Runaways

This weekend, Chip and I ran away to Ocracoke for a weekend alone. Can you hear the *sigh* of relaxation from where you are?

Ocracoke is located at the southernmost tip of North Carolina's Outer Banks, and is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It's accessible only by ferry, private boat or plane, and since we do not own a boat or plane, it was off to the ferry!

It was chilly and rainy the whole way down, but I didn't care. I was looking forward to spending an evening without the phone ringing, without FOX News or ESPN, and without, well, other people.

We checked into our hotel around 7pm. We stayed at the Anchorage Inn because that was the only place on the whole, itty-biddy island that had an available room. That's what we get for doing everything at the last minute.

I had every intention of taking a picture for the blog, but didn't remember until we were in bed, and, well, you don't need that burned in your mind. But I digress.

We quickly changed and ran to dinner. We ate at the Atlantic Cafe, which was highly recommended for a romantic dinner. I don't know here these people live, but WTF? It was bright, noisy, and crowded. Chip had a shrimp & under-cooked-steak kabob with over-cooked rice & green beans. I had shrimp with tomatillo sauce, avocado, and sour cream that was yummy, with perfectly cooked rice & green beans. Over dinner, we decided that if I could have any job in the world, I'd want to be a food critic.

Then it was off to find a place to have a few drinks. It would have been easier to find Blackbeard's Treasure. We went to a place called Mango Loco's. The first red flag was the fact that there was a $10 cover! IN OCRACOKE! WTF#2! We get inside and just laughed. It was pitch back inside with Spanish dance music. The bartender nicely said to Chip, "Uh, you probably don't want to stay here." Quite the endorsement. Needless to say, 1/2 a beer later, we were out the door.

We ended up at Howard's Pub and were having a perfectly good time, until some man swooped in (I'm not kidding! He approached me so quickly that I heard a "swoosh" and tires squealing as he took the seat next to me!) and tried to strike up a conversation. It was SO obvious that he was looking for something we were not going to partake in, so I excused myself to the bathroom, leaving him with my big, strong, menacing-looking husband. CHECK PLEASE!

We went back to the room, blagh, blagh, blagh.

At 5:00am be heard the "WHAAAAA?" of the ferry. NOT ATTRACTIVE!

At 8:00am we awoke to a lovely, sunny morning with an amazing view! Check it out!

The ferry ride back to Hatteras was a topsy-turvey one. Although we didn't have a storm, the wind was fierce! If you aren't an OBX'er, you know that gale force winds also mean flooding. Check out these pictures from Rodanthe... recognize this house?

It was nice to be back home... especially after unpacking, starting laundry, going to the grocery store, unpacking a few bags of grub, cooking a pot of soup, cooking dinner, washing all the dishes, and actually sitting down to eat.

:-) Sending smiles to everyone! Col