Ocracoke Island

We left Myrtle Beach a little sad because we would have enjoyed more beach time, but we consoled ourselves by heading to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  It was a long driving day with our first ferry-with-the-RV experience to top it off.  We thought we would make the 4:00 ferry with plenty of time to kill, but we hadn't counted on the driving being so slow, so we were really just on time!  It was nice to finish up the long drive by hanging out on the ferry!

The ferry was fun and made for an altogether different experience.

The wind was really strong!

Jake didn't care for the wind too much, or maybe he just didn't care for Mom's hair slapping him in the face!

Upon arrival on Ocracoke Island , we drove to the National Seashore campground and camped for the night. The mosquitoes were absolutely vicious, Minnesota-style!  Seriously, they were awful!  Nonetheless, the campground was less than a 5 minute walk from the beach which was covered in shells!  It would have been awesome to go shell-hunting with the big girls because they love that so much, but someone didn't think that was a good idea.  Turns out that someone was wrong because our next stop in the Outer Banks would prove to be deficient by comparison. ;) Fortunately, I woke up early the next morning and snuck out for a super rare and peaceful quiet time on the beach all by myself!!  The beach was beautiful and covered with slipper shells and broken scotch bonnets and moon snail shells!

As a family, we explored Ocracoke's small visitor center and its lighthouse before catching the Hatteras ferry.

The Ocracoke Lighthouse

The beach was deserted and beautiful