Back To The Vacation

Okay, now that most of you have learned more about the founding of Ocracoke than you'll ever need to know, I'll get back to the basis of this blog - vacation. (Although Ocracoke will be mentioned later when Jen & I take a day trip there.)

Vacation: Day 6

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

After the morning ritual of coffee on the deck, everyone just lazed around for a while. Jeff, Carrie & I headed down to the 2nd floor verandah .... big, comfy rocking chairs, there .... and watched Chris & Katie in the pool. Another gorgeous day of blue skies, cotton ball clouds and a goodly breeze.

Everyone was scattering today to do their own thing. Jeff & Carrie were going for a day drive, Chris & Katie were going to the ocean and then out to dinner for their last evening in Hatteras and Harry was going to .... I don't know. He's always off and about on the Outer Banks, meeting all sorts of interesting people. Jeff, Carrie, Harry & I decided to meet up at Howard's Pub on Ocracoke for drinks & dinner later.

I wanted to get a bit more sun, so decided to spend my day poolside with a good book and a pitcher of iced tea.

Which brings me to the subject of sweet tea.

Once south of the Mason-Dixon line, it becomes extremely difficult to obtain a good glass of iced tea. Southerners insist on serving a beverage they call sweet tea. This is not a glass of tea with sugar or Sweet 'n Low added to it, but instead a simple syrup - so sweet it makes my teeth ache. Whenever I ordered tea, I emphasized unsweetened and invariably the wait-person would repeat my order in a slightly disbelieving tone. When my tea was served, a bowl full of sugar packets accompanied it. And, when it came time for a refill, it was sweet tea. Between the sweet tea, Moon Pies, and RC Cola's, I'm surprised anyone down south has any teeth left.

I completed reading "The Keeper's Son," and after a quick dip in the pool, headed back indoors. Huge, white clouds began stacking up in the southwest. A quick check of the Weather Channel informed me that severe storms were forecast that evening. Hmmmmm ..... did I really want to ride the ferry to Ocracoke in a severe storm? No. I'd already had one rather frightening experience on the ferry, the year before, and that was enough for me. No need to tempt fate.

Everyone, except Harry, returned to the Lightship. Jeff & Carrie agreed that the best place to ride out the predicted storm was at the cottage.

Harry was already on Ocracoke - his phone had no service there, so we called Howard's Pub. After getting the run around from the bartender, Harry got on the line and said he might try and out run the storm - if not, he'd have dinner there.

Carrie offered to make homemade pizza for our evening meal. After a quick run to the Red & White for pizza fixin's, she whipped up 2 absolutely delicious pies! I was very impressed .... she even made the crust from scratch with yeast and everything! (I have never made anything that uses yeast - I can't bake.)

The winds were whipping up and soon the thunderstorm rolled in over the sound. It was a real crash, bang, boomer! With all of the windows in Lightship, I felt terribly vulnerable. The rain was falling in sheets, pounding on the roof & decks. The lightning flashed and cracks of thunder followed immediately. Thirty minutes later, the brunt of the storm passed, although the rain was still quite heavy. I hoped that the kids wouldn't have any problems with the certain flooding on Route 12. And, I wondered if Harry was stuck on Ocracoke!

Eventually, everyone made it back to the cottage, though slightly damp. Harry had taken the ferry during the height of the storm - exciting!

We finished off the night with a marathon game of Yahtzee - Katie reprising her shimmy dance. Why, oh, why didn't we video or photograph that dance?