diversions

One day we drove down to the southern tip of Hatteras Island, where we were staying, and took a ferry to the neighboring island of Ocracoke, the island famous for the pirates who hid out there a few hundred years ago, most notably Blackbeard. Blackbeard was also killed there.


The ferry ride was scenic and nicely breezy and fun for everyone.



On the island we didn't seek out any historical places. It was blazing hot and we kept our walking around to a relative minimum. Someone gave us a tip to check out a little arts and crafts place that was really off the beaten path. We drive down these very narrow dirt side roads to find it, but it was worth it. I think everyone in our group ended up buying some things here.


Then we visited some places not off the beaten path and found some things for the kids.

Not many visitors come there from the west.

The best part of the visit, apart from the Ferry rides, was probably the large ice cream cones and shady large porch at the ice cream shop that afternoon.


On another day, after Mom and Peter had left for home, the rest of us went to visit the lighthouse on Hatteras Island, notable because it's the tallest lighthouse in north america. I wanted to get a picture before the girls and John and Jeff and I climbed to the top, amid many warnings that if we thought it was hot and humid outside, just wait until we experienced climbing 12 floors of stairs in that little building.

No one was much in the mood for pictures.


But the climb inside really wasn't nearly as bad as the rangers warned us it would be, and the view from the top was fantastic!

Back at the bottom the girls were a little more willing to at least look at the camera while Jeff took a photo.



Though it's kind of a pain to get there (2 flights plus a 3-hour drive from Norfolk, VA), the beaches and ocean at the outer banks are really nice and the warm ocean is a great change from what we know at home. I'm sure that we'll be back.

outer banks beach bums

We spent a week at John's family's beach house on the outer banks of north carolina, the first visit there for me and the girls. After a much less than great travel experience getting there, everyone got down to the business of enjoying the beach right away.

The weather was a bit of a shock at first, bringing me flashbacks of summers in Chicago. I woke up at 6:00 on our first morning after arriving at the house late the previous night, and I figured I'd sneak out to the nearby grocery store to get some drinks and cereal and things I know my family likes. When I stepped outside, even at that early hour, I was just blasted. You just have to get used being sticky all of the time.

Our first day was overcast all morning, not that it seemed to lessen the heat and humidity at all. Having the ocean to cool us off was great.


Uncle Jeff spent time on the beach fishing, though he didn't catch much and when he did he always threw it back. Still, he seemed to enjoy it. The girls loved collecting the plentiful shells.
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We were all having a fun first morning, and then the wind picked up a little bit and another family on the beach, a good 30-40 yards away, started waving at me and shouting something as they packed up to leave. I couldn't hear them very well so they just pointed behind me, towards the sky. I turned away from the ocean and saw these huge black clouds coming towards us, rapidly:


John and I gathered our things and the kids and started the short walk back to the house. At the top of the small dune separating the homes from the beach, I took another photo. The house on the left side in the photo is the Fergy house.

It was about lunch time anyway. So we came in and ate and what turned out to be a not really impressive storm rolled through, sprinkling a little off and on. But the worst of it passed quickly and after a little while we went back outside.

A view from the balcony:


Just as in Hawaii, Allison by far spent the most time playing in the waves. She loved it.

Kate almost always had a shovel in hand.

Erin tried the waves off and on, and Kate did a few times too, but Allison was always all smiles.



Sometimes Jeff had a fishing assistant. Allison thought she'd try her goggles in the ocean. About 5 minutes later they were lost.


Later that afternoon the sun came out, and Oma and Opa arrived from Pennsylvania.




After dinner that night Grandma showed the girls how to attract and feed the pretty gulls from our balcony.




The next day Mom and Peter arrived from the Raleigh area.


And much of the week was spent like this. Get up, eat breakfast, go to the beach, come in for lunch, come in for dinner. Lots of hard work involved.



Allison and Kate watched some big boys boogie boarding. Though they didn't have boogie boards they had fun placing their boards on the beach and tried to remain standing as the surf came in.



Dad brought a bean bag tossing game along and everyone played at various times, though no one was able to beat him.



There was always a lot of digging and building going on. Castles and moats and ditches and these little seats in the sand which Jeff and John tried to surround with tall enough walls to keep the water out. When the water rushed in and took down the walls and flooded the seat, the girls laughed hysterically.

state affair

My band was going to be performing at the state fair so I decided to plan a whole weekend for us there. Incentives given to the band like free tickets for us and our families and free priority parking made it seem more worthwhile. The girls hadn't ever been to the fair, I haven't been in many years, and there is a water park inside which is right up John's alley and something I thought the girls were finally good enough swimmers to try out.

We were also overdue for a visit with Susan and her girls, and since they live nearby they met us there each day. On the first day they all started out with a giant ride on the slide.


And we spent a lot of time at the animal exhibits. Both Susan's oldest daughter and Erin want to be veterinarians. There were all kinds of farm animals and many staff members from UCDavis vet school there to visit with.

Allison and Erin got some cow milking lessons.


Growing a garden in a wheel barrow.

Apart from the livestock, there were all kinds of other animals to visit also. Exotic animals and fishes and chinchillas, rabbits, birds.
Handling the turtles and watching the sturgeons swim in huge tanks.



Fair food.


It was a hot, hot day. There are plenty of things to see in air conditioned buildings or open shaded covered areas, but during the hottest part of the day the kids wanted to go on some rides out on the black asphalt where any shade is really scarce.


In between all of this fun I had to leave twice to go play a gig with the band. By the time I finished our last set and packed up my instrument it was about 8:30pm, and the kids were exhausted.

The next day we got to the park again when it opened and checked out a couple of exhibits that we missed the previous day before going to the water park, which opened an hour later than the general fair.


I reserved some lounge chairs in the shade while John and the girls started having fun on some small slides and the lazy river.





All the girls can swim pretty well but K&A were slightly too short to go on any big water slides. There was a fun wave pool they liked though. Erin was tall enough for everything so when Susan's daughters arrived they took her on some big, fast attractions with them. She's always loved roller coasters and the bigger and faster the better. Like John, she now is a fan of big waterslides too.