Ocracoke!!

Another fabulous trip to Ocracoke! 

Since we were on the tail-end of a boat shopping trip, AND our plane is in the maintenance shop, we were car-bound.  No worries - hopped on the Hatteras ferry.  Rainy day!

Buddy and Sharon were behind us on the next ferry - just a 1/2 hour or so back.  Met at Gaffer's immediately to get on "island time" with the 50 cent wings and clams.

Checked in at Ocracoke Island Realty - our last minute rental house is fabulous!!

Huge and comfortable.

Pretty view of the sound near our house.

Out riding bikes, as usual, Buddy spotted friends Paul and Gail (who now live full time on  island!)
They generously invited us to their house for grilled pizza with their extended family.  They are such sweethearts!!  Gail made me a "special pizza" with no meat on it - with her home grown basil and pesto.  Wow, yummy!

I asked Paul if he knew any good clamming grounds - since we didn't have a dinghy to go to our "normal secret spot".  He said that as a matter of fact, we could go with him and his grandkids in the morning!

So, off we went thru the muck...into the sound!

Fantastic clamming - we harvested plenty - and stopped when we had enough.  Left some for others!

Then it was on to visit Rich and Jeannine at their rental house.  They are down for the week with Jeannine's brother & his family.

Sorry - have to throw this in.....I usually try to stay away from politics in the blog....but we saw this guy at Dajio's pub....I asked him if he wouldn't mind if I snapped a photo.  He seemed amused....

 Next day - back to Rich & Jeannine's rental for a visit.  They had rented a boat and gone fishing for the day.  Their nephew Robert is the trooper - cleaning all the fish for the fish-fry tonight while Luke supervises.

 Relaxing on their deck.

And before you knew it, it was time for the fireworks.  This is the first time Ocracoke has done fireworks since the tragic explosion there several years ago.

Looks like the entire town and visitors showed up!

I'll just let you page thru the photos - good fun!!

This is the finale - if you'll notice all the smoke -- the wind was blowing pretty fast at altitude because we kept getting hit with ash.  During the finale, the wind must have been even stronger because it appeared to be blowing the fireworks towards the crowd.  A little uncomfortable feeling!!!  But very pretty.

Wishing you a great July 4th!!!

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