We are packing up the youngest child, the kayaks, and the dog and headed to one of my favorite spots for vacation-the Outer banks. We have a long history with this beautiful piece of land..dating back when we were wee little children. Or perhaps my mother remembered us as the bane of her existence. In any case, every summer our large loud family would pack up our 1968 VW bug with my mother, my father, my brother Chris, my twin brothers Nick and Tim, and whatever cat we had in our possession at the time. And occasionally the labrador retriever. When she was not birthing puppies(I can think of one instance where we were vacationing and our Dog was home delivering a litter of 11. Nothing got in the way of vacation-especially for my mother). So, out little black bug would carry us all to the southern regions of the banks..Avon, Buxton, Hatteras, and sometimes Ocracoke Island. We often referred to our travelling means as the circus car. We had piles of luggage in the front trunk and perhaps the top of the car and as we pulled into a gas station for gas, there was a never ending stream of people, dogs, and cats who got out to pee or run around in circles to stretch their legs. My brother and I sat in the back seat; the twin boys in the well of the car, which was no more than a small space behind the back seat that no normal size human could fit in. I have a very distinct memory of my little brother's heads only visible behind me, with little space for squirming. And god knows where the cat was... Much less the dog.
We were cramped, but who cared. We were headed to the beach. Sand, sunshine,sand castles, bodysurfing, black flies, riptides. It was all good. We learned about Blackbeard (his ship sank not far from Okracoke Island), lighthouses, fishing, and ferry boats. We learned the cemeteries on Okracoke had burial mounds, not flat grave sites. Which was very creepy at night. And my father learned not to have a child with an ear infection when you vacation on an island only accessible by a ferry boat.
Tradition continues. When our kids were younger, we introduced pirate treasures, where we would hide a treasure map in our beach house (often near the house bar where we spent alot of time. They always looked amazed when they found the map. Unless it was for our own amusement and they knew we were the actual pirates.
We also shared our homes with the Corolla horses, who run free at the northern beaches. Beautiful animals and often i would come down the steps to the car port only to be greeted by a giant horse's ass.
Times have changed..only one child is going with a friend. And I am bringing golf clubs. And a library collection of books. Never could get away with that when they were little. Here's to a marguarita and Stephen King's novel..Under the Dome. Which is 1100 pages long. Who am I kidding????
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