2. Girlfriends Getaway…Outer Banks 10.2007

we all took our time getting around this morning and then left to enjoy a late breakfast (straight back to the place that serves sweet potato pancakes). 

it was another beautiful day in the Outer Banks...Sherri and Mona took off to go to the grocery store and a little shopping; Wendy, Susie, Jill and I rented kayaks for a couple of hours and paddled down the Sound.

it was supposed to be a relaxing, peaceful little trip down the Sound.....

    

everything was going smoothly; all of us laughing, enjoying the sun and each others company....

there was a decent breeze we had to paddle against, but it was really no big deal

until I mentioned to Wendy that there was something moving in front of her kayak....as the momentum and the breeze kept the kayak moving forward....

it headed straight towards the head and long neck sticking up and swimming in the water.

it was a snake (you're thinking some little insignificant snake, but this was a monster-sized sea snake!)  and as Wendy's kayak

overtook the snake, she leaned in the opposite direction...and kept leaning even as Jill and I yelled "don't lean over"

....and then she went into the water.

      

she kept calm, the water wasn't deep (thank you Lord) and even while her kayak was filling up with water, Wendy stayed calm (even though she, and the rest of us were all wondering where the snake went??)

the breeze kept moving mine and Jill's and the empty kayak away from Wendy, but eventually we "rounded up" her kayak, pushed it over to her, and she

was able to empty most of the water out, and climb back in. 

we were all really grateful she was okay

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the following photos are from Susie...she captured all the action including the rescue efforts on film...(or is that supposed to be digits?)

    

   

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after what will be ever-known to us as the "Shark Attack on Wendy", we went back to the house, and began our daily ritual of:

walking on the beach;

reading; eating; drinking; laughing and napping.

what a life!

we've seen some really nice sunrises, but tonight we caught a little of the sunset out of our front window.

Sherri, Susie, Mona and I went for a walk on the beach before dark.  the skies were getting more gray and the air was misty;

but there was no one on the beach but us, it was great.

    

after our walk, Mona and Wendy made dinner (Sherri and I are 4 for 4 for only having clean-up duty and NO cooking duty...

this makes us very, very happy!)

tonight dinner was pita bread with three kinds of hummus, roasted chicken, salad, sweet potato fries, new potato fries, beer, sangria, wine, and twizzlers for dessert.

it was sooo yummy!

the activity for this evening (kind of reminds you of an old folks home) was to make jewelry (or reminds you of kindergarten class).  but we had a great time.

                                                 

     

here is a photographic presentation of ALL the jewelry everyone made

this is "jewelry by Jill" ....(and lots of it!)....and she models too

           

"jewelry by Sherri"                                               "jewelry by Mona"

          

"jewelry by Wendy"                               "jewelry by Susie"  

        

         and my stuff

            

the jewelry-making went on for hours and hours.  by the end of the evening we all sort of looked like we'd been playing dress up in our mother's jewelry boxes.

high tide was at 1:40 am so Jill, Sherri and I went to the beach to see it come in (everyone else was sound asleep...shhhh). 

a beautiful night, with a bright perfect half-moon, lots of wind (it is always windy here), but the air is warm and we all just love it here by the ocean.

Wednesday, October 3

the morning with a yoga class....only Wendy, Susie and Jill participated; but they really enjoy it

after that, we split up into two groups....Susie and I went south; Mona, Sherri, Jill and Wendy went north

the north-bound group went to breakfast back at First Light....(the now famous place for the sweet potato pancakes) and then went shopping and got some great bargains. 

then they drove to the

National Estuarine Center (it's a marsh land estuary) and they had a wonderful time hiking around and enjoying the beautiful day

(all these photos of their day were taken by Mona and Sherri)

   

           

     

after that trip, they drove down to the "end of the peninsula"

        

 they came back to the house and enjoyed time on the beach and in the water

    

while Mona, Sherri and Wendy were outside, Jill kept on making jewelry...we all think she should all start a jewelry business (and I know where she can buy one cheap!)

Mona is on the cell ordering their dinner.  they ordered

a Steamer Pot of fresh seafood, which included crab legs, mussels, shrimp, scallops, and veggies

     

 

they raved about the food, the magnificent day the had, and the wonderful weather

happy women!

 Susie and I headed south and drove by these cool sand dunes in Nags Head

        

okay, I've always thought this was a great business idea...and now I've seen one first hand

it's a drive-through convenience store...literally

this was in Avon

      

we were on our way to Ocracoke Island (pronounced like a veggie-soda combo "okra-coke")

we had to catch a car-ferry to get there.  this view off the ferry was of piece of land (sand) that sticks way out into the ocean. it's 4-wheel drive only, but it was really neat seeing all these SUV/trucks looking like they were just sitting on top of the water

 Susie on the ferry   

 

two ships passing....in the day  (okay, I just cracked myself up...it's alright if you don't get it)

 

we finally arrived on Ocracoke Island.

this area used to have wild ponies on it...now it has these non-wild-ponies-in-a-pen

(sounds like a kids toy doesn't it?)

look way, way in the back of the photo....do you see a little light house?  it's the smallest one in north america at 77.5'

we took a little informal walking tour of some of the oldest homes on the island.  some of them dated back to the mid-1800's.

the one on the right has the kitchen in the back as a separate building; I guess it was common to build homes that way. 

there were many houses we saw that had little waves cut into the stairs...pretty cool

  

Howard Street

okay...this was kind of weird

there were little cemeteries everywhere...like you would see two or three houses, then a small cemetery, then two or three houses, then another tiny cemetery...

it was really kind of strange

    

photos of the inlet on the island

     

we strolled through the town, visiting quite a few little shops

then we decided to head back to the ferry...but on down the road, arching from the ocean water over the road and to the water in the sound, was a beautiful rainbow.

I asked Susie to pull over so I could take a quick photo of it...and then it happened

we had been going about 40 miles an hour and as soon as Susie pulled off the highway into what we both thought was just an ordinary pull off,

we stopped dead and sunk about 5" in the sand (this is where it doesn't pay to be a midwesterner on an island; you just don't think about these things)

but luck was arching out over the top of us and a local Sheriff pulled up behind us and called the tow truck (there's only one on the island).  Susie is smart enough to have AAA, so one call to them and all we had to do was wait...but before she even got off the phone with AAA, the tow truck pulled up next to us, said he'd be back right after he pulled another car out right up the road...they'd been looking at the rainbow too.

   

"our hero"

on our way back on the ferry it was a mixture of down-pouring rain and bright sunshine...but during the rays of sun, we spotted two dolphins in the water!  we were thrilled.

(no photos of the dolphins, I've learned the hard way, if you take the time to focus the camera, you miss them completely...most of the time anyway.  some things will just have to remain a memory)

our next stop...we were trying to make it before dark...

was the Cape Hatteras light house. 

we knew they were already closed for the day, so we couldn't climb it, but we still wanted to see this famous light house (it's the tallest in north america)

and we made it!

and because the sky was getting dark and was also cloudy and rainy, the light showed up really well and even came out well in the photos

the other cool thing was that Susie and I were the ONLY people there on the grounds...we had the whole place to ourselves...really fun!

so here are a bunch of photos of the Cape Hatteras Light House

         

    

Susie and I had dinner at a place called "Dolphin Den" in Hatteras Island

(we thought it was appropriate being that we had just seen a couple in the ocean) and the food was wonderful!

we made the long drive back to Corolla, swapped adventure stories with the "north bound" group, and called it a night. 

Thursday, October 4

this entry will be a quick read....we've enjoyed what we've done all week...so we just did it all again. 

Susie was scheduled to leave today and took off right after breakfast. 

we ate at First Light (more sweet potato pancakes), then did a little shopping, more sitting at the beach reading and wave watching, a little bit of jewelry making, shell collecting, and napping.

    

 Mona took these pictures this morning at sunrise; on the left is Sherri on the beach and on the right is me

       

 we just finished dinner that Mona made:  Orzo with goat cheese and feta, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, parsley with rosemary bread and sangria to drink

(we've become expert Sangria-makers)

that's it for today...short but sweet!

Friday, October 5

our last full day in North Carolina and the morning started out beautifully...sunrise on the beach

       

   

Sherri and Mona shell-searching

 

all of these sand crabs were popping out of their holes at the same time...they're a cross between kind of cute and sort of creepy

Wendy and Jill strolling on the beach 

    

Mona found genuine beach glass...way, way cool!

me and Jill waiting for the sun to come up

these are some great photos Sherri took.....she loves walking the beach and looking at all the shells

      

     

after our sunrise walk, the electricity went out in the whole neighborhood...so what was there to do?

we went back to First Light for breakfast.  by this time we're on a first name basis with the wait staff:  Mike and Carrie.

here's a photo of the super-duper famous sweet potato pancakes Jill and I ordered (and because we've become such wonderful customers, the chef made ours special:  with ears!)

Sherri was trying something new...the french toast...and OH MY GOSH!  it was fabulous...the best any of us have ever had.

it's made with this wonderful dense cinnamon bread.  we can't wait until tomorrow!

Wendy and Mona split the crab cake benedict...they said it was very, very good

this is our waiter...Mike

after breakfast (and it took awhile, because it seems, we were visiting with everyone in the restaurant) we did a little shopping and then since there wasn't going to be any electricity at the house until later in the afternoon, we started our already-planned day trip a little early.

we were headed to Manteo on Roanoke Island, about 40 miles from Corolla. 

it's a cute town with lots of little shops and this evening was "First Fridays". 

so we toured the town and shops, each of us buying several things, and then of course it was lunch time.

one of the gallery owners recommended this great place called "Full Moon Cafe".  once again, we found some great food.

I had some wonderful crab bisque, Jill the hummus, Wendy and Mona split crab nachos, and Sherri had the shrimp quesadillas and three of us had some pretty good beer too.

Mona bought us each one of these cool beer glasses...thanks Mona!; all of us enjoying MORE magnificent food

   

 the weather was perfect so we ate outside on the patio

      

we don't think this is a real light house, but it was still really pretty sitting out on the end of the pier

this is and old fashioned Tall Ship...but not in action anymore (too bad; I've always wanted to sail on one of these); and Mona on the boardwalk

   photo W. Norman

the little main street in Manteo;  Jill and I on the boardwalk

 we ended our tour of the town and headed back to Corolla.

the electricity was back on when we got to the house, and it was a good thing, because we had big plans for our last night.

once again, we sat down at the "jewelry" table and worked/played for a little while and then we all loved watching one of our

favorite movies, "the Princess Bride".

tomorrow morning we will get up early, pack our belongings (and try to stuff in everything we bought while here), take one last walk on the beach, eat breakfast (guess where?), turn in our house key and say good bye, to the Outer Banks; at least for now.

the drive to the airport in Roanoke VA will take not quite two hours.  we all fly out within an hour or so of each other.

this has been such a great trip...very, very relaxing. 

the beach, the waves, the sunrises, the light houses, time spent doing nothing, the food (oohh!) and drink have been so wonderful, but nothing, not anything has been as special as these days spent with these amazing women....my very best friends.

as our lives and bodies change as we grow older, these friendships just grow stronger and more important than ever. 

I treasure my time with them.

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thanks for "traveling" with me....check back for my next adventure.....

this one begins on October 20th....

I'll go with Danny backpacking to a place neither one of us have ever been...

can you guess?


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