Today was filled with lots of fun tourist destinations from Hatteras Island all of the way to Ocracoke Island. Our first stop was the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in the Village of Hatteras. The waters off North Carolina's Outer Banks entomb thousands of vessels and countless mariners who lost a desperate struggle against the forces of war, piracy and nature. The Graveyard of the Atlantic, with one of the highest densities of shipwrecks in the world, holds some of America's most important maritime history. The museum is dedicated to the preservation of this history, and we had a great time learning and exploring!
We took a family picture beside the large anchor prior to heading inside. Melissa and John got their picture taken first so that they could take pictures for the rest of us. In hindsight, we should have asked some tourist to help us out so that we could all be in the picture together. Oh well!
My whole entire family is fascinated with history...except me. Sigh. They all definitely got it from my dad who could read a book about history or watch "The History" channel all day long. You can see everyone reading and observing below. I, of course, was busy with my camera...
They had a pirate cutout inside the main section of the museum, so most of us took our shot at lookin' like a pirate. I went first...pretty uncreative, but by the time we got to the end of us, there were some pretty good pirate faces on display!
I was trying to show Hadley the pirate remains below, but as you can see, she was not interested at all. She was getting fussy and tired of being in that one little room for too long. Poor girl!
...but she cheered right up in the next section of the museum. She got to check out the telescope, which she thought was pretty cool.
...and Hadley also enjoyed sniffing the different displays. I think we were taking a whiff of the coffee grounds below.
My dad likes history a little too much! We were at the museum for over 2 hours. Not a good idea with little ones, and as you can see below...it took it's toll. Hadley is crying and Gabe is falling asleep. I took Hadley outside shortly after this picture and she would not let me come back in at all. She was ready to move onto the next adventure!
When we finished up at the museum, we were starving. Uncle Zeb looked up various restaurants on Hatteras via Urbanspoon. He found the Hatterasman, which was rated pretty high for seafood, so we stopped in for a little bite of lunch. Our family took up almost the entire dining area, and it was pretty tasty!
After lunch we headed over to the North Carolina Ferry System loading station to take the ferry over to Ocracoke Island. This was my first time riding a car on a boat. It was pretty neat!
I was trying to convince Hadley that she didn't need that ol' thumb in the picture below. She didn't listen though, and it went right back in her mouth the minute I let go!
Hadley was super cute and waved at all of the passing boats. She wasn't afraid at all on the ferry. She got down, walked around and explored everything possible. I was a little nervous because there were large port holes and the back of the ferry was only blocked by a mesh gate.
They had an observation deck on the ferry, so Hadley, Austin and I went up to explore. Austin took a picture of us girls on our way back down the stairs, below...
John and I were dueling it out with our cameras in the picture below. I like to think I won, because my picture was better!
Banker horses represent an important aspect of Ocracoke's history. A brief synopsis of their supposed origins stands mounted on the plaque in front of the paddock in the picture below. These Banker horses themselves have lived their lives in domesticity, but their ancestors ran free in the Outer Banks for centuries. We wanted to head north to see the few wild horses that are left, but we don't think we'll have time to make the trip...it's a few hour drive. These horses will do!
After we left the horse paddock, we headed down Highway 12 into the Village of Ocracoke. The village reminded me very much of Sanibel Island in Florida with it's quaint little shops and uniqueness. The village is small, so we drove straight through and stopped at the old fort to stretch and talk about our plans. We decided to head over to see the Ocracoke lighthouse, which is North Carolina's oldest operating lighthouse.
We were going to check out the village a little more on foot, but we were all tired from our long day so we decided to head back to the ferry. We made it just in time. The ferry runs every 1/2 hour and we got in line with just a few minutes to spare!
Hadley was exhausted after a long day of exploring...
There are a lot of rainbows in the OBX, and this is one that we saw on our way back to Hatteras Island.
The sun started going down while we were on the ferry. We wanted to get back on the road to Avon so that we could catch a picture of the sunset off the inlet. We made it just in time. I literally jumped out of the car while Zeb put it in park and snapped the picture below. A beautiful sunset if you ask me, and a perfect ending to a perfect day!
Good Night OBX!
We can't wait to see what you have in store for us tomorrow!
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