island time

Yesterday was our first full day on Ocracoke, and we spent it exactly the way you would think we should.

This morning, Mike decided to take a hike to a place we haven't explored yet, South Point. To get there, you hike about 4 miles down a dirt road (or you can take an off-road vehicle, but we're not really into the whole "driving on the beach" thing). Liam and Henry and Pluto went with him, but Max wanted to stay behind, and I had some work to catch up on, so we hung out at the house. Did I mention that our rental is right next door to Ocracoke Coffee Co.? I may never be convinced to leave.

Anyway, we got reports from the hike. Liam found a turtle. Henry found a scotch bonnet (the state shell of North Carolina). Then Liam found a bigger turtle (with barnacles!). When we were in Shenandoah, we made up this silly game where we assigned points for sightings of wildlife, so today Liam got 20 turtle points and Henry got 10 scotch bonnet points (yes, I know shells aren't actually alive, but the point thing makes them laugh, so what the heck). 

They also saw some interesting birds, including a red-winged blackbird (which we have a lot of at home) and a black skimmer (which we definitely don't).

After a few hours, tho, Max and I were starting to wonder if our family would ever come back. And around that time, I got a text from Mike saying they needed an extraction. So Max and I went about halfway down the dirt road (as far as the van could safely travel) and met them. It was good timing too, since the biting flies had decided to make an appearance. They ran the last few yards to the van, swatting all around them and laughing because (as you know) no Fort vacation is complete without a horde of insects at some point.