Annapolis and OBX

We got to Annapolis, MD late afternoon on Saturday. I met Jared’s friend Serena and her quirky rat terrier, Oliver. We did some sightseeing in town…brick roads, brick buildings..a lot of sailors…and then headed to dinner at a Thai restaurant called Lemon Grass. I had cashew chicken that was ten times better than PF Changs. After dinner we went over to a beer garden and talked and waited for Shannon to meet us after she got off of work. I tried a Smithwicks (I am hooked) and we relaxed and listened to Serena tell us ghost stories and the history about the town. After Shannon finished her meal we went to a cute Irish pub, then from there we spent the rest of the evening at a piano bar. I requested all of my favorite songs and we listened and enjoyed the good beer and good conversation.

Sunday morning I had muffins and coffee with Serena and Shannon and then we said goodbye to Oliver and headed off to our next destination, North Carolina!



We got to OBX at about 8pm. We were hungry, but decided to find a place to stay first. We tried a Travelodge in Kitty Hawk….it was out of our price range, so we decided to either crash the campground or sleep on the beach. We continued to drive in search of food and ended up finding this "quaint" motor inn. The price was right, so we parked, dropped off our stuff and walked over to the local restaurant, The Jolly Roger for some tasty crabcakes and shrimp with crabmeat….yummmmmm. We found our way to the beach and just watched the huge waves crash on the shore. I love the ocean…..

In the morning I found out that we had a roommate staying with us, a GIANT cricket....After a few minutes of freaking out, Jared trapped it in a cub and chucked it out the door.

We checked out (rather quickly) and took a scenic drive down the coast to get to the ferry to Ocracoke (sounds like the soda). On the way we stopped at Jockey's Ridge to see the hang gliders and the kids flying kites.

We drove to the end of the island and went 4 wheeling on the beach while listening to some tunes by Jack Johnson. We parked on the sand and watched the waves crashing in to each other. It was a beautiful sunny day and you could see for miles, The waves came right up by the car, it was so cool! I finally got to put the Jeep to good use!!

We took the ferry across and immediately decided to stay the night on the charming island of Ocracoke. (it’s about 12 miles long) We found a campground, set up the tent and drove around town for a bit. We had lunch at another Jolly Roger restaurant and watched the pelicans swoop down to get fish. Then we did some window shopping and bought a lucky pig to accompany us on the trip (we named him Larry). We did some more four wheeling, this time I drove. We tried to get on the beach and I ended up getting the Jeep stuck! A tow guy came over and offered to help, but it would have cost $65.00. We said thanks but no thanks and set about the daunting task of digging the car out. After a half hour of digging in the sticky heat, we were pulled out by a couple from Deleware. The tow guy just sat up on the hill watching the whole time. I wanted to stick my tongue out when we drove by him, but he left before we got to the road. As soon as we started to drive, I threw Larry out the window…lucky pig, I don’t think so!!

We went back and showered at the campground….they do say sand is an exfoliant…..we had some more seafood for dinner at Howards pub…it is THE place to be for all of the locals and tourists. We split a pitcher of Anchor Steam and marveled at how clean we were! After dinner we made our way over to the bar…the guy that sold us the pig earlier in the day bought us a round of beer. He came over to talk to us for a while…he was quite the local…he imparted upon us his worldy wisdom and then tried to give us a watch that an employee gave him b/f leaving on a trip. After Larry the pig got us stuck, I decided it best not to accept the watch!


We got up early on Tuesday, cleaned up our site and drove over to the coffee shop. It is hidden back off of the road, so it is mostly frequented by the locals. We got some fruit smoothies, a bagel and a cinnamon bun and sat in some Adirondack chairs out front.

We took a ferry that lasted 2.5 hours to the mainland in NC. From there we are heading to Fayetteville, NC.

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