
"Something you ride on that takes you across water," I explained. I went on to tell her about the hovercrafts that cross the English Channel. I explained that some ferries are just for people and some transport cars. She was very interested, as was Dane who was also sitting in the car listening.
So what did we find on our way to the Outer Banks when we stopped at a Welcome Center for information on Bike Paths? A free ferry going from Cape Hatteras to Ocracoke Island. One morning, we took off for my first attempt at parasailing (they wouldn't take me that day - the Captain was still in bed). After making reservations for the next day, we decided to head south and look at some of the lighthouses on the islands. We ended up at the Ferry and, after waiting for about 45 minutes, were ushered onto one. The kids were ecstatic. It really was cool. They all jumped out and we had this very strange sensation when the boat started moving and the car was sitting still. I was sitting in the van and could see things passing by the window, but the van wasn't moving.
We had quite a long ride since one of the engines went out and the pilot brought the ferry back into port. Just as they started unloading, making people back their cars off an extremely crowded boat, the pilot announced that the engine was repaired. They closed the gate and sent us on our way. It was a 1/2 hour ride, even without the delay, and the children got to see dolphin in the Sound.
We exited at Ocracoke, turned around, and headed right back. I got Daelyn to sleep in his carseat for the return trip and the kids and other adults stood at the back of the boat, enjoying the ocean breeze and sights. When we finally returned to Hatteras, we headed for the historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Deanna's sandal had broken, so I gave her my shoes. Don took all the kids up to the top while I limped around on one sandal, looking like a refugee.
On the way back to our condo, we drove past a huge snake slithering through the grass towards a marsh. He was on my side and moving very fast. We saw another snake, also, at the Welcome Center I mentioned earlier. I was standing on a boardwalk along the side of the Intercoastal Waterway. We were watching a turtle I had pointed out to the children. He swam under the boardwalk and, in his place, a huge water snake swam out, right underneath my feet. I screamed. It took me quite by surprise. I'm not a person who's fearful of creatures. Spiders don't frighten me, nor bats or rats or cockroaches or any other animal that most people are at least mildly frightened of. But, give me a snake, and I go to shaking. They are the only real animal I'm truly afraid of. And afraid is a little of an understatement.
We also climbed huge sand dunes in Jockey's Ridge State Park and the kids slid down, we watched hang gliders in training, we flew kites on the dunes like the Wright Brothers, some of us visited the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk (also part of the Outer Banks), the kids and Don rode their bikes, we swam in 3 different pools and in the ocean, we walked and enjoyed sunsets over the Atlantic, we hunted for shells, we saw amazing sealife that we couldn't identify and some we could (such as horseshoe crabs and skates in the surf), we played cards, we watched Sci-Fi and Animal Planet, Deanna scared some lady at the pool with the remote-control shark Don bought her, and we shopped - a Tanger's Factory Outlet and a Christmas store!! I made a good dent in my Christmas shopping.
Anyway, dinner's ready and we need to eat. All-in-all, we had a great and memorable time, despite the surf problems. Another great vacation for the Doughty family.
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