20 « October « 2008 « outtahere <

Finally Outtahere!

20 10 2008

Yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and headed out of town to Ocracoke Island. It’s a nice little day trip from my home and it’s definitely outtahere. There is the hour drive to the ferry and 2 hour 20 minute ride on the ferry. I carted up my bike and drove to Cedar Island to catch the ferry. I parked my car, paid my $3 bike fee and boarded the ferry.

Leaving Cedar Island

I encountered what I had been warned about on the National Weather Service website – Coastal Flooding. This kept me from doing a lot of things. Why, do you ask? Because riding one’s bike through water covered streets is less than dry.

Coastal Flooding

I made it through the main street and headed to Howard’s Pub for lunch.

Lunch at Howard's Pub

I then tried to take what looked like a shore road to the ocean side. After a long ride in the packed sand and no ocean in sight, I turned around and went back to the highway against gale force winds.

Trail to No Where?

I rode through the village and found myself lost. I saw a car stop ahead of me and it was one of my coworkers! She told me how to get back the highway and I was off. I was going to try to catch the 3:30 ferry back to Cedar Island but decided I wasn’t going to rush myself. I headed to the lighthouse.

The Ocracoke Light

I’ve seen all of these wonderful attractions before but I wanted to share it with my far away friends. Many of them received pics via phone during my visit. For the rest of you, you’ll have to get your pics via the blog.

While at the lighthouse, the batteries ran down on my camera. Off to a store to find some more.

I then headed down Howard street which is basically an oyster-shell path.

Howard Street

I went to the village craftsman where I found myself a strumstick. I was so excited! It’s much like a dulcimer but held like a guitar. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.