Dateline...Ocracoke
Oh, Lawdy. How I wish I could blog some photos right now. But it seems unlikely at this time. You will have to rely upon my miserable writing to help you feel my angst and joy. With no further ado, I borrow shamelessly from Name Hidden, and give you the ten things I learned on vacation this year. Admittedly, vacation is not over yet, but a close is drawing near, and I wax pensive, and also just a little drunk.
1. A girl like me should never leave the house without the following items: wine, folding chairs, a knitting basket, the big bag of watercolor supplies, and chocolate.
2. I have a sinister, secretive side. I am fantasizing relentlessly about buying a very modest beach home without the knowledge of my husband. One never knows when one might need to escape. If you've read my blog before, you know my toothbrush is already packed.
3. The Outer Banks of North Carolina are truly the opposite of every other beach. Other beaches get more hotels. The OBX get hotels being torn down to build houses. Life is good.
4. I will never be happy until I've had a high-seas adventure.
5. I am completely turned on by the disparate and unpredictable moods of the ocean. You go to bed and there's no wind, and the sea is calm. You wake up to blue water, choppy white waves, and a brisk onshore wind. Heaven. I am totally into the fact that right at this very moment, I am listening to the ocean and typing on my laptop. Each and every night, I am moved almost to tears, by the simple smell of salt air. I was never meant to be a landlubber. This trip is so important to me each year that I mentally keep track by it. In my mind, the year is about to end.
6. Tomorrow night, I have reservations for a sail aboard The (schooner) Downeast Rover. We will sail the same waters as Sir Walter Raleigh. I am actually nervous about it because it may be TOO MUCH LIKE KRISSY FANTASY WORLD. I hope I recover. Real sails, wildly historic waters. DOOMED.
7. On a mundane note, it has become clear to me that I need to give the hell in and get a mouth guard for hopeless tooth-grinders. I gnash day and night, and something needs to be done, lest I become a toothless old hag. My dentist told me that she could see "the wear facets"starting to develop. I thought that sounded nice. Now I see that it is not. I'm giving myself headaches. I'm doing it right now.
8. Ocracoke lighthouse is the oldest on the OBX. HA! I knew it! Take that, Cape Hatteras, you big thunder-stealer! You think that just because you're bigger, you can beat up on everyone. But I'm not buying!
9. A person who is 90% vegetarian should not have a field day by eating a whole pound of crab legs. One who is not used to such things cannot digest them. One gets ill effects. One's stomach makes absurd noises. One gets real bad gas. I'm glad this never happened to me.
10. On a visit to Ocracoke, and a super-informative visit to Teach's Hole, I learned, in great detail, about the demise of Blackbeard the Pirate, and also about the treachery our government is dishing out to residents of Ocracoke island. Memebers of Blackbeard's crew scuttled at the time of his death, and spawned families on Ocracoke. This was back in the 1750's, my friends. The descendants of these people still live on the island. But thanks to tourism, and me, apparently, their property taxes have skyrocketed, and they are scrounging to make a living. Many have already had to sell their ancestral properties. Others sell handicrafts and the like to keep up. My disgust knows no bounds. Let's just say I emptied my pocketbook on local pottery, woven items, and snacks. Screw you, tax man. Do you hear me? Descendants of Blackbeard's crew are leaving because they can't pay their taxes. This is beyond repulsive. The beautiful, simple existence is being taken away because of TAXES. Grandfather them in, motherfuckers!
For the love of all things holy, when I go to Ocracoke, I eat at Howard's pub. Howard was Blackbeard's quartermaster, and the pub still exists. But the Howard family can no longer pay THE MAN? Am I going liberal or super-conservative? I don't care. Leave these people to their beloved island!
I'll post pictures when I get home!
1. A girl like me should never leave the house without the following items: wine, folding chairs, a knitting basket, the big bag of watercolor supplies, and chocolate.
2. I have a sinister, secretive side. I am fantasizing relentlessly about buying a very modest beach home without the knowledge of my husband. One never knows when one might need to escape. If you've read my blog before, you know my toothbrush is already packed.
3. The Outer Banks of North Carolina are truly the opposite of every other beach. Other beaches get more hotels. The OBX get hotels being torn down to build houses. Life is good.
4. I will never be happy until I've had a high-seas adventure.
5. I am completely turned on by the disparate and unpredictable moods of the ocean. You go to bed and there's no wind, and the sea is calm. You wake up to blue water, choppy white waves, and a brisk onshore wind. Heaven. I am totally into the fact that right at this very moment, I am listening to the ocean and typing on my laptop. Each and every night, I am moved almost to tears, by the simple smell of salt air. I was never meant to be a landlubber. This trip is so important to me each year that I mentally keep track by it. In my mind, the year is about to end.
6. Tomorrow night, I have reservations for a sail aboard The (schooner) Downeast Rover. We will sail the same waters as Sir Walter Raleigh. I am actually nervous about it because it may be TOO MUCH LIKE KRISSY FANTASY WORLD. I hope I recover. Real sails, wildly historic waters. DOOMED.
7. On a mundane note, it has become clear to me that I need to give the hell in and get a mouth guard for hopeless tooth-grinders. I gnash day and night, and something needs to be done, lest I become a toothless old hag. My dentist told me that she could see "the wear facets"starting to develop. I thought that sounded nice. Now I see that it is not. I'm giving myself headaches. I'm doing it right now.
8. Ocracoke lighthouse is the oldest on the OBX. HA! I knew it! Take that, Cape Hatteras, you big thunder-stealer! You think that just because you're bigger, you can beat up on everyone. But I'm not buying!
9. A person who is 90% vegetarian should not have a field day by eating a whole pound of crab legs. One who is not used to such things cannot digest them. One gets ill effects. One's stomach makes absurd noises. One gets real bad gas. I'm glad this never happened to me.
10. On a visit to Ocracoke, and a super-informative visit to Teach's Hole, I learned, in great detail, about the demise of Blackbeard the Pirate, and also about the treachery our government is dishing out to residents of Ocracoke island. Memebers of Blackbeard's crew scuttled at the time of his death, and spawned families on Ocracoke. This was back in the 1750's, my friends. The descendants of these people still live on the island. But thanks to tourism, and me, apparently, their property taxes have skyrocketed, and they are scrounging to make a living. Many have already had to sell their ancestral properties. Others sell handicrafts and the like to keep up. My disgust knows no bounds. Let's just say I emptied my pocketbook on local pottery, woven items, and snacks. Screw you, tax man. Do you hear me? Descendants of Blackbeard's crew are leaving because they can't pay their taxes. This is beyond repulsive. The beautiful, simple existence is being taken away because of TAXES. Grandfather them in, motherfuckers!
For the love of all things holy, when I go to Ocracoke, I eat at Howard's pub. Howard was Blackbeard's quartermaster, and the pub still exists. But the Howard family can no longer pay THE MAN? Am I going liberal or super-conservative? I don't care. Leave these people to their beloved island!
I'll post pictures when I get home!
posted by Kristine at 1:27 AM
7 Comments:
Ah, the simple beauties of a vacation at the beach. Alas, I will most likely not have the pleasure of doing that again for at least three years. Thank you for the opportunity to at least live a bit vicariously. Now, on to the comments:
1) Don't forget your flintlock and saber, just in case.
2) Remember to make sure there is a place nearby to hide the pirate ship.
3) Mixed feelings about that. It means that things will get more expensive, but it is good for those who can afford to pay the extra money. Unfortunately, I am not one of them, so I guess I'll be going back to Myrtle Beach in years to come.
4) AMEN! See comment #2 above.
5) Ocean mood swings... *shudder*
6) AAARRR!!! Don't ye be forgettin' the items mentioned in comment #1, Lass!
7) Hm. I probably need some too. What the hell is it with teeth grinding??? I've been doing it a lot more lately too!
8) Ocracoke... just the name sends shivers down my spine.
9) Mmm... crab legs... I could live on King Crab Legs. If I ever become wealthy, that is the diet I am going to use to lose weight: The Ocean Bug diet! Lobster, shrimp, and king crab legs.
10) Unclean taxmans!!! Be thou consumed by the fires that made thee!!! Worse yet, they could have their ancestrial homes ripped away from them because of eminent domain and that HORRENDOUS decision the supreme court made earlier this year.
People that build houses on the Outerbanks are very very brave in my opinion or very rich.
A person who is 90% vegetarian should not have a field day by eating a whole pound of crab legs.
The same thing happens to me when I disrupt my diet of semi-cooked beef with an orange or something.
Other than the digestive issue, it sounds like a wonderful trip. The OBX sounds wonderful.
The remarkable writing worked. I am sold on a place I can't pronounce or find on a map.
I'm so glad you're enjoying your vacation, Kristine. Can't wait to see the pictures.
#1 You must have a BIG purse.
#2 I imagine since you're including us in on the Secret, that we'll all be invited for vacations to this beach house. :-)
#3 And if you go in the off season, the house are so cheap.
#5 Yes, I love this about the ocean.
#6 I really hope you write in explicit detail about this.
#9 LOL! I hear that can happen to people who aren't at all vegetarian. Not me of course, just other ... people ...
#10 This just infuriates me! You want the government to stop taxing them - definitely super conservative. I want to drive down there right now to buy a whole bunch of stuff to help them out.
#5 makes me completely jealous. Regarding #4, I've HAD several high sea adventures, most notably a typhoon off of guam where our ship almost capsized, so trust me when I say it's over rated.
MY FAVORTE ISLAND - good imagery, felt like I was there
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