Pics from my vacation to Ocracoke Island, NC!

Granted, they're kinda crummy cuz I forgot my REAL camera and used my camera phone. But my camera-phone pics aren't near as stinky as John Shomby's. Here's yer proof right here! At least you can make out what I was attempting to capture! Anyhoo, here ya go!

From our visit to the Blackbeard Museum. The wax big dummy is almost handsome like Johnny Depp's Capt. Jack Sparrow. Unfortunately, that can't be said for the real Blackbeard. All accounts say that he was a yukky stinky smelly kind of guy and folks often begged him to bathe if he was gonna hang out on the island. But he wouldn't. Would take away from his pirate mystique, ya know. He probably stunk so bad that folks willingly handed over their booty just to get the boy to move upwind. And we hear that his breath could kill seagrass forever. Too bad there weren't Tic-Tacs in those days. ARRRRRRRRRRRG!!! Yeah, okay...moving on.

Here are some beautiful pics of the marina just before a big thunderstorm was supposed to roll through. BIG emphasis on the word "supposed", okay? The wind kicked up, the sky looked threatening and we ran like mad women back to the room before we could get our hair wet. And all we got were two drops. All that exercise for nothing??? What a tease.

If you look closely, you can see the lighthouse at sunset. This was the view from our deck. Actually, it was MUCH closer and prettier than the pic shows. But once again, ahhh the woes of a camera-phone. Still, my pic doesn't suck like John Shomby's.

My daughter Laura asked why I kept taking pictures of this cat. I told her I've been coming to Ocracoke for over 10 years and I have enough pics of that danged lighthouse. So, meet Zack the Ocracat. Legend says that the first Ocracat came over on Blackbeard's pirate ship and all of the cats who run free on the island are decendents of that cat.
Anyhow, Zack "works" at the hotel where we stayed. He is "Guest Greeter" as you can see here. He may be pirate cat decendent, but his breath ain't kickin' like Blackbeard's.

This is my daughter Laura trying on a sweet hat at "The Pirate's Chest." I think she looks fabulous in it and I don't know why she wouldn't let me buy it for her. Oh well, just for THAT, I'm going to tell you a funny story about her.
This happened on the day we were coming back from Ocracoke. Anyway, we were in line waiting for the next ferry. Laura decided to take a potty break before the ferry arrived. As she got out of the car, she quickly realized that she had forgotten to WEAR HER BELT because when she stood up, her pants dropped to her knees and there she stood, wearing a pair of red boxer shorts with hearts all over them. The lady behind us laughed so hard, I thought she was gonna fall out of her van. Of course I had to call my best friend to share this little gem!!! Too bad I didn't have the camera-phone ready to roll when this happened because you KNOW I would have posted it.

Laura now thinks that maybe she should have let mom buy her that goofy hat.