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August 18, 2012
“Rain, rain, go away!!” has been our song lately; we are patiently (insert “yea right”) waiting for a weather window to leave for Ocracoke Island. We are now looking to leave possibly if the weather is better in the middle of the week.
The day after I wrote that paragraph we rented a car because the weather prediction was 5 days of rain. We looked for a place that we wanted to visit with no rain -“ah ha”- Charlottesville, VA became our destination. Charlottesville is the home of the University of Virginia, which was founded and designed by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson created what he considered the ideal “academical village (1817-1826)”. We stopped at the door of one of the rooms in the village and spoke to a young man who had just moved in. The room was small, but had a working fireplace. The student told us the rooms were for seniors who had a high GPA and were involved with extracurricular activities. The Rotunda is getting a facelift, so our picture opportunities were limited.
“Rain, rain, go away!!” has been our song lately; we are patiently (insert “yea right”) waiting for a weather window to leave for Ocracoke Island. We are now looking to leave possibly if the weather is better in the middle of the week.
The day after I wrote that paragraph we rented a car because the weather prediction was 5 days of rain. We looked for a place that we wanted to visit with no rain -“ah ha”- Charlottesville, VA became our destination. Charlottesville is the home of the University of Virginia, which was founded and designed by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson created what he considered the ideal “academical village (1817-1826)”. We stopped at the door of one of the rooms in the village and spoke to a young man who had just moved in. The room was small, but had a working fireplace. The student told us the rooms were for seniors who had a high GPA and were involved with extracurricular activities. The Rotunda is getting a facelift, so our picture opportunities were limited.
In addition to the University, we toured Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson; Montpelier, James Madison’s Estate; and Ash Lawn, the home of James Monroe in our three days stay. We still had time to visit several wineries and the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. At the end of our three days, we were ready to face the rain and go back to New Bern.
Monticello & Thomas Jefferson
Montpilier & James Madison
Ash Lawn & James Monroe
Since the weather looked clear for a day or two we decided to prepare to leave. Mike took his last bike ride and a quick trip to the farmer’s market. Francie made her last trip to the exercise room and then took the car to do laundry, grocery shop and best of all get more than 45 feet away from Mike.
We will miss New Bern, the historic sites and the train behind our boat. Did we mention the train that travels behind our boat on a low bridge? When we first saw the tracks, we thought they were for a street car because they run down the middle of a residential street. You can imagine our surprise when we saw a freight train coming down the middle of a residential street. There are no gates or bells, just a large freight train slowly snaking its way through town. It crosses the Neuse River, goes through town, and then crosses the Trent River behind our boat.
We will miss New Bern, the historic sites and the train behind our boat. Did we mention the train that travels behind our boat on a low bridge? When we first saw the tracks, we thought they were for a street car because they run down the middle of a residential street. You can imagine our surprise when we saw a freight train coming down the middle of a residential street. There are no gates or bells, just a large freight train slowly snaking its way through town. It crosses the Neuse River, goes through town, and then crosses the Trent River behind our boat.
Ocracoke & Cape Lookout
August 29, 2012
We arrive on Ocracoke Island after two days of travel. On our way to Ocracoke we anchored in the South River. Just as we dropped the anchor a storm passed through with 30 knots of wind. We were thrilled that the anchor held really well. In fact it was a bit difficult to get it up the next morning. It turned out to be a very peaceful evening. Anchoring was nice change after having been on a crowded dock for two months.
Ocracoke Island is a great stop, only accessible by boat, ferry or small plane. It is a tourist/vacation destination, but the town has a warm relaxed feel to it. Ocracoke Island is part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Most of the Island is National Park Service land. The beach extends most of the length of the island (about 16 miles) with no buildings. There are lots of unique shops and restaurants in town, but our favorite part is the fresh fish we bought each day at the fish market. The store opens in the afternoon after cleaning the catch of the day. Every evening there was at least one restaurant that had live music. One night we went to see Molasses Creek; they are an exceptionally talented local band, that has been featured on Prairie Home Companion and travel throughout the south playing concerts. This is a link to several videos: http://www.molassescreek.com/videos.cfm
Ocracoke is a favorite destination of the Oriental Sailing Club, and several boats from Oriental populated the docks during part of our stay. Two of the club’s members Gary and Bill were going clamming, and we asked if we could tag along. Gary taught Mike the technique. The following morning, Mike and Gary along with another boater friend Richard who hails from New Zealand were raking for clams again. It was so much fun that the next day we bought a clam rake.
The people from Oriental said that going to Cape Lookout was a must see and they were right. It is a two day sail, south of Ocracoke and has miles of beach and a rich history. We wanted to climb to the top of the lighthouse, but it was not open the day we visited. Instead we picnicked on the beach at Shackleford Banks looking for wild horses. There were only a few boats anchored with us. The sky shone with stars and the only sounds were that of nature.
The two weeks in Ocracoke and Cape Lookout went by quickly and we made lots of new boating friends. We made a stop on the way south and spent the night in Oriental at the free dock. Paul & Jane, whom we had met at Ocracoke invited us to dinner. Their friend Bob, a master chef, was cooking. We had a scrumptious meal of clams and linguini with homemade bread.
We arrive on Ocracoke Island after two days of travel. On our way to Ocracoke we anchored in the South River. Just as we dropped the anchor a storm passed through with 30 knots of wind. We were thrilled that the anchor held really well. In fact it was a bit difficult to get it up the next morning. It turned out to be a very peaceful evening. Anchoring was nice change after having been on a crowded dock for two months.
Ocracoke Island is a great stop, only accessible by boat, ferry or small plane. It is a tourist/vacation destination, but the town has a warm relaxed feel to it. Ocracoke Island is part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Most of the Island is National Park Service land. The beach extends most of the length of the island (about 16 miles) with no buildings. There are lots of unique shops and restaurants in town, but our favorite part is the fresh fish we bought each day at the fish market. The store opens in the afternoon after cleaning the catch of the day. Every evening there was at least one restaurant that had live music. One night we went to see Molasses Creek; they are an exceptionally talented local band, that has been featured on Prairie Home Companion and travel throughout the south playing concerts. This is a link to several videos: http://www.molassescreek.com/videos.cfm
Ocracoke is a favorite destination of the Oriental Sailing Club, and several boats from Oriental populated the docks during part of our stay. Two of the club’s members Gary and Bill were going clamming, and we asked if we could tag along. Gary taught Mike the technique. The following morning, Mike and Gary along with another boater friend Richard who hails from New Zealand were raking for clams again. It was so much fun that the next day we bought a clam rake.
The people from Oriental said that going to Cape Lookout was a must see and they were right. It is a two day sail, south of Ocracoke and has miles of beach and a rich history. We wanted to climb to the top of the lighthouse, but it was not open the day we visited. Instead we picnicked on the beach at Shackleford Banks looking for wild horses. There were only a few boats anchored with us. The sky shone with stars and the only sounds were that of nature.
The two weeks in Ocracoke and Cape Lookout went by quickly and we made lots of new boating friends. We made a stop on the way south and spent the night in Oriental at the free dock. Paul & Jane, whom we had met at Ocracoke invited us to dinner. Their friend Bob, a master chef, was cooking. We had a scrumptious meal of clams and linguini with homemade bread.
After two great sailing days and one motoring day in the ditch (ICW) we arrived at our new home in North Myrtle Beach’s Barefoot Resort Marina. The resort has an enormous pool for Francie to swim and lots of traffic free roads and trails for Mike to ride. The grocery stores are within biking distance. Best of all for Francie there is a multitude of shopping malls to explore.
We have gone from one extreme to another. Across the ICW from us is Barefoot Landing Mall with several restaurants along the water. During the weekend they feature bands playing late into the evening. It was hard to make the switch from sedate to bustling. We are planning to rent a car and explore the areas that we can’t reach by bike.
Our trip down south will commence once again the 3rd week of October.
We have gone from one extreme to another. Across the ICW from us is Barefoot Landing Mall with several restaurants along the water. During the weekend they feature bands playing late into the evening. It was hard to make the switch from sedate to bustling. We are planning to rent a car and explore the areas that we can’t reach by bike.
Our trip down south will commence once again the 3rd week of October.